Please help!!! HUGE confusion on calories per gram and oz.

IsaCaliBel
IsaCaliBel Posts: 99 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I track calories but also make sure I get in enough protein grams. When I looked up chicken breast no skin 5 oz (141.7g) is 234 calories. However if there are 4 calories in every gram of protein that makes it 566.8 calories. What am I doing wrong or not understanding???

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    1g of protein isn't equal to 1g of weight. In other words your 141.7g chicken is not 141.7g of protein.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    Yup, muscle contains a lot of protein but it's by no means pure protein. There is a lot of other stuff in the chicken breast too. A good portion of its weight is water, for one.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,260 Member
    IsaCaliBel wrote: »
    I track calories but also make sure I get in enough protein grams. When I looked up chicken breast no skin 5 oz (141.7g) is 234 calories. However if there are 4 calories in every gram of protein that makes it 566.8 calories. What am I doing wrong or not understanding???

    100 grams of chicken breast contains 31 grams of protein and 3.6 grams of fat, according to the USDA.
  • fittrain299
    fittrain299 Posts: 1 Member
    There are 4 calories in each gram of protein and carbohydrate. There are 9 calories in each gram of fat.
  • chastity0921
    chastity0921 Posts: 209 Member
    You're counting the grams of the chicken, and getting confused.

    You should be counting the grams of protein in the chicken. Let's say you are eating chicken and there is 20 g protein in the chicken. Since there are 4 calories in each gram of protein or carbohydrate, you will have consumed 80 calories from protein. If there are 3 g fat in that same piece of chicken, you will have consumed 27 calories from fat (since fat is 9 calories per gram). Alcohol has about 7 calories per gram.

    Those are just random gram amounts I made up, by the way :smiley:
  • IsaCaliBel
    IsaCaliBel Posts: 99 Member
    I see what I did wrong now... thanks!!!
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited January 2016
    I just looked up the USDA entry for "chicken breast, no skin". Adjusted serving size to 5 oz and it shows 194 calories. Macros are 4g fat, 40g protein.

    4 x 9 = 36 (fat has 9 cal/g, there are 4 grams of fat in the serving)

    40 x 4 = 160 (protein has 4 cal/g, there are 40 grams of protein in the serving)

    160 + 36 = 196. Allow for rounding errors (fat could have actually been 3.8g or protein could have been 39.5g or whatever) and it's only off by 2 calories.)
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