Chicken breast

lenacrigger
lenacrigger Posts: 12 Member
edited December 4 in Food and Nutrition
Who actually eats the 4oz recommended for chicken? I have always just trimmed the fat off one boneless skinless chicken breast and called it good.


Also, Without a scale, what would be an estimate calorie count of a whole chicken breast? Or oz size of a whole chicken breast?

Btw, I usually go to Walmart and buy one of those plastic wrapped styrofoam things with about 5-6 raw chicken breasts.

Replies

  • SylviazSpirit
    SylviazSpirit Posts: 694 Member
    I eat boneless skinless chicken breast that is already measured in at the 4oz serving. The best way to estimate what you are talking about is to take the whole weight of the package and divide by the number of breasts in the package. That will give you an estimate but it will obviously be a little off. You can get a scale at walmart for around $10. It's really worth it :) Hope that helps.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    I eat 2-6 oz of chicken breast usually. I just weigh the amount I'm planning to use and call it done. I often make multi serving dishes for leftovers and use 1-2 chicken breasts depending on the recipe, weighing them and dividing by the number of servings. A whole skinless boneless chicken breast greatly varies in size for me. I little teeny weeny breasts that weighed 140 grams, and some gigantic ones that weighed 300 grams. On average though, most breasts I have are in the ballpark of 200-230 grams.

    Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 4 oz recommendation is for cooked chicken? I'm not sure. I've also seen the recommended serving to be equivalent to 1/2 a breast. It doesn't matter though. As long as you are weighing your food anyway, any serving you are comfortable with should be fine.

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    One size - fits nobody. Never been a fan of randomly fixed serving sizes.

    Why would you remove the fat?

    You need a food scale to know how much you are actually eating.
  • Habiteer
    Habiteer Posts: 190 Member
    MzHill08 wrote: »
    The best way to estimate what you are talking about is to take the whole weight of the package and divide by the number of breasts in the package. That will give you an estimate but it will obviously be a little off.

    ^this. My guess is each breast is about 9 to 10 oz. You can get the calories by searching for raw chicken breast in myfitnesspal.

    I usually don't eat only 4 oz of chicken breast in a meal, I can usually eat the entire breast or at least 1/2 the breast and save the other 1/2 for a second meal.
  • lenacrigger
    lenacrigger Posts: 12 Member
    One size - fits nobody. Never been a fan of randomly fixed serving sizes.

    Why would you remove the fat?

    You need a food scale to know how much you are actually eating.

    I have a scale coming soon that I ordered for my clothing business that I am going to use for food too. And as for the fat? The grisel (sp?) On any food makes me gag when I bite into it. I can't stand fat on a pork chop (cut it off after cooking), cube steak or anything.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I trim the fat too.

    For the size, it's really all over the place though, so yeah, weigh them. For me usually 4-5oz cooked is satisfying (I guess it's 6-8oz raw).
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I trim the fat too.

    For the size, it's really all over the place though, so yeah, weigh them. For me usually 4-5oz cooked is satisfying (I guess it's 6-8oz raw).

    I trim it as well because it's not appealing.
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
    I usually put between 8-10 ounces (cooked) on my salad. Calorie-wise, I get more bang for my buck from chicken than almost anything else.

    I love the little crispy pockets of fat on chicken breasts. It's the first thing I eat after I pull them off the grill.
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    Yeah you definitely need to be weighing your food, the chicken breasts I buy are always different, but I don't think they have ever been under 7oz, and can be well over a pound. This unfortunately is why when people ask for advice on why they aren't losing weight (not saying that is happening here) the wonderful people on here start with telling people to get their logging in check.
    As for eating the recomended 4oz, I just make sure that is the least amount I'm going to have it is the main part of the meal.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    How much I eat depends on how it's being served, how hungry I am and what else if being served.

    I don't really think about the recommendation much but I usually only eat one real meal (and one small meal/snack) per day and I figure the recommendation is based on 3 similarly sized meals per day anyway.
  • shagerty777
    shagerty777 Posts: 185 Member
    I buy the same chicken breasts as you and weigh portions after I grill them. I eat 6 ounces for lunch most days and find that one breast usually is somewhere around 6.5-8 after cooking.
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    Eat what fits your goals.

    Down with recommended serving sizes.

    Fight the power!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Who actually eats the 4oz recommended for chicken? I have always just trimmed the fat off one boneless skinless chicken breast and called it good.


    Also, Without a scale, what would be an estimate calorie count of a whole chicken breast? Or oz size of a whole chicken breast?

    Btw, I usually go to Walmart and buy one of those plastic wrapped styrofoam things with about 5-6 raw chicken breasts.

    It's not necessarily the recommended serving size...it's just a serving size and what may be appropriate for one person won't be for another...it just gives you a starting point to do the math...

    That said, I usually am in that neighborhood...usually 4-6 ounces as I'd rather have other things...a whole breast is typically 8-12 ounces, often more towards the high end...the organic ones my wife buys look rather small compared to the average chicken breast and they come in right around 8 ounces...
  • KristinHR01
    KristinHR01 Posts: 51 Member
    I bought a 3 pack of breasts the other day. One was 20 oz, one was 12.5 and the other 14 oz.

    You have to weigh your chicken otherwise you will grossly underestimate your calories!
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
    I don't use ounces when weighing. Always in grams. And I always trim my meat. I get enough fat from other foods, don't need extra from my meat lol
  • sh512266
    sh512266 Posts: 60 Member
    I've been buying chicken breast cutlets, instead of whole chicken breast. I weigh them frozen and then cook them, they are usually 4-5oz. Should I be using their frozen weight? That's what I've been counting!
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited September 2016
    sh512266 wrote: »
    I've been buying chicken breast cutlets, instead of whole chicken breast. I weigh them frozen and then cook them, they are usually 4-5oz. Should I be using their frozen weight? That's what I've been counting!

    The frozen weight would be close to the same as the raw weight since it's the same water in a different state.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    Many of the chicken breasts I buy weigh in at closer to a pound if I'm buying them raw.

    For a lot of applications, I cook 2 chicken breasts for four people and pre-cut befre bringing to the table.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    edited September 2016
    Highly variable. When I cook a 5 lb chicken (looks mutant ninja huge), a cooked breast weighs ~250g, and I split one with husband. When I buy raw breasts in styrofoam packages, they can be even huger -- 350g+ each. I shudder to think about the growth hormones. Maybe its just animal husbandry vs. hormone injection (she says wistfully while squinting and trying not to think about it too much).

    "Organic" chickens can be half that size. I honestly wouldn't know what to say as a "rule of thumb." This is one of those times when the scale simplifies things. You will be glad when it arrives.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Wow.. some of you have huge chicken! The largest raw chicken breast I ever weighed was 308 grams I think? I thought it was gigantic. Most of mine appear to hover around 200-230 grams and the ones in styrofoam are dainty little 150 gram ones.
  • rebel_26
    rebel_26 Posts: 1,826 Member
    I usually guess at 1.5 serving off the 4oz canned entry.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    edited September 2016
    Who actually eats the 4oz recommended for chicken? I have always just trimmed the fat off one boneless skinless chicken breast and called it good.


    Also, Without a scale, what would be an estimate calorie count of a whole chicken breast? Or oz size of a whole chicken breast?

    Btw, I usually go to Walmart and buy one of those plastic wrapped styrofoam things with about 5-6 raw chicken breasts.

    The ones I get from walmart range from 150g up to 240g. That's about 5-8oz. And that's weighing them after cooked, which is going to weigh A LOT less than raw (and I just use the grilled chicken entry in the database instead).
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    One size - fits nobody. Never been a fan of randomly fixed serving sizes.

    Why would you remove the fat?

    You need a food scale to know how much you are actually eating.

    This. Estimating can come bite you in the *kitten* eventually as it did for me.

    A food scale as I've mentioned to you before, is the most valuable tool for weight loss, and cheap.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    I vote for buying the food scale and making this a moot point!!
  • lenacrigger
    lenacrigger Posts: 12 Member
    I did finally get one. It doubles as my mailing scale, lol. Most of the breasts were 6-7oz uncooked and between 4-6 grilled.
  • kenyainez
    kenyainez Posts: 222 Member
    I do. I actually weigh my chicken breast and cut it to the size I need. I buy the same chicken breast you buy and sometimes, they can be as large as 12 to 14 .oz alone. I actually used to feel like "Hey, it's grilled chicken breast. I'm good" no matter the size of the breast I was eating. Boy was I wrong! I was working out, eating "right" per se and still not losing weight because I had no real concept of measuring, weighing, or controlling my portions. Once I started doing those things, things changed.
  • RandiNoelle
    RandiNoelle Posts: 374 Member
    So, I have a (probably silly) question...

    I buy frozen chicken breast. Is the 4 oz serving size the weight of the chicken frozen or cooked?
  • fishshark
    fishshark Posts: 1,886 Member
    i was actually shocked and annoyed once I weighed out 4 oz of chicken breast. The breasts I get are usually 9-11oz.
  • ashjongfit
    ashjongfit Posts: 147 Member
    I buy the walmart ones too and have had some be over 9oz, I'd really like to see that chicken. I eat whatever size I want for the calories and protein macro I'm looking for. Typically 4-6oz
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,347 Member
    edited October 2016
    I bought chicken breasts the other day and they were almost a lb each. That chicken must have been a thing of nighmares.

    Oh, and I totally trim the fat, chicken fat is super gross.
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