Calculating calories for bone in chicken wings?

enkoni
enkoni Posts: 46 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all,

Just invested in an air fryer, so wanted to test it out with some chicken wings. Realizing this is the first time I've logged such a thing, as most of the chicken I use at home is boneless thighs.

When the database says 100g = 220 calories, is it talking about just the weight of the meat, minus the bone? Or has it already accounted for the non-edible bone and it's a straight 100 = 220? It feels like an awful lot of calories for not a lot of wing (means three little Tyson drummettes are nearly 500 cals, good grief), but maybe it is what it is.

If it only means the meat without the bone, how do you calculate the true weight? Weighing the bone after cooking would probably underestimate real cals of the meat as it wouldn't account for water loss and meat shrinking during cooking.

I realize this might sound nitpicky, but as a 5'0" woman 500 cals for three little wings could be fairly devastating to the rest of the day, so I want to be sure I'm doing this correctly. If there are any tips, would love to know. Thanks!

Replies

  • KrissFlavored
    KrissFlavored Posts: 327 Member
    edited May 2020
    The 100g is just the edible portion, so you would have to weigh them cooked and then weigh the bones after and do the math.

    Google suggested that on average, a 100g portion is like 4 wings, so if you wanna stop at 100, I would check and see where you're at after lol..

    And make sure you use an entry for cooked chicken wings of course lol

    If you wanna play it safe

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/173630/nutrients

    This is the usda one and it's a few more calories then your box listing but it's for the cooked edible portion, so after you cook yours, weigh them, eat them and then weigh the bones, this usda entry should be in the database on mfp under "usda chicken wings, cooked"
  • angelsja
    angelsja Posts: 859 Member
    Whenever I have had chicken the cals on it usually state cooked/edable portion so I would weigh it after cooking eat the meat then weigh the bones after and deduct it
  • enkoni
    enkoni Posts: 46 Member
    Thanks everyone!
  • Zimm7
    Zimm7 Posts: 44 Member
    I usually figure 75 calories per regular wing.
    But I can easily go through a dozen of them, so I save hot wings as a cheat meal.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    I too use 75 cals per wing for baked, unless they're unusually huge. I eat a lot of baked wings - a dozen once a week for dinner, or sometimes twice - and my weight loss has tracked well to my calorie logging, so I'm convinced the 75 is a solid estimate. Sauces and such are additional of course.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,296 Member
    edited May 2020
    If roasted chicken breast https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/171477/nutrients is about 165 Cal per 100g, I don't find it far fetched that chicken wings, meat only, fried (with bone and SKIN removed) would be about 211 Cal per 100g https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/172391/nutrients and chicken wings, meat only, roasted (with bone and SKIN removed) would click in at about 203 Cal per 100g: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/172392/nutrients

    If there is breading, or SKIN or sauce the net difference would be added or subtracted from the above!

    Given how close 220 Cal comes to the 203 to 211 figure, I would think it would be safe to just go with it!

    Whether it is a worthwhile caloric investment or not... that is up to the individual and circumstances. Sometimes it is. Many times it is not. For me.

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