Chicken thighs and accurate macros?

travisperry1984
travisperry1984 Posts: 3 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Apologize in advance because this has probably been asked before, but I couldn't for the life of me think what to search for.

So I bought Sanderson chicken thighs from Walmart, bone in, skin on. And I've scanned this barcode into my diary.

My question is: does this nutrition label include eating the bone? Not trying to be funny but I have no idea. If I put that I ate 10 oz of this meat, but I excluded the bone and strange pieces of fat that I dont like and say ate maybe 50% of the actual skin that's good, how do I accurately describe how many macros to put into my diary?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    I've always used boneless skinless raw meat so I use those entries in the database.

    For cooked (like rotisserie pre-cooked) I use the edible portion only, so I weigh the skin and bones after I'm done. That may seem like too much to do, and it may be.

    I'm not even sure which is correct on cooked meats with bones. I don't eat that very often, for that reason.

    On the other hand, it's not that many calories different, really, and sometimes it's about making your best guess.

  • travisperry1984
    travisperry1984 Posts: 3 Member
    edited March 2021
    Alright thanks for the input! I might try that instead as I dont think the fat difference between the white and dark meat is great if you're peeling off most of the fat from the chicken thighs anyways.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    edited March 2021
    Actually there is a bit more fat and less protein to the boneless skinless thighs than there is to boneless skinless breasts.

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    Same portion sizes (112g) - The 119 is calories. Then 0g carbs, 4g fat and 19g protein on the thighs.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    I've always used boneless skinless raw meat so I use those entries in the database.

    For cooked (like rotisserie pre-cooked) I use the edible portion only, so I weigh the skin and bones after I'm done. That may seem like too much to do, and it may be.

    I'm not even sure which is correct on cooked meats with bones. I don't eat that very often, for that reason.

    On the other hand, it's not that many calories different, really, and sometimes it's about making your best guess.

    Most are breast people.... I'm a thigh guy myself... :D
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    If you've still got the packaging, it'll probably tell you whether the nutritional info is raw weight or as cooked. Pretty much everything I buy (I'm in the UK) is for raw weight.

    If I buy bone-in / skin on, I weigh my thighs as I'm adding them to the pan, and make a note. When I've finished eating, I weigh what's left, deduct it from the original figure and log that as what was eaten. There may be a small difference in accuracy due to the cooking process, but I figure that bones will be the heaviest bit and will probably still weigh the same; the skin may weigh less after cooking, but that actually means I'm logging a few more cals than I actually consumed - which is better than the other way round when trying to lose weight.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    There is a pretty good difference in calories between skin on and off. Respectively, its 250 vs 130 per 4 oz. These are the same ones i eat but go skinless because the calorie difference unless i am trying to impress friends. But yea, don't count the bone.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    psychod787 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    I've always used boneless skinless raw meat so I use those entries in the database.

    For cooked (like rotisserie pre-cooked) I use the edible portion only, so I weigh the skin and bones after I'm done. That may seem like too much to do, and it may be.

    I'm not even sure which is correct on cooked meats with bones. I don't eat that very often, for that reason.

    On the other hand, it's not that many calories different, really, and sometimes it's about making your best guess.

    Most are breast people.... I'm a thigh guy myself... :D

    Hell yeah. Honestly, i don't even know how people like chicken breast. You get ma little more protein and less fat for breast, but no flavor and dryness. Thighs are where its at. Its how my tacos are ao fricken good.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    travisperry1984 wrote: »
    Apologize in advance because this has probably been asked before, but I couldn't for the life of me think what to search for.

    So I bought Sanderson chicken thighs from Walmart, bone in, skin on. And I've scanned this barcode into my diary.

    My question is: does this nutrition label include eating the bone? Not trying to be funny but I have no idea. If I put that I ate 10 oz of this meat, but I excluded the bone and strange pieces of fat that I dont like and say ate maybe 50% of the actual skin that's good, how do I accurately describe how many macros to put into my diary?

    I use USDA entries for whole foods as much as possible.

    Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

    To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP.

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

    The USDA changed the platform for their database in 2019 and it is unfortunately a little more difficult to use. I uncheck everything but “SR Legacy” - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

    For cooked chicken thigh I use: "Chicken, broilers or fryers, thigh, meat only, cooked, roasted"

    I weigh the thigh whole and then subtract the bone etc. that I do not eat.

    If you eat the skin you can use "Chicken, broilers or fryers, thigh, meat and skin, cooked, roasted" or weigh them separately and use the meat only entry plus "Chicken, broilers or fryers, skin only, cooked, roasted."

    Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

    For packaged foods non-whole foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2021
    travisperry1984 wrote: »
    Apologize in advance because this has probably been asked before, but I couldn't for the life of me think what to search for.

    So I bought Sanderson chicken thighs from Walmart, bone in, skin on. And I've scanned this barcode into my diary.

    My question is: does this nutrition label include eating the bone? Not trying to be funny but I have no idea. If I put that I ate 10 oz of this meat, but I excluded the bone and strange pieces of fat that I dont like and say ate maybe 50% of the actual skin that's good, how do I accurately describe how many macros to put into my diary?

    If this is what's on the label: https://sandersonfarms.com/products/thighs-skin-up/, then it appears to be for 4 oz raw, not including the bone. Which is annoying, of course, but you can just subtract the weight of the bones/skin you don't eat after cooking from the raw weight or, since it matches up well with the USDA entry for raw, you could use the USDA entry for cooked (it will look like: "chicken, broilers and fryers, thigh, meat and skin, cooked, roasted)."

    I frequently eat bone-on, skin-on meat (I nearly always eat bone-in chicken breast, since I think it's tastier and it fits better with how I like to prepare it, and about half and half with thighs), and I just use the USDA cooked entries and pull the meat off the bone when weighing (unless I have company, and then I might weigh what's left if I weigh at all). I don't discount cals for not eating all the skin when I eat skin-on (other than not including it in the weight), I figure it's a little margin of error.

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