Recipe Bank Servings and Calories

MoniqueBagwellVO5248
MoniqueBagwellVO5248 Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
Hi! I have been using the My Fitness Plan recipe Bank and have really enjoyed it! My question is are the Calories they list per serving including the sides too? For example the Slow Cooker Tiki Chicken says to serve with 2 cups of cooked Brown Rice along with the chicken. Are the total calories for that recipe INCLUDING the rice as part of the serving size...or do I also need to Add the rice to my daily tracker dinner meal? Rice by itself is pretty high in calories so I was confused why the meal calorie is so low...Thx!
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Replies

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    If you select whole meals from the database then you don't know how big a serving is nor what went into it. Most things in the database are usersourced. That means you can create a recipe and add it, and only you know what's inside. That's why it's always best to log single ingredients that you use. You can also create your own recipes and keep them for yourself or make them public. Thus if possibly use a food scale, weigh out all your ingredients before you cook with them, and log them. Then you know how much calories your food has. Also, for most things it's better to use grams instead of cups and spoons as calories depend on how full your cup is and how much you compress it.
  • herblovinmom
    herblovinmom Posts: 441 Member
    I would assume if the sides are listed in the ingredients list then they are included in the nutrition information, if just suggesting to serve with a side then I would assume to add it separately to my food diary. I'm not entirely sure though... Happy eating...
  • Rockmama1111
    Rockmama1111 Posts: 262 Member
    Two cups of cooked brown rice would be over 400 calories; what’s the calorie count for the chicken recipe? I’d build the recipe in the recipe builder myself to be the most accurate.
  • MoniqueBagwellVO5248
    MoniqueBagwellVO5248 Posts: 3 Member
    Thank you!
  • MoniqueBagwellVO5248
    MoniqueBagwellVO5248 Posts: 3 Member
    So I followed up in your advice and added the ingredients individually minus the brown rice and minus the seasoning. It is basically 1 4-5 oz skinless boneless chicken thighs cooked in a can of organic lit coconut milk and a can of fire roasted tomatoes. It was 98 calories! So I guess the 300+ calories of the original recipe did indeed include the rice! Made mine with rice cauliflower to bring down the carb content and to lower the glycemic index.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    I never trust recipe nutrition, whether here, at Allrecipes, Kitch’n, or blogs. Doesn’t matter where, I often find them wildly inaccurate.

    I think some bloggers pushing low cal recipes deliberately fudge numbers to get viewers.

    Plus, I can often find lower cal ingredient substitutions anyway, so I’d rather play with those, too.

    “How low can she go?”……and still make it tasty is my aim in life. 👍🏻
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    And hey, Monique, good for you for questioning what you saw, and being brave enough to post here.

    If you have that attitude, you’ll go far with this!
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 460 Member
    Umm... per FDA nutrition database, 4 oz skinless boneless chicken thigh is 137 calories on its own. Are you sure the database entries you're using are accurate?
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    It’s 160 for four ounces aka 112 gr.

    The 144 is for 100 gr for the first USDA listing that comes up via Google.

    If you look at other usda Google entries, you get totally different calorie counts. Another entry shows 208 calories for 116gr.

    Ah, the joys of counting calories.

    🤦🏻‍♀️
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,310 Member
    with or without skin would be the big difference... the bone less so. Edible content is what counts for weight! Here's a couple of REAL entries:) https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/?query=chicken thigh
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 460 Member
    d104evmbkwgw.jpg

    This was where I got the number I quoted above 🙂 And you're absolutely right - too many conflicting sources!
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    Preach!!!!

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