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Hmm.."average portion"

HMonsterX
HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
edited October 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I just noticed something.

I have Chicken Legs twice a week. The packaging says an "average leg" is 257 cals. Great! Times 2 is 514 cals. No problem!


Then i read a bit more on the inside label. Indeed, it repeats that per leg number. But looking at the per 100g got me a bit ... suspicious. Per 100g its around 220. The packet is almost 1kg, with 4 legs in it. Ergo, 250g per leg...ergo the calorie value per leg is 100g x 2.5 - 550 cals per leg! So much for the 257 per leg!

So for 6 months I've been logging it as 514 cals for 2 legs, when it's more like 1,100 for 2 legs! :O

Thank god I always left a margin every day for any ... errors...
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Replies

  • lottycat
    lottycat Posts: 333 Member
    What about the bone? I'm guessing you are not eating that? Try stripping the meat from the bone before you eat it and weighing that, you might find that makes quite a difference? Just a thought...
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    What about the bone? I'm guessing you are not eating that? Try stripping the meat from the bone before you eat it and weighing that, you might find that makes quite a difference? Just a thought...

    That's actually a very good point. It does say per leg (edible portion). And although bone marrow is yummy, and pretty good for you too by all accounts, the actual bone weight must come into it...
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    I just fount out recently that it's 200cals per poptart not per twin pack of pop tart :tongue: Whoops

    And yeah, I wouldn't eat the bone hehe
  • Nancy_hc
    Nancy_hc Posts: 123 Member
    lol - ya, i found out that pop tart thing recently too. Why package them together if its not considered 1 serving? dumb... they do that with a lot of other foods to so its important to read the lables!
  • KokomoJoe
    KokomoJoe Posts: 435
    Are you eating the whole leg or just the drumstick? that also makes a big difference.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    Whole leg, i.e. drumstick and thigh. Bloody gorgeous it is too!
  • meagalayne
    meagalayne Posts: 3,382 Member
    Did y'all REALLY think 2 poptarts were only 200 cals?...

    Come on now :tongue: Get real!
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    I'd never seen them in my life! Using them to gain weight anyway :tongue:
  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
    Labels can be annoyingly deceiving :)
  • StevLL
    StevLL Posts: 921 Member
    That sounds about right. Dark meat runs about 210cals per 4oz. A leg and thigh would net out at about 6-8oz without bone unless it's a cornish hen.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    Whole leg, i.e. drumstick and thigh. Bloody gorgeous it is too!

    mmmmm chicken.....

    homer_drool_1.gif
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    So the question now is...what do i do now? Do i keep logging it as i always have, or do i use these new numbers?
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    Take the meat off the bone and weigh it.
  • LilMissFoodie
    LilMissFoodie Posts: 612 Member
    I find that a lot on UK labels - it takes me ages to work out what each piece actually has in it. In Australia, they have to list the nutrition per serve and number of serves per pack (as well as per 100g) which is helpful but again they have weird serving sizes - like a 300ml bottle of flavoured milk has a 100ml serve size... hmm.

    Maybe you could google for generic nutrition info for chicken and try to work out which amount fits it better? I reckon it would be closer to the second number though (athough that seems a tad high to me).
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Take the meat off the bone and weigh it.

    100% this. Inconvenient the first time, but if every leg is the same size (roughly) then you should have roughly the same amount every time anyway. It is the only way to really know for sure, but I would definitely say bone and connective tissue makes up the extra weight, and the edible portion is actually what you've been logging correctly all this time.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    I did do a google search for other sites that had the nutrition, and actually they tended to be more akin to the "per leg" amount, oddly enough.

    Maybe I'm just underestimating the weight of the leg/connective tissues. I really should get some kitchen scales....
  • kyle4jem
    kyle4jem Posts: 1,400 Member
    I did do a google search for other sites that had the nutrition, and actually they tended to be more akin to the "per leg" amount, oddly enough.

    Maybe I'm just underestimating the weight of the leg/connective tissues. I really should get some kitchen scales....
    Yes... some scales might help :laugh:

    If it's just the meat and not the skin you are eating then I think the weight/cals more or less balance out. I know that dark meat is supposed to have a bit more cals than breast meat, but it's about 1.1 kc to the 1g, methinks.

    On the other hand... why stress... you're doing great and losing weight.

    I log to keep me on track. I try not to snack although I don't need to try too hard nowadays. My other-half does a lot of the cooking and he's old-school, never weighs anything, uses oil and butter as a splash or a knob, throws things together and it all comes out totally delicious and wonderfully wholesome. I guestimate the calories based on generic contents, but have stopped obsessing about it. Everything I cook is weighed, but only so I can use MFP's wonderful recipe calculator to give me better guestimates on portion size.
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
    put it in as boneless dark meat chicken by the oz.
  • Hollirot
    Hollirot Posts: 92 Member
    For months I was eating 23 potato chips, because I had misread the label. 23 servings PER BAG, not 23 chips per serving. I was only suppose to be eating 9 chips. Idiot.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    For months I was eating 23 potato chips, because I had misread the label. 23 servings PER BAG, not 23 chips per serving. I was only suppose to be eating 9 chips. Idiot.

    :laugh: :laugh:

    I refuse to not eat the skin on a chicken leg! I know it has around 1/3 of the total calories in the skin, but it's sooo worth it! :D

    Boneless dark meat...i look that up. I doubt the marrow has many calories in it either.
  • PB67
    PB67 Posts: 376
    After eating the chicken, weigh the bones. Original weight - bones = edible portion.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    After eating the chicken, weigh the bones. Original weight - bones = edible portion.

    But the bones and everything lose moisture during the cooking process, just like the meat. So the most accurate measurement would be to remove the meat from the bones prior to cooking and weigh the portion of meat that will be eaten.
  • KokomoJoe
    KokomoJoe Posts: 435
    After eating the chicken, weigh the bones. Original weight - bones = edible portion.

    I was going to recommend that. Once you get used to what things weigh you can eyeball it correctly. I can almost dead on put 1 oz of cashews on a scale. This morning I put chicken on a plate to make up 100 g and I was at 96 when it was on the scale.
  • bassettpig
    bassettpig Posts: 79 Member
    So the question now is...what do i do now? Do i keep logging it as i always have, or do i use these new numbers?

    Now that you know how to accurately measure and log, why on earth would you keep doing it INaccurately? Your choice, to be sure, but I guess I don't understand what the advantage would be to continuing to do it wrong.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    So the question now is...what do i do now? Do i keep logging it as i always have, or do i use these new numbers?

    Now that you know how to accurately measure and log, why on earth would you keep doing it INaccurately? Your choice, to be sure, but I guess I don't understand what the advantage would be to continuing to do it wrong.

    I agree..but to quote the old phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". It's been working fine for me for 6 months, so do i really want to rock the boat?

    At least until i get some digital scales :)
  • VeganInTraining
    VeganInTraining Posts: 1,319 Member
    and a "serving" of ramen noodles is half a pack....who eats half a pack?
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    RAmen noodles? That's a real thing?!?

    OHH!!! Now i get it!

    * a dim bulb brightens*
  • vichick20
    vichick20 Posts: 96 Member
    and a "serving" of ramen noodles is half a pack....who eats half a pack?

    Haha been there! I only double checked the serving size after I was finished eating it.... live and learn :wink:
  • bassettpig
    bassettpig Posts: 79 Member
    So the question now is...what do i do now? Do i keep logging it as i always have, or do i use these new numbers?

    Now that you know how to accurately measure and log, why on earth would you keep doing it INaccurately? Your choice, to be sure, but I guess I don't understand what the advantage would be to continuing to do it wrong.

    I agree..but to quote the old phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". It's been working fine for me for 6 months, so do i really want to rock the boat?

    At least until i get some digital scales :)

    In my experience, you will have a lot of "wiggle room" in the earlier part of your weight loss. I see you still have 30 pounds you would like to lose, and I can almost guarantee you that when you are within 5-10 pounds of your goal, you will need to be logging as accurately as you can in order to keep losing. I had gone from 172 down to 115, and those first pounds came off 2 pounds a week if I made a decent effort. As time went on, that slowed to 1/2 pound a week, and I had to really pay attention--no cheating!

    Just bear this in mind when you get to those last few pounds and "hit the wall" as so many of us do...."good enough" stops being "good enough" at some point.
  • VeganInTraining
    VeganInTraining Posts: 1,319 Member
    RAmen noodles? That's a real thing?!?

    OHH!!! Now i get it!

    * a dim bulb brightens*

    What did you think they were? lol
This discussion has been closed.

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