[Claire de Ravin]

How many calories does a grilled chicken breast the size of your hand (not just palm) have?

[rabidstoat]

I'd say 200-250 calories, rough guess, depending on how lean. More if it had skin.

[jillybean720]

It depends on how lean it is, how thick it is, if it has skin...I can have a piece the size of my hand for 100 calories because I buy 98% fat free thin-sliced skinless chicken breast

[rabidstoat]

I was basing my estimate on about 6 ounces of meat.

[veggielover]

I buy 98% lean chicken breasts from wegmans, and the label is 120 calories per 3 oz, so one whole breast is usually 250.

[kts3417]

It would probably be around 100 calories. I buy the frozen chicken breasts from Costco and then after they're cooked I just cut them in half. I eat one half for dinner and then cut up the other half and put it on a salad for lunch the next day.

Katie

[Sheri~C]

1 ounce of boneless skinless chicken breast cooked without oil, either broiled or roasted or grilled will be 50 calories per ounce, an average chicken breast is 5 ounces that would be the size of an average womans palm.

[rabidstoat]

Wow, you know, it's interesting the range of calorie estimates here. Anything from 100-250 calories!

Just goes to show that even calorie counting can be confusing, and you can be off by potentially hundreds of calories in a day from mis-estimating. I mean, if it was really 100 calories and you logged it as 250, you're eating 150 calories less than you think. But if it's really 250 calories and you log it as 100 calories, that's 150 more -- and if you ate chicken breast every day, that's 1.5 pounds of calories in a month, 18 pounds in a year!

This is why I wish all food had a magic button you could press, to instantly see how many calories are in it.

[Claire de Ravin]

Okay, thank you everyone. I'll ask my mother how many ounces it is and how lean it is (we usually have very lean meat). I wish there was a magic button too, rabid. And that's why I overestimate calories, just in case.