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Will I Gain Weight From Eating Chicken & Broccoli?

May 26, 2011 | By Brian Willett
Will I Gain Weight From Eating Chicken & Broccoli?
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All foods provide calories, and thus can contribute to weight gain. However, consuming certain foods -- those that are calorie-dense -- will make you more likely to gain weight than others. Chicken and broccoli are both low-calorie foods with minimal fat, so these choices are unlikely to promote weight gain. If you eat chicken and broccoli in large quantities or eat them along with large quantities of high-calorie foods, you will still gain weight.

Calories in Chicken

Chicken is low in calories with a 4-oz. grilled chicken breast containing just 110 calories, or 5.5 percent of the daily recommended intake of 2,000 calories. If you wish to gain weight eating chicken, it can be done, but you would have to eat large quantities of chicken to produce a caloric surplus. Alternatively, you could eat chicken prepared with high-calorie ingredients; a fried chicken thigh, for example, provides 330 calories, and would be better for weight gain than grilled chicken breast.

Additional Chicken Nutrition Values

In addition to the calorie content of chicken, this food has several other nutritional characteristics that make it poorly suited for weight gain. Chicken is rich in protein, and research from the February 2002 issue of the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition" indicates that high-protein diets are more effective for weight loss than low-protein diets, because your body burns many calories absorbing protein than it does absorbing other nutrients.

Calories in Broccoli

Broccoli is a low-calorie food, so trying to gain weight with broccoli as a key component of your diet would be inefficient. One cup of broccoli contains just 31 calories, which is 1.5 percent of the daily suggested intake of 2,000 calories. To gain weight with broccoli, you can cook it with butter, olive oil or other high-calorie ingredients. You could also top broccoli with shredded cheddar cheese, as 1/4 cup provides 110 calories.

Additional Broccoli Nutritional Values

Broccoli is ill-suited for weight gain not only because of the low calorie content, but also due to its low energy density. This means that broccoli provides much fewer calories than many other foods do, given the same volume of food. For example, one cup of shredded cheddar cheese provides 440 calories, compared to just 31 in broccoli. This means that you would have to eat massive quantities of broccoli to reach a calorie surplus. Additionally, broccoli is rich in fiber, with 2 g per cup; fiber contributes one-third of the total carbohydrates in this food. Fiber is required for optimal health, as it aids in digestion, but it also promotes satiety, which makes you feel full faster -- not an ideal characteristic if you are trying to gain weight.

References

Article reviewed by Libby Swope Wiersema Last updated on: May 26, 2011

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