How many calories are in a pound of meat?

Quick answer: it ranges between about 650 and 1300 calories depending on the amount of protein and fat. Lower fat meats have less calories. To meet your daily calorie needs on just meat, most people would need to eat between 1 and 2lbs of meat per day.

There are many people who feel best on a diet where meat is the main source of macro nutrients. Whether it’s the carnivore diet or the paleo diet or Keto, meat plays a major role.

One of the more difficult parts of these diets is eating enough calories (in fact, they often get accused of being nothing more than calorie restrictive diets). But what if you don’t want to lose weight. What if you’re just trying to maintain and sustain and know with certainty that you just feel best when you’re doing a low carb, high-protein style diet?

Is it possible to get most of your calories from meat? The answer depends a lot on whether you eat lean meats or fatty meats, etc. Let’s check out how much meat you need to eat to get to 1,500 and 2,000 calories respectively. Figures are taken from NutritionIX.

How many calories are in chicken?

A pound of chicken meat on average contains approximately 1,100 calories, 120g of protein and 65g of fat. However, if you are just eating lean chicken meat like chicken breast without the skin, you’re looking more like 550 calories. Chicken thighs are a higher fat part of the chicken and so have more dense calories since each gram of fat is 9 calories and each gram of protein is 4 calories.

HOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN Beef?

Like the answer above, so much depends on the cut of beef and how the animal was finished (grass or corn) and how the meat is prepared. 1 lb of grain finished hamburger meat (70% lean) contains about 1250 calories. On the other hand 1 lb of 95% lean ground beef contains about 800 calories. A 16oz rib eye would have about 1220 calories (112g of protein and 85g of fat). 16oz worth of filet mignon has about 1200 calories (120g of protein and 80g of fat).

hOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN Pork?

In 16oz or 1lb of pork loin there are 869 calories. In 16oz of bacon there are around 2,000 calories (mostly fat). In 1lb of pork chop there are about 950 calories (120g of protein, 50g of fat)

HOW To Hit Your Calorie Targets?

If you’re committed to getting most of your calories from meats, you’ll need to eat between 1 and 2lbs of meat per day. Athletes will need to go higher. If you’d like to add variety because you just can’t eat any more meat, you can try supplementing with hardboiled eggs (nutritionally dense) and whey protein powder (not nutritionally dense). A hardboiled egg contains only about 70 calories.

example of getting 2000 calories Mostly from meat & Eggs

Example 1:
3 Eggs for breakfast (210 calories)
1/2lb hamburger steak patty with some blue cheese melted on top and some left over sauteed veggies (700 calories)
Two Salmon Filets plus Salad & Beets for Dinner (1000 calories)
1oz of Dark Chocolate (150 calories)

Example 2:
Fast through Noon
East three skinless chicken thighs prepared in a crockpot for lunch (550 calories)
Eat two 1/2lb hamburger patties with cheese on top and a side of broccoli with cheese (1400 calories)
Bowl of Magic Spoon cereal for dessert (150 calories)