Is Chicken Pot Pie Healthy? (5 Tips For Weight Loss)

Chicken Pot Pie is popular American comfort food, and if you’re a fan of Chicken Pot Pie but are wondering if it’s healthy, or good for your waistline, this article is for you. Find out what goes into making a classic Chicken Pot Pie, how many calories it contains, and how to stay in shape while indulging in this delicious North American dish.

Chicken Pot Pie is a savory pastry pie filled with different meats and vegetables. 

Although Chicken Pot Pie is delicious, is it actually healthy?

Chicken Pot Pie is not necessarily considered “healthy,” as it is high in calories, carbs, sodium, and fats. Therefore, we recommend eating Chicken Pot Pie on rare occasions. 

Here are five steps that explain what Chicken Pot Pie is, the calorie amount in one serving of Chicken Pot Pie, as well as how to stay fit and healthy while eating this classic American dish. 

1. What Goes into Making Chicken Pot Pie?

2. How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Chicken Pot Pie?

3. Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

4. How to Make a Healthier Version of Chicken Pot Pie

5. Make Sure To Consistently Workout & Build Muscle

Now that we know our five steps, let’s get into the details that will help you stay in shape while enjoying some delicious Chicken Pot Pie.

Tip 1: What Goes into Making Chicken Pot Pie?

Chicken Pot Pie is a classic American dish, often considered comfort food. It’s delicious and relatively easy to make. 

Let’s take a look at how you make a Chicken Pot Pie.

Traditionally, Chicken Pot Pie is made with a pastry shell that can either be store-bought or homemade with all-purpose flour, butter, salt, pepper, and vegetable shortening. It is then filled with a mixture of chicken stock, chicken breast, vegetables - such as potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and peas, onions, butter, flour, milk, an egg, and fresh herbs. 

And then you bake it for an hour at 375ºF.

Now that we know what Chicken Pot Pie is and how to make it, let’s take a look at the nutrition facts of one serving of Chicken Pot Pie.

Tip 2: How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Chicken Pot Pie?

Weight loss is really the concept of calories in vs. calories out. So whether you live a sedentary lifestyle or an active lifestyle, it’s important to understand how many calories you need to consume daily.

Let’s take a look at the nutrition facts. As you can see, one serving of Chicken Pot Pie has 760 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 59 grams of carbs, 37 grams of protein, and 42 grams of fat. 

Although one serving of Chicken Pot Pie is high in proteins, we recommend making a healthier version of this dish to reduce the calorie amount, as well as the carbs and fats. 

A good rule of thumb for dieting is keeping a nice balance of macronutrients. A great ratio is sticking to 30% carbs, 40% protein, and 30% fats. 

The key aspect is to understand how many calories you need to eat in a day and to make sure not to overeat on your total accounted calories for the day. 

You don’t want all of your calories simply coming from carbs or fats, you want there to be a balance coming from carbs, protein, and fats.

Now that we know a little bit more about the nutrition facts of one serving of Chicken Pot Pie, let’s take a look at how many calories you need to consume daily to stay in shape.

Tip 3: Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

Great health and fitness are all about calorie or energy balance, which means that you can still eat your fats and carbs, and stay in shape. 

If you burn more calories than you consume, then you will find yourself in a “caloric deficit” which is the only way fat loss can occur. 

You can easily overeat on unhealthy, processed foods that are high in fats and carbs, especially when something is as delicious as Chicken Pot Pie. Overeating is usually the quickest way to get out of shape. 

To stay healthy and in shape, we need to first go over your daily caloric needs and figure out how many calories you need in a day, as well as figure out how much of each macronutrient you should be consuming.

There are a few factors that determine your daily calorie intake. Such as weight management, weight loss, or weight gain. Other factors that play a major role are your gender and your height. 

So, how do you know how many calories you should be eating in a day?

The answer is through trial and error and finding a calorie range that allows you to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. 

However, a good place to start is to multiply your body weight by 12 or to use an online TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator.

Your TDEE relies heavily on how active you are and how much movement you see in your day.

Within your TDEE lies a subsection, which is called TEPA (Thermic Effect of Physical Activity) which accounts for 15-30% of your entire day’s worth of calories.

This means, you are in control of 15-30% of how much you can eat, which is a huge portion of calories.

The key here is to find foods that keep you full longer and still deliver a balanced amount of macronutrients. 

If you’re someone who loves to eat a lot while staying fit, then being active is the key to a balanced lifestyle that allows you to eat whatever you like, such as Chicken Pot Pie, and stay in shape. 

Once you know your calorie intake based on your weight and height, you can then decide how much you want to decrease it. If you want to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, we suggest you start with 100 calories less than what you are currently consuming and see if you notice a difference within a week.

If you don’t see any changes in your weight, decrease your calorie intake by another 100 calories and see how that works. 

However, it is suggested to not decrease the calorie intake below 1,200 per day for women, or below 1,500 calories per day for men.

So, just calculate whatever calorie range you find, and split up your calories by following those macro guidelines. 

Now that we know how many calories to consume daily, let’s take a look at how you can make a healthier version of Chicken Pot Pie to reduce the calorie amount.

Tip 4: How to Make a Healthier Version of Chicken Pot Pie

Classic Chicken Pot Pie is not necessarily considered “healthy” as it is high in calories, carbs, fats, and sodium. 

However, you can try a healthier version at home. This version asks for olive oil, as well as plant-based milk, and either a dairy-free or whole wheat pie crust. 

One serving of Healthy Chicken Pot Pie only has 380 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 41 grams of carbs, 8 grams of protein, and 18 grams of fat. 

Now that we’ve discussed how to make a healthier version of Chicken Pot Pie, let’s take a look at how to increase your activity level and build muscle. 

In the next section of this article, we will find out how to stay in shape and build muscle while eating Chicken pot Pie.

Tip 5: Make Sure To Consistently Workout & Build Muscle

After you’ve figured out how many calories you need to consume daily, you need to make sure that you exercise regularly and increase your activity level.

Therefore it is important you utilize your calories efficiently throughout your day. 

The best way to do this is to build muscle and to also move more throughout your day. 

60-75% of energy expenditure comes from your basal metabolic rate (BMR) which is how much your body burns if it did nothing all day. (NASM)

10% of energy expenditure comes from the thermic effect of feeding (TEF) which is the calories you burn from digesting different foods. (NASM)

15-30% of energy expenditure comes from the Thermic Effect of Activity (TEA) which is movement such as working out and aerobics. Source (NASM) 

To sum it up, up to 30% of our energy expenditure can come from movement and activity so this is a huge portion of our weight loss journey that you can actively control.

The importance of diet and workout is crucial, so you can enjoy foods like Chicken Pot Pie.

I’m sure that you’ve heard that carbs are the enemy and they’re the main driving factor at keeping us from getting a flat stomach or abs.

Carbs are your direct source of energy and they allow you to function properly and fuel your workouts and movements.

The same goes for fats. However, the body needs healthy fats to function properly and to absorb nutrients. As well as to produce hormones. 

The real enemy is inactivity and staying sedentary while eating more carbs than you need to. 

The best way to utilize your calories efficiently throughout your day is by building muscle throughout every week. 

Building muscle allows you to burn calories at rest, which means you can eat more and still lose fat.

This is really the goal of working out and is what keeps you healthy as your metabolism increases.

As stated in Tip #3, you need to be able to burn calories throughout your day in order to put yourself at a caloric deficit. 

Keep in mind that weight loss is really the concept of calories in vs. calories out.

Although working out and building muscle takes priority, having a consistent cardio schedule can help with expediting the fat loss process as it raises the energy expended throughout your week.

The fastest and most efficient way to build muscle is to learn how to do some resistance training.

You need to use weights and build muscle by doing a variety of workouts that target each muscle group specifically. 

Although it can be intimidating to get in shape, as it will be hard to learn and might be discouraging at the beginning, it’s definitely worth it in the long run for both your health and fitness. 

All you need are a set of dumbbells, such as these adjustable dumbbells, and a reliable treadmill such as the Bluefin Fitness Treadmill that tracks your calories and you’re on your way to controlling the number of calories you burn. 

Regarding working out with dumbbells, it’s important not to add too much weight too soon because that could result in injury if you are unfamiliar with the correct body positions. It is better to start small and then increase the weight level. 

Here is a workout plan we’ve created for women and men, where you can get started if you are someone who is new to a resistance training regimen.

WOMEN

Day One (Full Upper):

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Knee Push-Ups: 4x20

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10

Day Two (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps):

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3x10

Day Three (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Squats: 5x5

MEN:

Day One: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs (Push Day) : 

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

Day Two (Legs & Abs):

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Sit-Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

• Stiff Leg Deadlift (Romanian Deadlift): 4 sets 15 reps

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

Day Three: Back & Biceps (Pull Day):

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets 10 reps (Each Side)

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

We recommend working out at least three times per week in the beginning, since the resting days in between are important to build muscle. 

You can also do a combination of resistance training and LISS (Low-Intensity Steady State) cardio or HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) cardio, to improve your heart health and maximize fat burn. 

What you want to aim for is to burn around 1,000 calories of cardio every week through means of either LISS or HIIT. 

LISS is cardio that comes from walking or a brisk walk, you should be able to have a conversation while still building up a sweat.

HIIT cardio is intervals of a very high-intensity movement, such as sprints, battle ropes, or kickboxing movements aiming to quickly raise the heart rate.

The benefit of HIIT is allowing yourself to burn calories in a shorter amount of time. 

We recommend having 80% of cardio coming from LISS while 20% comes from HIIT for optimal fat loss throughout the week. 

The reason for this is that HIIT is very hard to consistently track as many of the calorie tracking devices are inaccurate. 

LISS is a much more reliable source of consistent movement and does not require rest as it does not shock the Central Nervous System the way HIIT can.

Building muscle will happen relatively fast if you are new to working out, so this is great news for anyone looking to get in shape.

If you put calorie tracking, muscle building, and actively moving more altogether, dishes such as Chicken Pot Pie won’t get you off track because the formula provides so much leniency for you to shed some fat.

Fats and carbs are the two macronutrients that will be more likely to be stored as energy. 

Therefore, you don’t want all of your calories simply coming from carbs or fats, you want there to be a balance coming from carbs, protein, and fats.

Working out allows you to be more flexible in your diet and lifestyle, which is so important if you want to sustain a lean body and stay healthy. 

This is why we need to control the number of calories we get from carbs and fats in order to utilize the energy we gained through movement and workouts.

The tip here is to live active and go out and seek a workout regimen. 

So, next time you’re wondering how you can lose some weight, remember that you need to build some muscle and track your calories to your specified amount. 

THERE IT IS!

The key to healthy eating is balance and moderation. Our five tips will help you stay fit while eating Chicken Pot Pie. 

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