Total or net?
SelfHelpJunky
Posts: 205 Member
Hi, all- First, I just want to thank baconslave and Fit_Goat and the rest of the mods for organizing the Launch Pad and gathering all the low carb resources into one place. I am sure this took a lot of effort and I am sure I'm not the only one who is appreciative!
I read the entry about total vs net carbs and found it very interesting. I am embarking on Atkins (with a few modifications), and I'm while I'm not too keen on stuff with sugar alcohols, I do want to make sure I'm getting adequate fiber, because (TMI) I've had trouble staying "regular" on low carb in the past.
So I am not looking to start a debate, but I just wanted to ask some of the more veteran folks what their experience has been with total vs net carbs. Did you find that you lost more or faster with one or the other? Or did it not make a difference?
Sorry if this has been posted before! Just wanted to get some perspectives. Thanks in advance! :-)
I read the entry about total vs net carbs and found it very interesting. I am embarking on Atkins (with a few modifications), and I'm while I'm not too keen on stuff with sugar alcohols, I do want to make sure I'm getting adequate fiber, because (TMI) I've had trouble staying "regular" on low carb in the past.
So I am not looking to start a debate, but I just wanted to ask some of the more veteran folks what their experience has been with total vs net carbs. Did you find that you lost more or faster with one or the other? Or did it not make a difference?
Sorry if this has been posted before! Just wanted to get some perspectives. Thanks in advance! :-)
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I use net carbs and have been successful with it. Of course, I am a very low carber. I consume less than 20 g most days. What is important is that you determine both the level of carbs that has you losing weight and the level that causes you to stall. This appears to vary by the person. As far as being regular, there are other ways to get fiber rather than fruits and veg. You might check those out.
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Like you I need my fibre. I use benefibre and chia seeds in addition to veg like spinach, brocoli and brussel sprouts. I was on 50g net with 25g fibre so 75g gross. Now aiming at 20 to 30g net (inspired by a forum post) and still 25g fibre so 50g gross (+/-5). Have not changed cal intake. Early days but for me this appears to be more effective as my weight loss plateau has finally been broken. Yay. Good luck and worth playing with levels to find what works for you. I am also adding olive oil and coconut oil or coconut cream into dishes to get my macros more balanced.0
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Check out the archives, there was a discussion just recently about this topic that already has both suggestions for fiber and reasons why it may not actually be necessary.0
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I do net carbs. Whether I need fiber or not, I need the micronutrients in vegetables, and I don't eat enough organ meats to get them from animal sources only.0
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Like above I do net carbs mostly to allow for nutrients from veggies and rarely berries. I don't seem to need the fiber. I don't typically eat anything with sugar alcohols so that never really comes into play with me. I know a lot of people subtract them out with no effect and others seem to have issues. I think it's a trial and error type thing.0
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Coconut oil, magnesium, hydration, and giving your body time to keto adapted will take care of the regularity issues.
Math is not my strong suit and I tend to carb creep if I count net, so total it is. 20-30 per day is my sweet spot.
But then I'm starting morbidly obese with not the greatest relationship with food!
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I do total. However I have found when I make an oops and accidentally go over 50g, if it's something higher fat and fibrous, I stay in ketosis.
I need no fiber. As long as I keep hydrated, eat enough fat, and have enough magnesium, I'm fine. And this is from someone who suffered from IBS-C pre-LC.
I made a loaf of keto bread and it is pretty fibrous. I've been having 15 or 20g per day a bit this week and I notice no difference in regularity whatsoever.
So the short answer is, it depends entirely on how your system works. And what those carbs are. If they are fiber, I'd say net is fine. If they are sugar alcohols or sugar (fruit or added sugars), I'd watch how you respond with caution first. I have a little bit of sugar alcohols in gum and Truvia (erythritol), and they don't affect me.
Just keep in mind that the newer Atkins versions have ADDED the net carbs. The original did not have them. I think it was to make the diet easier to follow and give it more appeal. And after all, they couldn't make their expensive Atkins bars and shakes and make money without net carbs.
The original was only a certain amount of green-leafy, fatty meat, fats, a small amount of HWC, 4oz max of hard cheeses. Hardcore! 
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I go with total out of laziness. I know my total needs to be around 20g or so of carbs for normal blood glucose so I keep it there. Keeping total carbs low helps me lose weight faster, but when my carbs get up above 30g I find I start eating more - my appetite is affected.
To be honest, I am a bit anti fibre. I had constipation my entire life due to some undiagnosed health issues. I added so much fibre in an effort to normalize things but it didn't help, just made things a bit bulkier. After adding coconut oil to my diet, and a magnesium citrate supplement, I have finally solved all of my problems that I had hoped fibre would.
Just my n=1.. To be honest, I am a bit jealous of those for whom fibre works. 0 -
I do net carbs. I was up to 50g net/day but that had me playing around with the same 2 lbs of gaining and losing this past month. I have gained and lost the same 2 lbs every week.
so I dropped back to 20g net/day or less to try to get back to losing. I don't worry about fiber anymore because I am more regular than I have ever been and my IBS symptoms have virtually disappeared. 0 -
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10299182/fiber-supplement#latest
Here's the link to the previous discussion.0 -
I've started Wheat Belly and it focuses on net carbs. It's easy with MFP to track, blood sugars are not spiking when I've checked and it allows for a little more intake on carbs because of fiber but it's still a much lower intake than what I was doing before. I'm enjoying it. 0
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Where do I find the archives? I'm sure the questions I have have been answered before. ThanksDragonwolf wrote: »Check out the archives, ......
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I go with total.0
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Total. It gives me the wiggle room to assume I've missed some, somewhere.0
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Where do I find the archives? I'm sure the questions I have have been answered before. ThanksDragonwolf wrote: »Check out the archives, ......
I provided the link above that she was talking about.0 -
Where do I find the archives? I'm sure the questions I have have been answered before. ThanksDragonwolf wrote: »Check out the archives, ......
At the bottom of the list of posts on the main group page there's a link that say "View all discussions" that will take you to a paginated list of all the posts.0 -
I go with total out of laziness. I know my total needs to be around 20g or so of carbs for normal blood glucose so I keep it there. Keeping total carbs low helps me lose weight faster, but when my carbs get up above 30g I find I start eating more - my appetite is affected.
To be honest, I am a bit anti fibre. I had constipation my entire life due to some undiagnosed health issues. I added so much fibre in an effort to normalize things but it didn't help, just made things a bit bulkier. After adding coconut oil to my diet, and a magnesium citrate supplement, I have finally solved all of my problems that I had hoped fibre would.
Just my n=1.. To be honest, I am a bit jealous of those for whom fibre works.
Likewise jealous of those who find magnesium n coconut oil works. Still playing with that now and having, ah hem, mixed results.0 -
@Dragonwolf Thanks ... that'll be a BIG help.
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SamandaIndia wrote: »I go with total out of laziness. I know my total needs to be around 20g or so of carbs for normal blood glucose so I keep it there. Keeping total carbs low helps me lose weight faster, but when my carbs get up above 30g I find I start eating more - my appetite is affected.
To be honest, I am a bit anti fibre. I had constipation my entire life due to some undiagnosed health issues. I added so much fibre in an effort to normalize things but it didn't help, just made things a bit bulkier. After adding coconut oil to my diet, and a magnesium citrate supplement, I have finally solved all of my problems that I had hoped fibre would.
Just my n=1.. To be honest, I am a bit jealous of those for whom fibre works.
Likewise jealous of those who find magnesium n coconut oil works. Still playing with that now and having, ah hem, mixed results.
Lol. We're just never satisfied I guess. 0 -
SamandaIndia wrote: »I go with total out of laziness. I know my total needs to be around 20g or so of carbs for normal blood glucose so I keep it there. Keeping total carbs low helps me lose weight faster, but when my carbs get up above 30g I find I start eating more - my appetite is affected.
To be honest, I am a bit anti fibre. I had constipation my entire life due to some undiagnosed health issues. I added so much fibre in an effort to normalize things but it didn't help, just made things a bit bulkier. After adding coconut oil to my diet, and a magnesium citrate supplement, I have finally solved all of my problems that I had hoped fibre would.
Just my n=1.. To be honest, I am a bit jealous of those for whom fibre works.
Likewise jealous of those who find magnesium n coconut oil works. Still playing with that now and having, ah hem, mixed results.
Magnesium complex, 500mg a day is a God send for me. I've seen doctors, nutritionists etc. Staying lower on refined carbs/starches helps. All the refined grains etc. just created a cement plug.
But magnesium complex is my hero.
And tons of fiber from vegetables. I've had 41 grams today.
But boy do I feel your pain.0 -
Yep. Magnesium, chia seeds, probiotics and to a lesser extent, veggies, all keep me super regular... Like within 10 minutes of getting up each and every morning.0
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Christine_72 wrote: »Yep. Magnesium, chia seeds, probiotics and to a lesser extent, veggies, all keep me super regular... Like within 10 minutes of getting up each and every morning.
Seriously JEALOUS!0 -
Mfp edit error. Last post needs a smiley and maybe a devil but wont save that nor my thankyou text so trying this: thanks so much to @nvmomketo @sabine_stroehm and @Christine_72 for inspiration to keep trying combinations until my body finds one that works. Lowering carbs from net 50 to net 20 this week.0
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lol @SamandaIndia , I'm the queen of constipation. It's taken me a loong time to find the right combination. I used to have 6tbs of metamucil everyday, that stuff sucks!
You'll get there, different strokes for different folks :flowerforyou:
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Christine_72 wrote: »lol @SamandaIndia , I'm the queen of constipation. It's taken me a loong time to find the right combination. I used to have 6tbs of metamucil everyday, that stuff sucks!
You'll get there, different strokes for different folks :flowerforyou:
You are a braver woman than I. Benefibre yes but metamucil - OMG Yuck. Dr did give me a substance that could help. Safe to say too effective to use! Thxs for flower- will continue the journey knowing it may not get fixed in short term0 -
SelfHelpJunky wrote: »Hi, all- First, I just want to thank baconslave and Fit_Goat and the rest of the mods for organizing the Launch Pad and gathering all the low carb resources into one place. I am sure this took a lot of effort and I am sure I'm not the only one who is appreciative!
I read the entry about total vs net carbs and found it very interesting. I am embarking on Atkins (with a few modifications), and I'm while I'm not too keen on stuff with sugar alcohols, I do want to make sure I'm getting adequate fiber, because (TMI) I've had trouble staying "regular" on low carb in the past.
So I am not looking to start a debate, but I just wanted to ask some of the more veteran folks what their experience has been with total vs net carbs. Did you find that you lost more or faster with one or the other? Or did it not make a difference?
Sorry if this has been posted before! Just wanted to get some perspectives. Thanks in advance! :-)
I go by net carbs because I love veggies with my healthy fats and proteins. There are several sites online along with Facebook groups you can join. The first sites that come to mind are ketovangelist.com and ruled.me. You can also check pinterest for lots of information boards. I've been eating keto (low carb high fat) for about 3 months and have lost 15 pounds.0 -
Definitely try different kinds/formulations. I tried a few before I found that Magnesium Complex from Amazon (which has both citrate and oxide). I've tried fancier formulations, but always return to that one.SamandaIndia wrote: »Mfp edit error. Last post needs a smiley and maybe a devil but wont save that nor my thankyou text so trying this: thanks so much to @nvmomketo @sabine_stroehm and @Christine_72 for inspiration to keep trying combinations until my body finds one that works. Lowering carbs from net 50 to net 20 this week.
I wish I had found it 30 years ago! I too am the queen of constipation, and docs could never figure out why. Now I have at least ONE (usually several) BMs a day. I've been taking magnesium now for about 10 years, and haven't had to increase the dose or make any changes. Good luck!
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Cheese. Cheese will slow things right down for me. It's my solution to too much magnesium. LOL. Cutting back on cheese (sob) can help some people.0
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Cheese is definitely what put the breaks on for me a couple months ago. It just started out of nowhere. Then I realized that I had been eating a bit more cheese than normal. I apparently have a delicate balance to maintain to keep things moving. I had gained about 5 pounds in a couple days and felt miserable! The first time it happened I tried more coconut oil and coffee and I finally responded to an Americano at Starbucks! I guess I needed the stronger espresso! But then things started going right back to being slow again. And started gaining weight with each day again. I combed over my food diary and noticed the increase in cheese and cut that back some, and then started taking higher dose of mag oxide. I added one 250mg tablet each night until it made a difference. I found that I had to take 4 of them to solve an already existing issue but if I take 2 every day, I seem to be able to keep it from occurring along with keeping an eye on cheese intake.Cheese. Cheese will slow things right down for me. It's my solution to too much magnesium. LOL. Cutting back on cheese (sob) can help some people.
I was also told about high dose vitamin c at that time but I didn't have any so I had not tried that. Just yesterday I bought some and started on 4000mg a day just for its many benefits I've been reading about.
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Thanks, everyone! I think I will try 20g net. Most of that will come from chia seeds which I just bought, and some green veggies. We will see how it goes!0
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