net carbs vs total carbs?

Relaxingmind

When eating low carb or keto, which of the two matters most? Net or total? I'm currently eating low carb which I started less than a week ago. My net carbs range from 30-50 but my total carbs range from 90-120. This is because I get approximately 60-70 grams of fiber per day. For example, today my net carbs are exactly 50. My total carbs are 122. My fiber is 72.

TeaBea

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

nvmomketo

It depends. If you are active enough then net carbs of 50g may be low enough to keep you in ketosis all of the time. If you are not active, and metabolically unhealthy (have insulin resistance) then you'll probably need to go below 50g total to stay in ketosis. I find I should stay under 30g total.

If you just want to be in ketosis some of the time, then 120g total is good enough.

Staci64

I have been wondering the same, I stay under 20 net and some days end with more fiber than carb so my carb net count is actually negative. Not seeing a weight loss like I'd like, so wondering if I should count total instead of net and try to stay under 20.?? Any suggestions?

ruben200

I came here to see if someone was wondering this too. From what I have understood while doing Keto net carbs is your goal. Meaning that keto staples like Avocado will push you over your total carb but with the amount of fiber they have it is fine to consume them and are highly recommended for the high good fat content. I just wish the MFP app could track more than 3 macros at once or allow the tacking of net carbs instead of total carbs. That way I don't have to keep switching settings to get my net carbs and my goals aren't in the negative

Alatariel75

Can someone explain something to me? When I first heard about net carbs it was actually through Weight Watchers. I had been a member in both the USA and Australia and couldn't work out why in the USA more fiber dropped the ProPoints of a food, which in Australia more fibre added to the ProPoints. That was when I found out then that USA labels are not net carbs and Australia is.

Anyway, one of the big WW USA thing was that the fiber only subtracted ProPoints (and therefore carbs) when the fiber and the carbs were in the same food item. Broccoli for instance has 7g of carbs per 100g, and 3g of fiber, so net carbs of 4g.

BUT they made the big point that you couldn't just add fibre to your food and magically lower the carbs further - ie I couldn't add a couple of heaping teaspoons of Benefiber to my vegetable soup and cancel out the carbs.

Why then does it seem to have evolved that not people just subtract their fiber grams for the day from their total carbs for the day and call it net carbs? If that's the case, why aren't low carbers eating what the *dugong* they like and going through a jar of Benefiber per week? Is it one of those things that is being simplified into inaccuracy?

Christine_72

ruben200 wrote: »

I came here to see if someone was wondering this too. From what I have understood while doing Keto net carbs is your goal. Meaning that keto staples like Avocado will push you over your total carb but with the amount of fiber they have it is fine to consume them and are highly recommended for the high good fat content. I just wish the MFP app could track more than 3 macros at once or allow the tacking of net carbs instead of total carbs. That way I don't have to keep switching settings to get my net carbs and my goals aren't in the negative

@ruben200 MFP tracks 5 macro's as well as calories. I track:

Calories

Carbs

Fat

Protein

Fibre

Sodium

You can choose any combination you wish, all except net carbs.

Alatariel75

ruben200 wrote: »

I came here to see if someone was wondering this too. From what I have understood while doing Keto net carbs is your goal. Meaning that keto staples like Avocado will push you over your total carb but with the amount of fiber they have it is fine to consume them and are highly recommended for the high good fat content. I just wish the MFP app could track more than 3 macros at once or allow the tacking of net carbs instead of total carbs. That way I don't have to keep switching settings to get my net carbs and my goals aren't in the negative

MFP tracks up to 5 macros...

cmriverside

If you look at the Printable Version, you can add a few more - since calories are set as default on both pages, you can then pick up to 13 total categories to track - just toggle back and forth between the regular food page and the printable version.

I have different categories (columns of nutrients) on each page, and the ones I don't care as much about are on the printable version. The printable version is set at
Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholesterol Sodium Sugars Fiber...and those are stuck/non-changeable default columns on that page. So you can pick five different ones for the Food Diary page.

nvmomketo

Alatariel75 wrote: »

Can someone explain something to me? When I first heard about net carbs it was actually through Weight Watchers. I had been a member in both the USA and Australia and couldn't work out why in the USA more fiber dropped the ProPoints of a food, which in Australia more fibre added to the ProPoints. That was when I found out then that USA labels are not net carbs and Australia is.

Anyway, one of the big WW USA thing was that the fiber only subtracted ProPoints (and therefore carbs) when the fiber and the carbs were in the same food item. Broccoli for instance has 7g of carbs per 100g, and 3g of fiber, so net carbs of 4g.

BUT they made the big point that you couldn't just add fibre to your food and magically lower the carbs further - ie I couldn't add a couple of heaping teaspoons of Benefiber to my vegetable soup and cancel out the carbs.

Why then does it seem to have evolved that not people just subtract their fiber grams for the day from their total carbs for the day and call it net carbs? If that's the case, why aren't low carbers eating what the *dugong* they like and going through a jar of Benefiber per week? Is it one of those things that is being simplified into inaccuracy?

I always just went with total carbs. The carbs I eat are high in fibre so I don't bother with it. Adding fibre or counting it that is.

AlabasterVerve

Alatariel75 wrote: »

Can someone explain something to me? When I first heard about net carbs it was actually through Weight Watchers. I had been a member in both the USA and Australia and couldn't work out why in the USA more fiber dropped the ProPoints of a food, which in Australia more fibre added to the ProPoints. That was when I found out then that USA labels are not net carbs and Australia is.

Anyway, one of the big WW USA thing was that the fiber only subtracted ProPoints (and therefore carbs) when the fiber and the carbs were in the same food item. Broccoli for instance has 7g of carbs per 100g, and 3g of fiber, so net carbs of 4g.

BUT they made the big point that you couldn't just add fibre to your food and magically lower the carbs further - ie I couldn't add a couple of heaping teaspoons of Benefiber to my vegetable soup and cancel out the carbs.

Why then does it seem to have evolved that not people just subtract their fiber grams for the day from their total carbs for the day and call it net carbs? If that's the case, why aren't low carbers eating what the *dugong* they like and going through a jar of Benefiber per week? Is it one of those things that is being simplified into inaccuracy?

It's not possible - fiber is a carb so you can never have more fiber than carbs. Example:

As for the OP, in my experience if you're eating mostly whole foods (fruit, vegetables, nuts etc.) going by net carbs is perfectly fine.

When people are eating a lot of low carb products (breads, bars, sweets etc.) net carbs can be a problem because with the sugar alcohol and fiber additives used a larger portion of those fibers are absorbed - so you're eating more carbs than the net carbs on the package indicates. It really comes down to trial and error so just experiment eating your preferred foods (using net or total carbs either is fine) and see how you make out. You can raise or lower your carb goal based on your results.