Accurately counting net carbs
Jcamp8705
Posts: 17 Member
Does anyone have any tips on how to count the net carbs using my fitness pal? I don't think it subtracts the fiber from the carbs automatically
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Thanks! I had this question in this thread!Well I've just had an ahaah moment... I measure my carbs and fibre on MFP... but of course, in America - which is basically MFP's nationality - you measure fibre as PART of the carb content. In the UK, on labels, it's listed separately, so we don't have to deduct fibre from the carb count, it's already been done....
So to date, using MFP's counters, have I been calculating carbs the UK way - or the USA way???
ETA: My carbs are set to 15g/day - but fibre is at 25g/day..... and its spelt 'fiber'.... Oh God, I'm confused.....
I received a couple of responses, but nothing that actually really helped....
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How To Count Net Carbs With MFP
There are a few ways to do this.
Configure your macro columns to position Carbs and Fiber beside one another and subtract them. Unfortunately, there is no "sugar alcohol" column, so you will have to find out this number and subtract it on your own. I personally recommend using your Food Notes to keep track of these as well as for recording your Net Carb total should you choose this method.
Or you can use a script. There are couple different scripts we can recommend, but there is no guarantee they will work properly on your browser, or continue to work after browsers are updated. There may be a bit of trial and error involved.
The following scripts have been recommended by some of the LCD members:
https://github.com/Surye/mfp-keto-userscript (this is the one with the graph and net carbs calculation)
http://karoshiethos.com/2013/08/13/javascript-bookmarklet-for-enhanced-macro-goals-in-myfitnesspal/ (this is the one that improves the macro goals in settings)*
*Remember, you must install the Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey extensions to your browser FIRST before your script will work.
(from the LaunchPad entry on total vs. net)1 -
I add a 'food' called sugar alcohol with 1 fiber. Then I just add that food to my diary and increase the servings to match the number of sugar alcohols in what I ate. Then I just subtract the fiber from the total.2
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Worth knowing they round UP the total of carbs, just in case any one is interested....
Eg: A teaspoonful of raw granulated cane sugar, is 5g/carbs.
A half-teaspoonful is 3g/carbs. I understand they don't do 0.5, but I just thought I'd mention it....1 -
AlexandraCarlyle wrote: »Thanks! I had this question in this thread!Well I've just had an ahaah moment... I measure my carbs and fibre on MFP... but of course, in America - which is basically MFP's nationality - you measure fibre as PART of the carb content. In the UK, on labels, it's listed separately, so we don't have to deduct fibre from the carb count, it's already been done....
So to date, using MFP's counters, have I been calculating carbs the UK way - or the USA way???
ETA: My carbs are set to 15g/day - but fibre is at 25g/day..... and its spelt 'fiber'.... Oh God, I'm confused.....
I received a couple of responses, but nothing that actually really helped....
It depends on the food entry you use.
As you know, fiber is included in our Carbohydrate count. So to do net carbs we have to subtract it out. Most entries in the database are in "U.S.," but I know some user entries are UK, and some will say "net carbs". You just have to check to make sure. It's a pickle you're in. Trying to figure out which entries are what would drive me batty. They haven't made the food database international-user-friendly obviously.
So the short answer: if you've been using U.S. food entries, you've been doing MFP in U.S. If you have been using UK food entries all along, then you are measuring it the UK way.
I wonder if a suggestion to them to have a UK and/or international database would be helpful. They have entries that pop-up that take one to Restaurant entries. Why shouldn't they do that for international users?0 -
Does anyone have any tips on how to count the net carbs using my fitness pal? I don't think it subtracts the fiber from the carbs automatically
It doesn't subtract them but it does total fiber carb and you can subtract them (hit nutrients data at the bottom of the diary). The hardest to figure are sugar alcohols. You can either just count them or find (or enter) your foods with them already modified.
I do a mix of both. I usually count them to discourage myself from eating a lot of sugar alcohol foods, but sometimes I find food with them not counted by someone and I use that. Example, Truvia pkts I think have actually 3 sugar alcohol carbs, but the Truvia food diary entry I use has them marked as zero carbs. Since they are zero net carbs, I don't care.1 -
It would be REALLY helpful if MFP got on board and tracked sugar alcohols.1
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JessicaLCHF wrote: »It would be REALLY helpful if MFP got on board and tracked sugar alcohols.
The problem is that they don't all act the same. Erythritol, the one in Truvia, acts like a sugar alcohol is supposed to: it's not absorbed at all, so it doesn't count. But others, like sorbitol, maltitol, and mannitol for example, are partially absorbed, so you can't really subtract all of them, only about half. I'm not sure there is a way to accurately do that (recognize which product has which sugar alcohol) with MFP software. And if it could, would they even get it right?2 -
food_lover16 wrote: »I add a 'food' called sugar alcohol with 1 fiber. Then I just add that food to my diary and increase the servings to match the number of sugar alcohols in what I ate. Then I just subtract the fiber from the total.
That's a really good idea! It's easier than what I've been doing. My solution has been to either not include the sugar alcohol in the ingredient list if I'm entering a recipe, or using the quick add calories tool to only enter the net carbs if it was a packaged food. Neither logging option was as accurate as I'd prefer.2 -
Thanks for the helpful advice everyone!0
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baconslave wrote: »JessicaLCHF wrote: »It would be REALLY helpful if MFP got on board and tracked sugar alcohols.
The problem is that they don't all act the same. Erythritol
, the one in Truvia, acts like a sugar alcohol is supposed to: it's not absorbed at all, so it doesn't count. But others, like sorbitol, maltitol, and mannitol 
for example, are partially absorbed, so you can't really subtract all of them, only about half. I'm not sure there is a way to accurately do that (recognize which product has which sugar alcohol) with MFP software. And if it could, would they even get it right?
Well, they'd almost certainly gaffe the calculation of calories to subtract due to the inverted geyser those finky friends tend to unleash....0 -
baconslave wrote: »I wonder if a suggestion to them to have a UK and/or international database would be helpful. They have entries that pop-up that take one to Restaurant entries. Why shouldn't they do that for international users?
This would be useful for a lot of reasons.
On the main question, I use US entries only, and so I just mentally subtract fiber (which I have as one of my things I track). I actually feel more comfortable doing it that way when it comes to reliability.0
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