Actual or net carbs

TXBelle1174

do you count your actual or net carbs? My dr. Said he wanted me on no more than 50carbs a day. Well I forgot to ask if it was actual or net? Also, for those of you with medical reasons for going lc, do you completely stay away from sweets? I love my chocolate whey shakes but not sure I should have them, even though they are lc.

JaceyMarieS

My medical reason is diabetes. Low-carb has dropped my BG from a start of 180(fasting) to an average of 97(fasting) which is within the "normal" range. My dr. did not give me a number of carbs to shoot for, so I use my BG monitor to check the effect of carbs.

I count actual carbs...just because it is easier and I'm too lazy to do the simple subtraction.

I actually use whey isolate for a shake in the mornings because according to my monitor, I can't handle too many carbs for breakfast and don't have the time to whip up an omelet, etc. My shakes are generally 5 actualcarbs (almond milk, whey protein isolate, chia seeds and daVinci syrup (Kahlua - yum!) although sometimes I add 1/4 c strawberries, which bumps it up to 10 actual carbs. My blood sugar barely moves, which is a good thing.

I do tend to stay away from sweets (although greek yogurt + whey protein powder+chia makes an awesome pudding), but I'm more of a starch craver anyway

mncardiojunkie

Due to being on the Atkins Revolution Circa 1974, I count actual carbs. I have done the New Atkins circa 2002 and tried counting net carbs, but that stalled my weight loss. I don't know what it was. The "net carb" thing or it actually allowing more carbs due to the "net carb thing":.

I'm too lazy to do the "net carb thing" and I lose weight and maintain it much better just counting whole carbs.

Have a good day! :flowerforyou:

Marll

My personal opinion is if the doctor said 50 carbs a day, I'd count the total carbs.

grinch031

I would count net carbs since fiber doesn't get digested. It will have no impact on your blood sugar, insulin, or daily calorie intake. Now if you eat sugar alcohols, I would say you may want to count those to be safe.

cramernh

Speaking as someone who works in healthcare, doctors are calculating "TOTAL" carbohydrates, they are not going for the net value.

That is factored in when they calculate any caloric restriction along with traditional food elimination lists as they go hand in hand.

Sharonks

If you are testing your blood sugar levels, eat to your meter. I test about 10 times a day right now so I can figure out what food does to me. I do this every few years until I figure what I can eat and how much. Then I tend to reduce my testing because it gets expensive.

I currently am at about 60 total carbs and 35-40 net carbs. Fastings have finally made it under 126, more like 110-115 and post prandials are usually under 140 and as low as 97. I do this on metformin only. The dr. is afraid to give me anything to kick down my fastings since I do well the rest of the day.