Total Carbs vs. Net Carbs

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cherylh642
cherylh642 Posts: 8 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does My Fitness Pal show total Carbs or net Carbs? If total Carbs, is there a way to get it to show net Carbs?

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  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
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    Total carbs. No there is no way to only have them show net carbs (despite the years of pleas for this to be added).
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    cathipa wrote: »
    Total carbs. No there is no way to only have them show net carbs (despite the years of pleas for this to be added).

    Unless you're outside of the US, where almost all labels are calculated as net carbs
  • LowCarb4Me2016
    LowCarb4Me2016 Posts: 575 Member
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    To track net carbs on MFP add fiber to the list of things you're tracking and then subtract that from the carbs. That's the only way I've found to do it.
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
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    LowCarb4Me2016 wrote: »
    To track net carbs on MFP add fiber to the list of things you're tracking and then subtract that from the carbs. That's the only way I've found to do it.

    But this doesn't account for sugar alcohols so that's another step to remember.
  • LowCarb4Me2016
    LowCarb4Me2016 Posts: 575 Member
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    True about the sugar alcohols, but that's a whole other kettle of fish. I suppose you could keep track and make a note of it, but that would sort of defeat the purpose.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited May 2017
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    In the US, carbs include fiber.

    In most other countries, carbs do not include fiber (what you are calling net carbs).

    The database contains a ton of stuff from all over the world, as well as entries that specifically have been modified to have net carbs.

    There is NO WAY I can think of for MFP to change it so you can choose to show net carbs, because you can't automatically subtract out fiber from carbs when many, many entries don't include it already.

    People can add something that does it, if they know they use entries that include fiber in carbs, but that's different from MFP trying to do it.

    Personally, I just subtract my fiber from my carbs if I am interested in the net number, but you can find the net entries or add them to your saved foods.
  • cherylh642
    cherylh642 Posts: 8 Member
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    cathipa wrote: »
    LowCarb4Me2016 wrote: »
    To track net carbs on MFP add fiber to the list of things you're tracking and then subtract that from the carbs. That's the only way I've found to do it.

    But this doesn't account for sugar alcohols so that's another step to remember.

    I try to avoid sugar alcohols so luckily I think that's a non-issue for me.
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
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    There are quite a few "net carb" entries for otherwise US reporting products. These are presumably user-entered by those who look for net carbs (I don't) so caveat emptor.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I used to use this, but it only works on the pc, not the app.

    http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/4448/myfitnesspal-hack/

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