Carbohydrate confusion

Hi Zanna! I was wondering the same thing actually and I don't think kommo answered your question. She was asking does My Fitness Pal show carb or net carbs when they give us the counts? I always have to go to "reports" to figure it out in the long run. Anyone?

Some foods are listed as net carbs others as total carbs since this is a global website. If you want to target net carbs specifically, you could search for "[food name] net carbs" in the food database (example: "tomatoes net carbs") and you should get a few entries.

To avoid failing again here are a few guidelines:
- Weigh your foods using a food scale
- Double check any new food entries against reputable databases to make sure the calories are correct (you could just google "[food name] calories" to get the correct calorie count for many foods on the main search page)
- Stay within the calorie limit + exercise the app gives you
- Don't set your calories too low
- Make sure your choice of diet is something you find pleasant and sustainable. If low carb feels too restrictive, any eating pattern within calories will produce similar results. You also don't have to eat foods you dislike no matter how "healthy" people say they are.
- After meals, try to notice what effect certain meals have on your hunger. Make a mental note to have filling foods more often.
- Think way ahead, and not just now. Keep asking yourself if it's something that will help you control your weight after you reach your goal weight.
- Habits and consistency are more important than motivation and willpower.

ladyreva78 wrote: »

The answer is: it depends.

Food labels where I live show net carbs on the labels (with fiber being optional so no way of knowing total carbs).

Places like the US have total carbs on the label with fiber, so to get net carbs you'd have to deduct fiber from the total carbs.

The MFP database? User entered and international. All my entries are net carbs. All entries from someone from the US (just entering info from labels) will be total carbs.

Unless an entry specifies 'net carbs' in the name, there's no way to know.

This.

The key is to know where the entry comes from.

If you are in the US or Canada and don't want to create your own entries, log carbs and fiber and do the (extremely simple) math in your head. That's what I did when I was counting net carbs.

If you are in the UK or some other country that uses net carbs, use the entries from your packages and UK sources for whole foods (or create net carb entries) and you will be counting net carbs.

Fiber is important, so if you are in the US I recommend counting carbs and fiber, as you can see both and easily do the math.

ladyreva78 wrote: »

The answer is: it depends.

Food labels where I live show net carbs on the labels (with fiber being optional so no way of knowing total carbs).

Places like the US have total carbs on the label with fiber, so to get net carbs you'd have to deduct fiber from the total carbs.

The MFP database? User entered and international. All my entries are net carbs. All entries from someone from the US (just entering info from labels) will be total carbs.

Unless an entry specifies 'net carbs' in the name, there's no way to know.

I did not realize this! A while ago my tracking showed I was eating lower to moderate carb, and my goal was higher carb, and I was sure I was eating a lot more than the reports showed. I started reviewing the entries in the food database I was using, and several (including quest bars, which I eat daily) were entered as net. I was complaining to myself how some people just enter data to suit themselves regardless of the impact on other users, but now I see that those entries were correct, just from a different system.

eta - since I track fiber (for good reason!), not having it on the label would make me crazy!

If you want to use net carbs, I've heard this script works:
https://cavemanketo.com/configuring-mfp/

I am in Canada where total carbs is listed so I always just went with total carbs with fibre listed beside it. I just set my total carbs a bit higher than my net goal would have been, and then make sure that my fibre is at least 1/4-1/3 of my total carbs.

I also listed sugar and tried to make sure it was less than a 1/4 of my carbs.

zanna1968 wrote: »

Hi all
I am confused. Trying low carbs but my book says to only count net carbs. Does the carbon count on here show net or total? If total any suggestions how I find and log net so I can easily see what I'm doing?
I have a long way to go and need to get a grip, scared of failing yet again

First this is the debate forum so you might get better responses if you post this in the general health fitness and diet forum.

Next not sure quite what you are asking about carbon count....I'm not sure why you would want to be tracking carbon. If for some reason you do then fats are the most carbon rich macro by weight.