Net Carbs or plain total carbs

(Clare) #1

I’ve been eating LCHF since just before Christmas, and have been trying to get my macros to fit the Keto WOE for the past few months. Some days I manage 20gs carbs & some days I go a bit over. I grow my own veg and am reluctant to give up carrots & beetroot (at least I manage to cover them with butter or olive oil!) I also like a glass or two of red wine with dinner/ Sunday lunch which is where a lot of my carbs come from.

I noticed in a post in the Food topics that net carbs were mentioned. I haven’t been subtracting fibre from my carbs, Eg, I make a Ragu sauce which takes a can of tomatoes. It’s 12g of carbs per tin and my husband and I share the result so I get 6g of carbs each time I eat it from the tomatoes alone which I log into MFP. I just realised that there are almost 2g of fibre which i could subtract.

I’m pretty happy with my 30 pounds weight loss so far, obviously there’d be a chance of faster loss if I ditched the wine & carrots etc, just wondering if I’m missing a trick with the Net/Total carb stuff. I’m in UK & most of our foods are labelled with the latter.

(bulkbiker) #2

If you are in the UK (guessing with the London name) then fibre has already been subtracted… sorry…
If you look under carbs it gives a number then of which sugar… under that is usually the fibre but it is not included in the carb total unlike the US where it is.

(Todd Allen) #3

It depends on many things. First are you eating keto for weight loss or to treat type 2 diabetes or some other health issue? Do you know to what degree you are insulin resistant? Protein is also insulinogenic and if you eat a lot of protein and have hyperinsulinemia you may need to be strict with carbs to get in ketosis. Athletes and others with high levels of physical activity can have increased tolerance for carbs. And the choice of carbs may make a difference. Indigestible fiber or slower digesting carbs such as resistant starch may have less impact than quick digesting refined sugars and starches. Even the type of sugar can make a difference. For example fructose behaves much differently than glucose. It doesn’t provoke insulin and can be more benign for some but for others with fatty liver it can be worse.

Some choose to be very strict on their carbs just in case they are among the ones with little tolerance. Others test/monitor ketones and glucose to get a sense of how they respond to various foods. I monitor and find my tolerance varies widely with exercise, meal frequency and timing, protein intake and factors like stress and quality of sleep.

Also, alcohol is processed similar to fructose in the liver. Problematic for some and less so for others. It probably should be counted against the carb budget but I don’t know of a formula for doing so.

(Clare) #4

I’m using Keto for weight loss and to avoid future diabetes. I had some joint pain issues and an intermittent skin condition which I think was due to inflammation. Since going low carb the symptoms have got much better. I started at 204 pounds, have lost 30 pounds so far. I have a target of 140 pounds (or just below). My pattern of weight loss has been a few pounds down, one to two weeks consolidation, a pound or two down, then 4 weeks static, before going back to a few pounds down again.

I am logging my food in MFP & have Carbs set to 23, Fat at 150 & Protein at 90. I am moderately active. In addition to tending my veg plot which is the size of a tennis court, I walk 2-3 miles at least 3 times a week. I used to work out at a gym & swim a mile a few times a week & steadily gained weight! But that was before I discovered LCHF & Keto.

One issue I have is that I struggle to eat the fat. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s that I had my gallbladder removed a few years ago & if I eat too much fat at one meal I suffer the consequences. Looking over the past few weeks records, I see that most days I am eating between 60/70g protein and fat has been varying between 60-100g. One good thing is that since starting this WOE I am never hungry, have sometimes skipped meals due to lack of hunger.

(Clare) #5

If you are in the UK (guessing with the London name) then fibre has already been subtracted… sorry…

Oh well, seemed to good to be true! I suppose I was hopeful of subtracting a few numbers for the sake of not going into the red on MFP. It’s academic anyway (for the time being) as I’m still losing weight. Once my weight loss really stalls I’ll have to address it, won’t I:blush:

(Todd Allen) #6

It sounds like you are doing great. A big benefit of ketosis is the reduction in hunger and crashes in energy that compel one to eat. Unintentionally skipping meals and losing weight at a moderate pace is ideal.

There aren’t concrete limits on carbs either net or total. The guidelines are to help people achieve the state it sounds like you are in, If undeniable hunger comes back that can be a sign to add more fat and/or get stricter on the carbs. I try to follow the advice of “eat fat to satiety” instead of targeting a certain number of fat grams. And there is little downside to spreading fat consumption throughout the day, putting a little butter, cream or coconut oil in each tea or coffee as needed to keep hunger in check. Unlike snacking on carbs or protein, modest amounts of fat provoke minimal insulin response.

(Skip Cody) #7

Don’t change what you are currently doing until you run into a stall. I find that if it is working today do not mess with it.

(James storie) #8

It sounds like you are doing great! I wouldn’t worry about it unless you hit a major stall and aren’t satisfied with where you are at. I’m at a point right now where I think my body is at its lower limits of fat percentage, although I would like to lose some more. It looks lie the rest is going to be hard for me.