Net Carbs vs Total Carbs, A Poll


#21

Yes, definitely. Sometimes it seems to me that people imagine the impossibility of something instead of just trying it. It’s unknown territory, we can’t possibly know how we will change and what we will desire. There are a few exceptions like I always will love fat, I consider it impossible to change, it never did and I lowered my fat intake ages ago when I went low-carb though I don’t know my old intake but it must have been super high and I still desire a lot… Just not in any ratio, I am not fit for a huge fat percentage (but would do if needed).

Some changes were very quick, basically immediately. I lost my peanut addiction RIGHT AWAY (well, if I went off, it came back, weaker but still), I lost interest in chocolate (it kind of came back? not really a desire but it sounds a good idea sometimes…? but the amount is always tiny. I still LOVE cocoa though)… Losing interest in onions took a longer time (it’s too sweet) and while I still use tomato here and there, its amount is negligible.
My desire towards fruit plummeted but no way I stop eating them, it’s a complicated multilayered thing between us and no amount of sugar and sweetness hating can’t ruin it. (I don’t hate sweetness, just the excessive amount of it. Basically all fruits are way too sweet, raw quince and lemon is still okay. Raspberries too, they are very, very sweet - they were sour and barely sweet on my original keto - but just right for a tiny amount like 10-20g. That’s a great amount for almost any fruit I want to eat. But I stop talking about fruit now… Though I could say that cooked apricot isn’t nearly sweet enough, it’s very sour. What does chemistry there I can’t imagine as it’s nothing like the super sweet, not too sour raw thing…)

I don’t know how it is with others but I lost interest in my beloved vegs (I thought I could became a vegan way easier than giving up my vegs. I was wrong, apparently) before I tried out carnivore but whenever I tried them later, they were meh and sometimes even the taste was off…? My old favs are inedible and pointless for me. There are exceptions though.

Nuts just became obsolete…? I feel them tasty but they are just not needed. I eat them occasionally though, I break walnuts all the time nowadays and it’s my fav nut but it’s for my rare off days, I can break, sort, dry and ground 1000g without eating more than 1g just fine :slight_smile: It’s simple for me: if I don’t let plant carbs come in, temptation has little chance. If I add something, I start to change (I usually say “carbs mess with me”, it’s only for non-animal net carbs as far as I know) - but if I have good new habits and changed attitude, I still can’t be the same as I was before. I want other things now, my old carby favs don’t have power on me anymore. It’s great. Trying out carnivore was one of my best ideas ever. And it was such a crazy idea in my case…

Bread? Never was into bread, lived years without any just fine but my carnivore sponge cakes are the best bread I could have. A bit soft (or crispy if freshly made) so I can’t do everything a bread can but I don’t miss those. And I do have a low-carb bread, it’s not so great except for thoroughly crunchy sticks. I can’t do that from eggs only. Or I didn’t figure out how. But I don’t want to bother with making egg powder… Maybe adding cheese would work but only for very cheesy sticks…

So it’s possible we change MORE we can imagine. And I didn’t even do carnivore for more than 2 weeks, I have off days, I have even high-carb off days though those are super rare. I eat plenty of carby things (just rare and tiny amounts) and still, this process continues… Just like my SO felt things sweeter and sweeter after cutting out added sugar, no matter how much sugar and sweets he kept eating. I don’t even understand, the molecules are similar…


(Robin) #22

Silly question. Pretend I am a newbie. I voted total carb. I thought that was when you do NOT deduct fiber. Do I have it backward? I am surprised at some of the folks on the net carbs side.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #23

You’re right. Total carbohydrate includes fibre, net carbohydrate does not.

The situation is complicated, because of nutritional labelling. In the U.S., the carbohydrate line on the nutrition panel is total carbohydrate, including fibre (it used to say simply “Carbohydrate,” but they’ve now changed it to “Total Carbohydrate” to give us a hint), whereas elsewhere in the world, the line that says “Carbohydrate” does not include fibre. If one subtracts the “fibre” amount from the “carbohydrate” amount and gets a negative number, that is because the label is from outside the U.S.

So, in U.S. (and Canada, too, I believe):

  • net carbs = “Total Carbohydrate” - “Fiber”
  • total carbs = “Total Carbohydrate”

Elsewhere:

  • net carbs = “Carbohydrate”
  • total carbs = “Carbohydrate” + “Fibre”

#24

Total carbs have fiber and things like erythritol on top of net carbs. Though some people count some of the erythritol as net carbs and 100% of xylitol as net carbs. I count 40% of xylitol as net, none for erythritol but actually it doesn’t matter to me at all… Since I tried carnivore and changed in various ways, I started to say that if I eat enough sweetener that it matters if it’s xylitol or erythritol in my carb count, I eat way too much sweetener… :wink:
I definitely eat way more sugar than sweetener nowadays anyway.

And some of our labels doesn’t help with tracking as it counts poliols as net and I can’t have any idea… Good thing I never buy stuff with sweetener…


#25

I stick to under 20 total carbs as my goal and am often much lower. I don’t worry if I go over from time to time. Especially on celebration days, but that is rare. However, that doesn’t mean I go up past 40 total carbs. Just allow myself a little bit more room. But I started out very, very fat - over 350 lbs (my scale didn’t go above that number). Even though that was 4 years ago, I’m still careful.


#26

yea me too cause it showed to me ‘a possible’ hopeful’ to eat more carbs with that net which never would suit my body. I learned real fast a carb is a carb LOL BUT I have to say, some can net and do way better on it and it will never be a ‘poll’ ya know cause we never all all the same :star_struck:


#27

What is your weight now on doing what you are doing for you to make it work? In 4 yrs how ya doing? :sunny:


(Joey) #28

If the car crash involved hitting a deer, then perhaps we may chalk that up to a death involving meat. :nerd_face:


#29

My weight went up a bit in 2021 (around Christmas and into this year when I started eating a lot more meat, dairy and almost no carbs at all. I also added lots of animal fat, so this is probably why I gained a clothes size.

Several months ago I cut down my mostly unlimited protein to less then 150 (now usually closer to 100 grams or less) and cut down my added fats as well. I don’t weigh myself anymore, but I can tell from my clothes that my body fat is stable now. I LOVE really fatty meat, and can eat LOTS, but I always ask myself, “Am I really hungry? Is this just meat candy?” I have always had issues with eating which I think may be related to having so little available when I was growing up. We often had very little food.

I wish I could say I started losing fat again, but I just think I’m stable. I am trying to eat a bit of fermented veggie with active cultures again, adding sour kraut and kimchi and the like.

Oh, I have switched to goat cheese. I feel good, not hungry and am doing pretty good. As long as I don’t gain any more body fat back, I feel like I’m in a good place for now. I weigh around 185 lbs at the moment, based on my clothing. :grinning:


(Megan) #30

rofl


(Megan) #31

When I did keto briefly before going carnivore I counted net carbs and 90% of my carbs came from green leafy and cruciferous veg. I was eating very little veg and meat prior to deciding to change what I was eating, mostly living on pasta with pasta sauce and hummus, cheese sandwiches and some bakery runs (aka binges). I needed something to help me feel full, or at least give me the mental/emotional sense I had eaten a reasonable quantity of food, to stave off what’s always been a diet killer for me - feeling deprived.


(Robin) #32

Ah ha! Got it. How did I not know that?


(Allie) #33

I know others who struggle for the same reason, but for me it’s the opposite as we very rarely had treats and often had no food at all, so I never learnt to see food as a comfort and never used it as an emotional crutch which makes it easier for me now.


#34

Nett carbs always felt like dodgy accounting to me.


#35

It’s interesting how our experiences as children can affect us so many years later! I remember we had “lots” of food when my father got paid, and then had bare shelves (a little white rice, some ketchup, a can of green beans) towards his next paycheck. I tend to have this fear of being without any food that has always stayed with me and even SO many years later, affects me. It’s why I still, after 4 years eating this way, track my food. It is a visual reminder that I’m OK.


(Pete A) #36

Under 20 gross carbs. Usually ends up around 10ish net. Works for me!


#37

We had plenty of food when I was a kid. Sometimes too much, actually. I could eat all I wanted but Mom chose which meats and cheese (only one and it wasn’t good) to buy. So I became a vegetarian as I got bored of chicken every Sunday :smiley: (We typically had vegetarian food on other days except some Vienna sausage and deli meat.) I stopped being a vegetarian when I moved out but I was used to not eating meat so it was a few times a year… Poor me, vegs are so much work and they never satiated me, merely were super delicious…

I think I overate all my life. Probably quite seriously but I have no data and my body is reluctant to gain fat. I had sweets in the end of nearly every meal, almost all of the homemade cake and cookies were mine… It wasn’t helpful when I changed my ways. Oh, first I started to eat WAY less fat and calories and stayed fat as I still ate too much… My maintenance food was so, so tiny compared to my previous intake. And I miss fat since I went low-carb…

Our old habits and childhood circumstances surely effect us in various ways. I mostly felt the force of habits (but carnivore could undo most of those too, it was almost magical). I imagine not having enough food is much worse.
I often feel I ate soooo much and sooo tasty food in my life that I can afford putting a less emphasis on it now. I still need tasty food for me to be able to stomach it and anyway, eating is one of my major joy force but really, I tried and had so much, I appreciate some simple and more practical now.


(Robin) #38

@FrankoBear, me too. I don’t trust ‘em. That’s why I always round up.


#39

I generally keep my total carbohydrate count to just under 10. Some days only 5. And occasionally, if I feel like it, somewhere closer to 20. I switch it up and keep my body guessing.