Counting carbs or net carbs?

I count total carbs and rarely (almost never!) go over 30 per day!
Not much room for carbs if you focus on protein and fluids!

I'll be honest, I don't count carbs -- I just count protein and calories; because if I get in my 60+ protein grams for the day, and keep my calories around the 700 to 900 mark (as specified by my doctor) I have NO ROOM for extra carbs.

Last night I made the family some corn bread with dinner. I had my chicken first, a few bites of brocolli, one slice of nectarine, and I was full. No room for additional carbs.

I've found that if I concentrate on what I DO need, I don't have to worry so much about limiting what I shouldn't eat. I just can't fit it in....

Thanks guys! I see my nutritionist next week so I will ask them. They didn't give me specific # guidelines and I have been drinking a lot of milk lately and that has a lot of carbs - so I am going to change it up this week and focus on staying below 40ish a day. I did find low carb wraps and crackers to sub for milk and the wraps have the same amount of protein as milk - go figure! I will post back once I get insight from nutritionist.

The real reason for low carb is to get into Ketosis. Fiber and sugar alcohol carbs generally do not have the same effects on your body and do not prevent you from entering Ketosis (which is different than ketoacidosis). Ketosis is when you are losing weight.

I was a devout follower of Atkins and stayed under 20gm NET carbs per day. It worked. I would deduct fiber and sugar alcohol. I had no problem getting into Ketosis and staying there.

When I talked to my NUT about low carb recently she did tell me that thoughts had changed somewhat and that we now only deduct 1/2 of the fiber and sugar alcohols.

My bottom line for me is I test on a stick (you can get them from pharmacy) and if I am Ketosis I know I am doing the right low carb thing and losing. Thats all I need.

So, this is me, and my "issue", but it might help you.

I counted ALL carbs and kept them at 30gr of less per day. Maybe rarely, I hit 40grams per day but that was when I probably within 5-10lbs of my goal weight and working out.

So, for me this whole counting "net" carbs was just a justification method in my little fat brain. Like Brandilynn says "Justification and masturbation are one in the same; In the end, you're just screwing yourself." This was my thought-process. I could "justify" eating half of any apple, or "high protein" oatmeal because I could subtract the fiber, or I could suck it up and eat a protein focused meal and be done with it. That in my little mind was killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

Hit protein goal and stay below my carb guideline without having to worry about all that adding, subtracting, worrying about reading more labels.

I track both.  I stay below 30 total and 20 net for food and supplements.