You might have heard terms such as 'net carbs' and 'impact carbs' in relation to fibre.

You might even see them on a variety of foods targeted at promoting weight loss (e.g Grenade protein bars).

But what do these terms mean? And, more importantly, should they affect how you track and manage your calorie intake?

Let's start with the definitions:

Net Carbs: Total Carbs - Fibre

Impact Carbs: Total Carbs - Fibre - Sugar Alcohol

Why is this even a thing? Good question.

As fibre is indigestible by the body, theoretically, your body is not absorbing these calories. So, it might make sense to remove these from the tracking process. But there's a twist in the plot... Your body DOES get energy from fibre, albeit not as much as regular carbohydrate.

Your body gets c. 2 kcals per gram of fibre.

Similarly, your body does not fully absorb sugar alcohols. These are ingredients found in many products containing artificial sweeteners. Depending on the sugar alcohol being used, calories absorbed can range from 0.2 kcals per gram to 4.3 kcals per gram.

So should you care about all this?

My advice... NO.

It's far too much of a headache to manage and would offer no significant benefit.

Only concentrating on total carb and calorie consumption will not work against you, when it comes to fat loss.

In fact it might work in your favour. And if your diet has approximately 30-35g of fibre, then your intake is unlikely to be excessive.