Concerned about carbs.

I went to a local support group meeting last night.  My surgeon, and therefore, his support group  is approximately an hour away from my house and i went to this one (a different surgeon) because it was only 10 mins. away.  Anyway, all of the people at this meeting had gastric bypasses (the reason i didn't use this particular closer surgeon because he didn't do the VSG).  In the course of the discussion, many people talked about carbohyrate intake and how it had to be kept at or below certain levels.  While this makes sense to me, NONE of my info. from my surgeon talks about carbs.  I am almost 8 weeks out from surgery and doing fairly well.  Perhaps, as i go along, they will start to talk about carbs but now i am most CONCERED and want to know what other people's recomendations/"rules" about carbs were from their surgeons.  Am i supposed to be couunting carbs and if yes, what is the maximum amount of carbs allowed per day?  I am asking this forum as we are all or mostly VSGers...different from the group i attended last night.  Is there a dfifference depending on TYPE of WLS?

I would like to know this too. I am only 3 1/2  weeks out  and once I added carbs back in the weight started dropping off drastically again. Plus I get full faster and longer! What I do know is that my Doctor says carbs are a big no no! In fact if he had it his way we would NEVER eat them again. I just can't do that because I am a carb eater and the reason I chose this surgery is so I could eat what I wanted, but in very limited amounts! But everyone is different and all Doctors vary so very much, so it would certainly be interesting to see what others do!

 

Susan,

This is not cast in stone, but I believe I read somewhere that we need 70 grams of protein, 40 grams of carbs, and 30 grams of fat in our post-op diets.

That being said, it would be better to get the info from your NUT.

HTH, Fred

Hello Susan, I was told to stay between 60 & 80 grams of protien and below 40 grams of carbs per day.  Also, within those carbs stay away from white breads, rice, etc.   Hope this helps, Theresa

Okay, 40 gms carbs a day. But are those good carbs(whole wheat,grains, brown rice) or is it all carbs good and bad?  I wish I knew. jac

I asked my NUT about this - it seems the VSG docs don't focus as much on carbs because we're so much less likely to experience dumping syndrome than RNYs.   My NUT said the primary focus is on PROTEIN (we started @ 60-70 gms/day, now I'm told to increase to 70-80 gms/day).  CARBS should be no more than 12 gms/serving; fat is "in moderation".  The NUT focuses not so much on restricting carbs and fat, but on making healthy choices:  whole grains, fruit & veggies, fiber, good oils vs. saturated fats. (all the things we know are best for us, and on a restrictive diet, are important to eat).  If you do this, you don't have much room for junk!   But I've also been puzzled over the wide variety of regimens - I'm glad you raised the question.   Hope this helps - Katt

Thank you, all.  However, in some ways, this confuses me even more.  For instance, while i know we all have different guidelines as we all (or most of us) used different surgeons, i was told that for women, a minimum of 50 grams of protein/day was sufficient.  As i said, nothing about AMOUNT of carbs were mentions, however, the KIND of carbs were.  As many of you said, i too was told about good carbs...brown rice, wheat breads, fruit & veggies, etc.  Nothing about fats or the amount of fats were mentioned other than to keep it low so as not to get nauseaus.  Not absolute numbers.  Will call my NUT today to get further information.  It would be so much easier if all the docs and nuts got together, wrote a "standard" manual and used that as a guideline for the patients.  That way, we would have our little books in our tight little fists and could refer to them as needed.  Oh well, a pipe dream, i guess.  Again, thank all of you for your responses.

Susan,  I concur with Katt. Make sure to get the protein in (range from 50 to 80 or 90), eat the "good" carbs (brown rice, whole grains, etc...), stay away from the white stuff (white bread, flour, rice, etc...), and limit fats and oils choosing Mono and poly - unsaturated over the saturated fats.  Just do the best you can!!! Your body will give you some signals as to what isn't working well. No one is perfect and you won't be either. When you slip, acknowledge the old behavior trying to take charge and then whip it into shape. The more times you get yourself back on track, the more you reinforce your new eating habits and the old (not so great) habits weaken. You will build more confidence in your instincts and trust your own judgment every time you pull yourself back on track. Happy Journey!!!

My handbook says "Adding carbohydrates back into the diet is not recommended until 50-70% of excess weight loss has been attained."  Yeah right! I would have replied sooner but I just spent 20 minutes cleaning out the microwave after my tiny bowl of refried beans exploded.  Cleaning nuked beans off of the ceiling of the microwave....now that's bad carbs.

Susan, Hang in there...............i truly suggest that you stick with your surgeon, your nut and do as they say. Consider everyone elses thoughts just that things to think about. My surgeon has "strict" food guidelines, however not all do and they loose as much if not more weight. Stick with what you know and what is working for you!~ jeni