How Many Carbs Do You Vets Take In?

I'm nearly 1 year post op. I have written here recently about some plateauing and some loss of restriction recently. That being said, I am trying to do a little restructuring to make the most of my food and weight loss since I am still close to 50lbs from goal, post VSG. 

I am using MyFitnessPal religiously to track my intake and one of the features allows you to adjust your daily nutrient goals, among other things. I am not really sure how many calories or carbs I should be taking in and I can't count on my restriction to keep me in line. 

What do you vets think? 

Hi there! I had my surgery back on 4/11, so it's been a while. I was a strict tracker from day one, kept it around 800 cal to up to a max of 1000/1200 on a regular basis, sub 40g carbs- usually around 20g, and 70g protein till I hit goal at a year..  stayed at it to lose a bit extra over another couple months. 

Now, I eat about 1600cal to maintain, I lose well at 1200, no longer really track that unless I'm checking in, so some days are less, some significantly more, but it averages out to that 1600-1800 range. I do still avoid eating much of the white carbs (flours/grains, potatoes, sugar) - but I do have them on occasion. My carbs are normally range from 50g to maybe near 100g on high days now? I did and still do eat meat first though, then veggies with butter etc. I pretty much eat a high fat, moderate protein, low carb intake now. I'm more relaxed about the food, but focusing on really tasty fatty dense meats, with lots of flavor- and good veggies/fruits, and avoiding anything pre-packaged or processed (even the low-carb diet snacks stuff) keeps things working well without a lot of thought. I do have a bit of chocolate almost every day- not milk though, but the dark stuff- love it.

This is helpful. How did you keep your carbs so low? What were your go too foods and snacks? 

The first year, pretty much ate meat first, then veggies if room.. more room=more veggies. Occasional berries with sweetener in my Fage Greek yogurt as a snack. I never made anything else, and never had anything else in the house, so no temptation. I'd have meat and 2 veg sides (for variety) with dinner, lunches were meat/eggs/veggies.. so just whole foods, protein from animal sources, full-fat dairy in small amounts, and veggies I prepped and cooked. I still can only eat 3-4oz meat, and a bit of veg if I'm not eating stuff like grains/bread/rice/beans. I max out about 6oz, sometimes 7 if it's something softer like eggplant parm (no breading, plenty of cheese!) I can eat more if I'm eating things like steel cut oats, which I have on occasion now, but didn't for a couple years post-op. 

Go to foods early out: meat, good lunchmeats (roast beef, rare, turkey), cheese sticks, cheddar cheese, eggs all ways, lots of lettuce wraps, ground beef crack slaw, leftover veggies, shrimp ****tail, avocado and tuna salad... ate dinner leftovers for lunch most times though. Pretty much got onto a lot of keto/low carb cooking sites online and stuck to things like that. There are a lot of really fantastic ideas out there, jus****ch out for all the keto/low-carb "sweets" - they are a slippery slope!

Basically if it swam or walked, I'd eat it - if it grew from the ground and didn't have starch or taste sweet, same. I actually ended up having a bigger variety of foods I eat now, than before- just from exploring and experimenting!

Not a vet -- but I am two years out and have lost over 200 lbs.

I never eat more than 40 grams of carbs and more often, I eat less than 35.  To lose, less than 950 calories, greater than 80 g protein, less than 35 grams of carbs and at least 65 oz of water.  For maintenance, I have to stay under 1200 calories and 40 g. carbs or I begin to gain.

HTH.

I'm 3 1/2 years out and I was told not to worry about the carbs, because if I concentrated on keeping my protein intake between 70-100 grams a day I would be fine.  I lost 125lbs and have kept it off with that thinking.  Like another poster stated, I ate my meat first, then some veggie and sweet potato, as I progressed.  Now I am a little more lax, but every meal has protein in it and if it doesn't, I will get hungry quickly after the meal that didn't have protein.  I still eat 5-6 times a day.

How does a vegan get in enough protein and at the same time keep out carbs?