CARBS

Hi,

I am taking a step back because I am finding that I am slipping back under the carb monster and before it gets out control i would like to change this. I log all my food on my fitness pal. I have a hard time though as I am confused about carbs. I understand that bread, crackers, etc are bad carbs....but what about fruit etc? How many carbs do you aim or in a day? I heard some people say 50g but I can go above this no problem without having bad carbs. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Like i said, I am ending this before it becomes a problem.

Oh I'm right there with ya sista..... that damn carb monster has been sneaking into my house, right under my nose and in my shopping bags.

I told my DH last night to get it out of the house, put it in his car, take it towork before i threw it all out. It's come in the form of baked goods. Had some events to go to, took it and it ended up coming home with me.

I've put on 3lbs in 3 days. YUP....

Now what I do is log on fitday.com and just keep  my carbs under 30% of my daily intake. I count the fruit and vegi's and it real easy to go over 30%, but if you do, they are good, just stay away from the bad stuff.

My hubby looked at me like i was nuts saying i had to lose 3lbs and i said, it starts with just a few and blows up from there, i have to keep an eye on this from the get go, getting lazy ends up putting me back where i was and that IS NOT ALLOWED in my new healthy living lifestyle.

So that's for posting this, and helping me get back on track too.

Hi there

That always confuses me too, but if you log it into My Fitness Pal it will tell you how many carbs in all of those things. But then again the fruit and vegetables are good carbs. I think you should have some carbs in your food. Just not the extra carbs like bread, pasta etc
Also the MFP should tell you how many carbs you should be having

Take care
good luck

Fruit is a good carb. I took me a long time to find a good balance between the good carbs (fruit etc) and the bad carbs (breads- I only eat body wise, weigh****cher or "thin" sliced wonder breads, just depends on where I buy it at the time) crackers etc).

What did your dietician say was a good number for you? I know at my 6months follow up, mine told me "up to 150g" per day. I hardly ever get up to that number; I don't even make it to 100g/day and i told her that I wasn't comfortable with eating 150g but I eat all day long (B,S,L,S,D,S) of low carb foods. Some days, the days that I work really hard, I need a few more carbs.

I use Jdance's approach too - keep total carbs under 33% for the day.  Notwithstanding whether they are "good" or "bad" carbs, the toal can't be more than 33% of the day's calories.  This is the TWH guideline for weight loss, and Fitday makes this extrememly easy to monitor.  In my own experience this and getting in the protein are the keys to success.  When it creeps up over 33% the weight loss slows down significantly for me.

The key is to try to eat my 33% in good carbs.  In my case it's primarily from skim milk (to boost the  protein in protein shakes) & a little from greek yogurt, fruit (strawberries are relatively low carb), and All Bran Buds and beans/lentils for fibre.  The more protein you eat, the more carbs you can have because of the % rule (1,000 calories total gives 330 calories of carbs for the day; 500 calories gives about 165 carbs, etc.) .  If you eat bad carbs you just use up your allowance for the day and kick yourdelf for the nutrional choice (lol).  Obviously the total calories for the day is the overall controller.

Claire
HW348
CW182
9 months post-op

My carbs range from 65g to 120g a day, with 90% coming from fruits and veggies. I track my daily on myfitnesspal.com using an average of 1,000 calories per day.

Not sure if any OHer's are linked on the food trackers or not, but if anyone is interested in linking up on myfitnesspal let me know.

hey moselle - I'm on myfitnesspal too but not really using it full blast yet as am still mostly fluids & protein shakes with slow introduction of soft/pureed food. how did you change the target to 1000 daily calories? i'm always getting a "you haven't reached the daily caloric limit" thing because it calculated my daily calorie needs based on my current weight & height and does not consider that I have had WLS.

edit: never mind, I found it!

I was told by dietician that I should be aiming for at least 100g-150g of carbs/day. At the time, I was only getting about 30-40 and she asked me if I was having any problems thinking etc.  (Brain needs carbs to work.)   Most of my daily carbs come from fruits, veggies, etc.  I include some grains to get fibre, but not in seductive form - I don't eat pasta, bread (other than occasional small slice of rye bread).  I go for Kashi cereal, or melba toast or crackers to go with my cheese etc.

If you do a little research on simple and complex carbs, it makes it easier to understand.  SparkPeople journal had a good article just a day or so ago.

Your brain does not need dietary carbs to think. This is misinformation I've heard propagated by some nutritionists. You brain preferentially burns glucose, a type of sugar that carbs get converted into in the body (remember - all absorbed carbs are just sugar to your body), but in the absence of carbs from your diet, the liver processes stored fat into an alternative fuel that the brain can use equally as well - this is the process of ketosis. Some people when they fist enter ketosis has a few days or even up to a couple of weeks during this transition where they feel 'foggy' and may find things slipping their mind, but this is not a permanent state, just temporary while your body adjusts. Most people overcome it very quickly and find that they feel as good or better than they did when comsuming high levels of carbs, and the metabolic process at play is efficiently burning your fat stores to accomplish this.

When you're in maintenance and no longer need to be in ketosis for weight loss, your body doesn't need more than 100g of carbs a day, that's more than enough to fulfill all its functions.

Here's my take on carbs. I'm sure others will have other opinions. Contrary to popular belief, most fruit are simple carbs. The sugar in fruit is fructose, which enters the blood stream immediately. Fructose is also being investigated as a cause of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease, with the presence of High Fructose Corn Syrup in many everyday foods thought to be the biggest culprit of this disease. I'm of the opinion that fruit is not a good food group in general for WLS patients, as their diets are supposed to focus on protein and avoid sugar. Fruit is pure sugar and there are less calorie dense ways of getting fibre and vitamins.

There are veggies that are also poor choices; potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, cooked carrots, are very starchy and high in carbs, plus you can't absorb most of the nutrients in them (the vitamin A in sweet potatoes for example must be absorbed in a part of the small intestine that is completely bypassed with the RNY). Broccoli, peppers, spinach are all good options that are low in carbs and calories, and also have meaningful amounts of nutrients in them that are worth having in your diet regularly.

Legumes, beans, lentils, seeds and nuts all have a lot of carbs but the protein, healthy fats and other nutrients make them worth having in small portions.

Grains, even whole grains, should basically be thought of as junk food, indulgences to be limited. There is no need for them in your post-op diet and there is little benefit you derive from them. Pasta, bread, crackers, cereal, rice, etc. There is basically no protein in them and no nutrient in these foods that you can't get from a better source.

Sugar - I'm sure this goes without saying.

As for calculating, take your total carbs and minus out any fibre and you have your net carbs for the day. Many people find they have to keep this number under 50 for losing and under 100 for maintenance.