Question about Carbs for the PostOps

Hello, everyone! I have a question about carbs. Of course, in my meals I always consume my protein source first. As I have gotten further out (I am now about 6 months out at 100 pounds lost), I will typically have a protein shake for breakfast, yogurt or other low-fat dairy for snack, a high-protein Lean Cuisine for lunch, and a light dinner that is usually a tiny piece of fish or chicken and a veggie if I have room left. Sometimes I will have no sugar added fudgesicles/popsicles, fruit or nuts for snack. I would estimate that I am consuming about 800 calories per day, and would estimate that I am getting around 50-60 carb grams. I do make my carbs whole-grains when I have them. I try to stay away from breads generally because they tend to get stuck no matter how much I chew and make me overfull. I also have PCOS and hypothyroidism, which means that carbs can be very bad for me when it comes to my metabolism. My question: is there a set number of carb grams that anyone has found that they should not exceed in order to keep losing or to maintain their weight? I am very curious what people's experience has been with carbs. I have noticed that my weight loss is starting to slow, which is scaring me, but I am staying the course and keeping up my vigorous exercise, protein, fluids and vitamins. I find myself being able to eat more than in the early days and it is scaring me...being scared of food I think can be a bad thing and could result in bad consequences if I don't get my mind around it. I am scared that perhaps I am eating too many carbs and that is why I am slowing. Or perhaps I am being paranoid...but I think everyone has those thoughts where they are going to come to a dead stop at 200 pounds and not be able to lose any more.  Thanks for taking the time to assist me with this question and share your thoughts! Dawn C

If you are not already working with a nutritionist from your surgeon's practice, you could ask this question on the Nutrition forum at OH.  It's staffed with 3 professional nutritionists. I think you'll get a range of answers on this forum as every surgeon gives different guidelines.  My nutritionist told me to get in 800 cal and 100g protein per day and that 60-70 g carbs would be fine as long as they were mainly from protein foods (milk, cheese, yogurt), vegetables and occasional fruits.

For 15 months I lived a very low carb diet . I got no less than 20 carbs a day . I am diabetic , and this was the only means that helped me over come the disease , along with the weightloss . Some say wow that is low . But I made sure my protein was high and stayed away from all pasta, sugar , white flour .. etc .  I  did not start eating any bread until I was 15 months post op . I had toast . I will never forget how it tasted for the first time . I was a very heavy bread lover mind you .  Today , I eat a low carb diet , I would guess that my carbs are about 50 . I eat a lot of veggies , tofu , sashimi, tuna . I love seafood !! And it loves me back .  You must understand how motabolism works . You must speed it up . And you are not going to speed it up to burn calories unless you drop the carbs . Yes your body needs carbs for brain functions , but these are good carbs . Legumes , beans - whole wheat , seeds ...etc  You will in time be able to eat more . But in reality , is it a very large amount . No .. but it is more than newly post op . OMG I freaked out the first time I had a hamburger , on lettuce mind you .. I ate half .. and it scared me . But it went down ok .. was 3 ounces of protein .. it was all good .  It all depends on what you are eating . I can eat ... ready for this .. 6 crab leg claws .. why .. > they are dense and not that much work , imagine how I felt when that happend .. You must be careful not to adjust your calories too low . At 8 months out .. my top calorie count was 900 .. I had to up it to 1000 . And I lost even more . I now get in about 1300 daily . This WORKS FOR ME .. and may not work for other long term post ops . I cannot and will not fail at this . I refuse to gain weight and I practice .. live and walk the walk . Do I make wrong food choices . Yes .. and I just walk it off and tommorow is another day .  Back to the carbs ... try looking at the South Beach Diet . This worked for me and still does . Now the low carbs in the first 2 weeks puts you into Ketosis . But that is a good thing . And once you get further into it .. you will be able to eat more good carbs and the ketosis goes away , but you still fire up that motabolism .  The weight will come off . Keep to to the formula . PROTEIN + WATER + EXERCISE = WEIGHTOSS  Hang in there sweety !  Tink

Thanks, Tink and Cleo! I am definitely making a note to ask Barbara or Jeanine next week when I go for my six-month appointment. I was trying to find the answer in the books the we received preop, but wasn't able to find it. I will also make a post on the Nutrition forum to see what comes up.  I guess carbs really make me scared because they were my weak point preop, and I recognize that low-carb really is the way to go. I am so afraid that the old bad habit of snacking on "crap carbs" will rear its ugly head if I am not careful. I used to be the one to go overboard on Snackwell's and lowfat chips, and I can easily see myself falling back into that if I am not careful, now that my appetite is slowly returning and I am able to eat more. But I am going to push push push to keep doing the right thing because I will not fail at this!

Ok....I'm a bit different........... To begin with (here is my disclaimer), you will need to find what works for you.  We are all different with different bodys, needs and activity levels.  What works for me, may not for you and vice versa.  So, this is simply me and what is working for me..... I have lost 130 pounds.  How did I do it?  Low carb.  In the beginning, my carbs were at about 30 - 50 grams per day.  But, after 1 year, my activity level really increased and I didn't feel too good while working out.  So, I increased them to 50 - 75 an felt alot better.  Now that I am at goal and am maintaining my weight, I have increased them to 100 to keep from over-shooting my goal (sounds funny, huh???).  Anyways....I also run 4 days a week and do the ellipticle, hike, walk, bike ride, etc.  So I am VERY active.  It was both, my nutritionist, my personal trainer and my doc all said that while carbs are not as important as originally thought, they are important.  And if I want to continue to work out like that then, the calories and carbs HAD to go up.  Or I was to stop working out so hard. So, faced with the choice...I increased my carbs/calories a bit (t where they should have been to begin with) and have been doing fine.  Some days it is scary because I eat a bit more, but my workout performance is better. My carbs consist of granola, fruit, brown rice, sweet potato, yogurt, protein bars, etc. My weight fluctuates by 3 pounds (it's irritating, but in perspective it isn't 10 pounds, right???).  So, as far as I am concerned, I have maintained my goal.  I can't seem to get below 135 - but that is ok.  Below would be too thin for me. Now, I am getting ready for PS surgery.  Since I will not be working out as hard, I plan to cut back to where I was. Before June (on average):   Calories - 1000 Carbs - 50  75 grams Protein - 125 Now (on average): Calories - 1200 Carbs - 75 to 100 grams protein - 135 to 140 So, I know this is a lengthy post and a bit different than the others, i wanted to give you a different perspective of what is working for someone else.

 

OH!  I pretty much follow the South Beach diet - that seems to work for me.

Thanks, Jill, for the great information! You are such an inspiration and I love reading about your athletic pursuits. I am pretty active as well and intend to begin running again once I can get my weight down to around 180 to save my poor knees...I used to be a 10K queen in my old skinny days and I am hoping to revitalize that activity once again. It looks like the tool is really working for you and is an excellent example for me to follow. I do have the South Beach diet book, and my surgeon did mention that the eating plan we'd be expected to follow for the rest of our lives would be similar to the South Beach.

I am a bit different also.  I ended up having problems with having low blood sugar since sugar.  After keeping a food journal for a few days and tracking my blood sugar levels.  My nut. & I saw that my body responded better to having carbs.  I honestly couldn't tell you how much I have in a day because I have never tracked the #'s but I have carbs with every meal, my snacks are usually high protein such as shakes, bars, or string cheese.  I do mainly stick with whole grain, wheat, etc. I am almost 2 years out.  Have been maintaining within a few lbs of my goal for about 6 months.  I did recently drop a couple of lbs after increasing my calories.  I haven't done much as far as work outs this summer (my activity level in general increased & I didn't do much structured exercise) but have started to get back into my structured exercising (just need to push a little bit more).  I realize that I am going to have to watch how my body reacts and see what happens.  I may need to up it some more when I increase the exercise. You may want to check with the nutritionist and make sure you are getting enough calorie wise in general.  I know that if you aren't getting enough the loss will slow as your metabolism slows.

Thanks, Courtney for the great information! And congratulations on your maintenance! The one great thing I am learning from everybody is that WLS has definitely made them more attentive to their bodies and what they need as individuals; in your case, with blood sugar issues to contend with. I am thinking it may be time to increase my calories by adding additional protein supplements. Luckily, I have my six month appointment next week and will definitely make it a point to ask.

I just checked out the Nutrition forum and there was some great information about carbs on a previous post from one of the nutritionists that I thought I'd share: Here are the basics - one carb serving is equal to 15 g of carbohydrate.  This equals one slice of bread, 1/2 c of pasta, 1 small banana, 1/2 cup of corn, etc.  15 g of carbs is considered one serving, so it is also a way to determine a recommended serving of a starch, fruit, starchy vegetable, or grain. For those who have used diabetic meal planning, weigh****chers, or another diet plan this is a pretty standard amount. Now, when I teach this, I tell people that 12-18g equals one serving because some foods don't fit nicely into the 15 g guideline.  A 8 oz. serving of milk has 12 g of carbs, that counts as a serving. So that explains servings. For the calorie level and number of portions.  I take the recommended amount of calories and allow 50% to be used for carbs.  So if you eat a 1200 calorie diet, 600 calories can come from carbs.  A carbohydrate has 4 calories per gram and we are allowing 15 g per serving. 600 calories divided by 4 calories per gram = 150 grams 150 grams divided by 15 g per serving = 10 servings That explains the number of servings.