Questions for those doing Atkins with Lap Band

[kristallynn13 18]

I am currently awaiting insurance approval for my Lap Band. I have been on Atkins for 3 months and losing weight at a nice pace. I would like to continue Atkins once I get banded. I am curious as to what you fellow Atkineers ate during all phases of Lap Band diet..immediately post-op, liquid, full liquid, puree/mushy, and finally regular foods.

I have this vision in my head of living of off Protein Shakes for the rest of my life. Would love some suggestions during all phases that would be Atkins and Band friendly. Thanks ahead of time for the info.

[dmg223 1]

An Atkins like diet is very doable with the Lapband. My Dr has me on Protein Shakes, lean Proteins & non starchy veggies, so everything is low carb. I probably stay right around 20 carbs a day. During the mushy stage I ate a lot of canned chicken mixed with a little nonfat greek yogurt & Franks red hot sauce, and a very well blended veggie (baby food consistency). Now that I have been eating solid foods for a while I have no problems sticking to a low carb diet, only difference then Atkins is that I also try to stay pretty low fat as well.

Good Luck!

[kristallynn13 18]

Thank you DMG. I will definitely be eating alot of mushy veggies.

[MelissaNY 16]

I agree with DMG, we also share the same bariactric dr office.

It is very easy to stay low carb and or Atkins diet. I have done atkins off and on for my whole life being overweight.

The only difference i have found now is that i stay away from the high fat stuff. On atkins pre band i would have a burger with no bun and xx cheese or chicken wings, lots of cheese on everything , not now. I stoped eating red meat a year b4 being banded . i will once in a while have a 1/2 of cheese burger with no bun, but i make sure i walk that off the next day.

I also will have baby bell light cheese or try to have low fat string cheese for my cheese fix. i try to eat a mix of atlins and south beach lol

i eat about 20-50 grams of carbs a day and i stay under 1000 calories a day,

Its very easy to eat low carb being banded. it helps if you track you food also, do u do that currently? i use my fitness pal and its great , alot of banders are on there and its nice to see everybodys food diary ! sometimes when u see what you eat it helps.

just watch your portions !!

[genesishanna 2]

I did Atkins pre op and did okay with my weight loss. I plan on sticking to thelow carbs post op, but not as restrictive as Atkins and there is a reason for that.

When I was pre-op, just like the other times I have tried Atkins and have done well; however, after some time I would deviate with something small like nuts or sushi every now and again. Immediately it would knock me off my weight loss track and I would get discouraged. I do not want that to happen to me now. The last thing i want to do is make the same mistakes on lapband that I did in the past. While, a low carb intake is do-able on lap band, I think it should be just that- a low carb intake. Fad diets didnt work before the surgery and I dont expect them to work after.

Everyone's journey is different, so what works for one may not work for the other. I try to remember that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again, but expect different results. Atkins will produce the weight loss in the beginning, but what happens when you eat a spoonful of rice one day and that halt's your weigh-loss? Are you going to be strong enough to deal with the possibility of slowly gaining weight or not losing if you start to incorporate other items into your diet? I'm just asking because these are the questions I needed to ask myself. I choose lap band because I needed a tool that would help me for the rest of my life. I am only three days post surgery so I cant say what works or don't work, but I just want to stay clear of the mistakes I have made in the past.