Counting Carbs -- Not!

Ellisa · July 13, 2010

I should have said instead of "in my carbs program" that my dietitian (who works in my docs office) likes to see us under 60 grams of carb and about 60 grams of Protein.< /p>

imagine.dream.inspire · July 14, 2010

My doctor leans on a lower-carb diet.

Personally I eat lower carbs because of medical conditions with insulin/hormones. I am a carb counter and at least in my case every carb counts. Since surgery I stay around 30 but have gone as high as 50.

Ellisa · July 14, 2010

I can’t get in as much nutrition as I need eating carb-packed foods. I don’t actually “count” anything unless I have an appointment, then I’ll quickly look a few typical days and check because my dietitian WILL ask. LOL

Right now my main concern is to get fluids in, next week the concern will be more about proportions.

But as a former lapband patient, I found that if I eat Protein (1 egg, or 2 – 3 oz of protein) at every meal, there is only enough room for so much. So trying to eat the most nutritious foods I can is important, low carb veggies and berries. cantalope, yams/sweet potatoes tend to have higher nutrition per bite than starchy/sugary foods do. I also try to get in dairy products but do take supplements. As I’ve said before if I really want say French fry, I will occasionally eat a few (maybe 5) or whatever is the craving of the moment, I allow a bite, not a meal of the “empty” calorie foods.

If you eat your recommended Protein and lower carb foods you will have no problem staying at recommended amounts without a lot of paperwork after you get used to it. Our protein requirements are probably a higher proportion of our overall food intake, but they are not “high protein” by anyone’s stretch of the imagination. We don’t have the capacity to eat a high protein diet… well unless we really add a lot of Protein powder to everything we eat and drink.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Ellisa
spelling

breezy · July 14, 2010

So I met with the nutritionist today, and much of the talk was about carbs.
Specifically, she told me to not worry about carbs, because sleevers simply can't get in enough food for the carbs to be an issue (as long as you stick to complex carbs from vegetables or whole fruits, not sugar/flour/etc.)

In fact, she specifically suspected that my icky feelings (wobbly, nauseous) were due to mild hypoglycemia from not eating enough carbs, and not eating them regularly enough.

Just to be thorough, I asked "so 80-100 grams of carbs a day isn't a problem?" and her response was "oh no, not at all. As long as you're sticking to the calorie total, you're going to lose weight. Just make sure you're getting enough Protein, but otherwise don't worry so much about restricting carbs."

As usual, your doctor/nutritionist/mileage may vary, but from what I'm hearing from the "experts" (as opposed to internet folklore), I really don't think I'm going to worry about carbs at all.

One benefit of more carbs (when on whole foods) is that they tend to contain more Fiber -- helping with any bathroom issues you might be having (and which I definitely have been having).

So that's one less thing to worry about. Don't worry about the carbs... just the Protein, Water, and Vitamins. I mean, I've been averaging 100 g of carbs/day and I'm STILL losing about 1 lb/day.

Thanks for posting this! It's very interesting to hear what the forum members are learning from their docs/nuts. (I _had_ to write it like that, so much funnier than doctors/nutritionists:001_tt2:)

Ellisa · July 14, 2010

Hey Breezy,

Your weight loss is great!

I honeslty don't think that carbs make that much difference in weight loss for those of us with WLS.

However when I had a regular stomach, I could eat a lot more food/calories following low carb. But hey guess what? That's why I'm a WLS patient. It's too hard to stick to day in and day out, year in year out, and one little slip could add several lbs. when your stomach is regular size.

If we concentrate on what we need to put in (Protein, Vitamins, minerals, fiber) then the rest will take care of itself because we only have a small amount of space. Where people get into trouble with any WLS is eating a lot of high calorie emply foods. You can do a lot of damage with with candy, milks-shakes and easily eat thousands of calories in a short time.

OMG123 · July 16, 2010

Sorry to disagree with you Ellisa, but carbs matter to EVERYONE. I found that as soon as I started eating more food (more calories) but dropped my carb % my weight loss took off. It is so funny to be able to lose weight at 1200 calories and low net carbs but sit still at 600 calories with the same amount of carbs. I owe a great deal of my loss to the low carb diet that I follow. Atkins FOREVER....LOL!!!! But seriously, just by tracking what I eat online (myplate) I can see when, how much and why my weight changed (or didn't). Plus, I have come to love the low carb lifestyle. I do NOT eat breads at all anymore. If I want my burger on a roll, I make cloud bread (whoopsie rolls). I love eating my Atkins or Power Crunch Protein bars. They have a little as 2 net carbs a bar and help me keep the weight dropping off while been super yummy! I even switched to low carb, unsweetened soy milk like Silk or 8th Continent (my fave). I do cheat here and there, snacking on one of the kids Cookies or eating a few fries so I am definatley not deprived. Hope my 2 cents helps.

BTW...I do have to go see the staff in 2 weeks and I know they are going to be pissy because I am currently below the minimum weight they set for me but it is more fun to be yelled at for being too thin than all the years of being told your too fat...LOL!

Now to just get rid of the excess skin so I can take my shirt off in public....oh well, at least the shirts look nice now!!!

JillianMarie · July 16, 2010

Sorry to disagree with you Ellisa, but carbs matter to EVERYONE. I found that as soon as I started eating more food (more calories) but dropped my carb % my weight loss took off. It is so funny to be able to lose weight at 1200 calories and low net carbs but sit still at 600 calories with the same amount of carbs. I owe a great deal of my loss to the low carb diet that I follow. Atkins FOREVER....LOL!!!! But seriously, just by tracking what I eat online (myplate) I can see when, how much and why my weight changed (or didn't). Plus, I have come to love the low carb lifestyle. I do NOT eat breads at all anymore. If I want my burger on a roll, I make cloud bread (whoopsie rolls). I love eating my Atkins or Power Crunch Protein bars. They have a little as 2 net carbs a bar and help me keep the weight dropping off while been super yummy! I even switched to low carb, unsweetened soy milk like Silk or 8th Continent (my fave). I do cheat here and there, snacking on one of the kids Cookies or eating a few fries so I am definatley not deprived. Hope my 2 cents helps.
BTW...I do have to go see the staff in 2 weeks and I know they are going to be pissy because I am currently below the minimum weight they set for me but it is more fun to be yelled at for being too thin than all the years of being told your too fat...LOL!

Now to just get rid of the excess skin so I can take my shirt off in public....oh well, at least the shirts look nice now!!!

What is cloud bread? I take it that it is low carb of course. How many carbs do you limit yourself to daily excluding Fiber? And do you also do low fat or not worry about fat as much, just keep the carbs very low?

OMG123 · July 16, 2010

It is a VERY simple recipe of basically eggs and cream cheese. I am able to get 6 sets of Buns out of a single recipe which makes them about 1 carb per sandwich. I have also used them to make little pizzas out of too! You can do a yahoo search for Cloud bread or here is one link....No-flour bread. Riiiiiiiiight….

I do eat a lot of low fat foods too I guess. I do fat-free or low-fat cheese, cottage cheese, mayo, etc.... I only use plain greek yogurt, sugar free smuckers, a lot of splenda products. I do not fry hardly anything at all, if I do it is with spray. I eat Atkins bars, Power Crunch bars, pure Protein bars and I love whey Crisps. They come in regular or chocolate and I put them in my cottage cheese or greek yogurt everyday. I even eat them by themselves when I get the munchies. I used to eat only egg beaters or all whites but once I figured out how little cholesterol I was now eating, I went back to regular CHEAP eggs....LOL.

JillianMarie · July 16, 2010

It is a VERY simple recipe of basically eggs and cream cheese. I am able to get 6 sets of Buns out of a single recipe which makes them about 1 carb per sandwich. I have also used them to make little pizzas out of too! You can do a yahoo search for Cloud bread or here is one link....No-flour bread. Riiiiiiiiight?.
I do eat a lot of low fat foods too I guess. I do fat-free or low-fat cheese, cottage cheese, mayo, etc.... I only use plain greek yogurt, sugar free smuckers, a lot of splenda products. I do not fry hardly anything at all, if I do it is with spray. I eat Atkins bars, Power Crunch bars, pure Protein bars and I love whey Crisps. They come in regular or chocolate and I put them in my cottage cheese or greek yogurt everyday. I even eat them by themselves when I get the munchies. I used to eat only egg beaters or all whites but once I figured out how little cholesterol I was now eating, I went back to regular CHEAP eggs....LOL.

Wow the pictures of the cloud bread look incredible! Great idea for making little pizzas, i could melt some fat free mozzerella and turkey pepperonis and no sugar added Tomato sauce and it would be perfect! I have to cut down on carbs, my nutritionist told me I was really overdoing it on carbs (well over 150 grams a day) so I would like to adopt the low carb lifestyle. You gave me some great ideas! Thanks!!

Ellisa · July 17, 2010

Sorry to disagree with you Ellisa, but carbs matter to EVERYONE. I found that as soon as I started eating more food (more calories) but dropped my carb % my weight loss took off. It is so funny to be able to lose weight at 1200 calories and low net carbs but sit still at 600 calories with the same amount of carbs. I owe a great deal of my loss to the low carb diet that I follow. Atkins FOREVER....LOL!!!! But seriously, just by tracking what I eat online (myplate) I can see when, how much and why my weight changed (or didn't). Plus, I have come to love the low carb lifestyle. I do NOT eat breads at all anymore. If I want my burger on a roll, I make cloud bread (whoopsie rolls). I love eating my Atkins or Power Crunch Protein bars. They have a little as 2 net carbs a bar and help me keep the weight dropping off while been super yummy! I even switched to low carb, unsweetened soy milk like Silk or 8th Continent (my fave). I do cheat here and there, snacking on one of the kids Cookies or eating a few fries so I am definatley not deprived. Hope my 2 cents helps.
BTW...I do have to go see the staff in 2 weeks and I know they are going to be pissy because I am currently below the minimum weight they set for me but it is more fun to be yelled at for being too thin than all the years of being told your too fat...LOL!

Now to just get rid of the excess skin so I can take my shirt off in public....oh well, at least the shirts look nice now!!!

No need to be sorry for disagreeing. In fact I agree with you 100% on eating healthy low carb. Though everyone is different, in my case, if I eat Protein and low carb veggies, the carb count takes care of itself with WLS. There simply isn?t room to do much damage. One bite (remember, my ?bite? is a little bigger than a pea these days) isn?t very many carbs. When I did Adkins before WLS there was simply NO wiggle room. As a lapbander Pasta, rice, white bread, etc. ?stuck.? I sincerely hope that?s my experience with my sleeve. Right now, I?m not concerned with what I eat so much as fluids. But I?m less than two weeks out. Of course being a low carb fan, I automatically eat protein first. I didn?t count much of anything on a daily basis (when my band was properly adjusted) but before an office visit I would track a few days. I?m supposed to be below 60 carbs and it was almost hard to get in more than that IF I ate my recommended protein. I do eat whole grains (Atkins ongoing weightloss, rather than induction), but is a ? slice of whole grain bread at Breakfast a huge concern? LOL I would find it very difficult to consume 1200 calories following a strict low carb diet after WLS. I guess the calories could be boosted by increasing healthy oils without using up a lot of space.

You are doing fantastic! Keep up whatever works, I say.