just curious if anyone has reached their goal weight without the low or no carb plan? i make sure to eat protein first but i am finding it really hard to avoid all carbs. i dont want to sabatoge myself from losing weight, and i have been losing very slowly. i am currently in another stall and i have read all sorts of different views on how to kick start weight loss again such as; uping carbs, uping calories, and even going no carbs at all. when i get into a stall all sorts of things go through my head about how i am not going to lose at all anymore and such. i really want to be under 200 pounds by christmas but i just dont see that happening now with just a month left to go. when you go into a stall what are some of the things that you more expierenced sleevers do to get that scale moving again?

on a side note, i have developed gout recently, not related to the sleeve, but i have it now. both my father and my grandfather have it so it runs in my family. kinda sucks not being able to eat rich foods like salmon and bacon and red meat. i love all of those things equally. my body doesnt though. i can always tell the next day if i had to many purines in my food because my hands ache and i get sharp pains in my feet. (really sucks)

advise please!

I *personally* find stalls to be completely unrelated to what I'm actually eating (assuming that I'm not eating cakes and candy all day LOL!). My program requires carbs, preferably with every meal, so I do eat them, though I eat less than my Nut would like. I also eat like 1200 cals per day, have done for months now. I'm a slow-ish loser, but I'm not too fussed about it, I'm still losing and I'm not in any huge hurry. I have had several major stalls, like 60 days one time. It's just a stall though, it does move again, I believe that physically it's bound to. Some people do like to 'shock' their system by upping or lowering calories or eliminating or adding carbs, etc. I personally think that just moves things temporarily and then you stall again later, so I kind of just believe in outlasting the stall rather than trying to outsmart it...if that makes any sense. :biggrin: Probably not too helpful, but that's just my perspective...

I will make goal! And I do not low carb at all. I do eat 80 grams of protein a day though. It is possible. I don't want to low carb because in the past when I started eating carbs again after a long stretch of not eating carbs I will gain it all back. I just have carbs in moderation. (and thats what I want for maintenance)

I'm just over 7 months out from surgery, 4lbs away from goal & I don't low carb. I exercise quite a bit and found that my body needs the fuel carbs provide. Shortly after moving to regular food, my carb intake was under 50/day but with the amount of exercise I do, I was constantly lethargic and often dizzy. Once I upped the carbs, I felt worlds better! I did find that my rate of weight loss slowed somewhat, but that can also be attributed to my getting closer to goal and because I also upped my caloric intake to cover some of the deficit from my exercise. I currently eat around 1200 calories and anywhere from 150 to 200 carbs daily.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with my progress. I'm wearing size 8 pants and on the verge of moving to a 6 and, most importantly, feel better and am more healthy than I've ever been in my life! Good luck to you!

I'm only halfway to goal but I lost 50 lbs in 3 months (no pre-op weight loss) without completely eliminating carbs. I do find that eat much less carbs than I did pre-op (simply because after eating my protein and veg, I don't necessarily have a lot of room for carbs) but I still have carby snacks like pretzel crisps and wheat thins, and pair them with high protein cheese to balance it out. I went into ketosis early after my surgery and hated the way it made me feel.

I am 5 months out from surgery start weight 239 current weight 172 and I have no idea how many carbs I eat. I count calories and stay under 1000 a day. I also have done zero exercise. I find that I'm beginning to love the stalls cuz that's when the inches fall off. I was in a tight 20 and now I'm in a 10 or 11. I eat what my family does just way, way less.

I, too, have never low-carbed and am 16 pounds away from my goal--I've already exceeded my nutritionist's goal (which was 212--I'm 6'2"). I don't eat sugary foods, baked goods, potatoes, or Pasta, but I do eat plenty of dairy, nuts, and legumes/beans. I don't know if it makes a chemical difference to my body that my carbs are in the form of healthy foods that also contain protein; it doesn't really matter, since that's what my sleeve tolerates, so that's what I eat. :-)

I've also been horrible about exercise. I sort of have lost the weight despite everything, for which I am vastly grateful to my sleeve!! My husband and I (he's also a sleever) are slowly coming round to the notion of beginning an exercise regimen, and I'm actually looking forward to that to see how it changes my body's shape and overall fitness.

Throughout my almost nine months since surgery, I have eaten my required protein (60 then 80 grams) then veggies (if I have room). I also got carbs from protein drinks (low carb ones), cottage cheese, yogurts, and melba toast or flatbread crackers. I avoid the white carbs (bread, pasta, potatoes and rice) and don't go crazy on corn. This has worked from me - I am 15 pounds away from goal. Once I get to goal, I will start easing some white carbs back in my eating plan.

Basically you just have to do what works for you and your body, while maintaining good health. If doing low carb makes your body ill, then definitely don't do that! You can more focus on your calories instead. Because seriously when all is said and done, it is all calories in / calories out. I mean, even someone doing low carb can't eat 3,500 calories per day and only burn off 2,500 and lose weight. Not gonna happen.

I didn't do super low carbs or no carbs. I did eat more balanced meals but did watch my carbs some. It mostly was because I did Protein first and green veggies second (mainly for iron's sake) and I would still have some carbs. It came out to about 60g per day, but I would make that my limit. The reason was because I found that was what my body found acceptable and maintained health and good weight losses.

I'll tell you this though, I did limit my SUGAR a great deal, and sodium. Sugar was my real enemy, not good healthy carbohydrates. And sodium would always blow me up like a fish and give me false readings on the scale.

We are all doing this first and foremost for our health. Don't feel discouraged because you aren't doing what majority is doing. As long as you are losing, then you're doing it right!! :smile1:

HTH

thank you everyone for your posts. i really appriciate all of the comments. it is so hard for my brain to wrap around the idea of me losing weight. i constantly think without reason that i am not ever going to be thin again. i just need to be patient and work at it and it will come off.

thank you everyone again!

I eat what I want when I want. I love rice and potatoes, but don't really find myself eating bread. maybe 3 or 4 times in 5 months. I do eat a lean cuisine meal. I have lost 76 pounds in 5 months, and i have not started excersizing yet...which i will start at 6 months. My intake of fluids has gotten much better and my dizzy spells happen less frequently. I don't count calories. i can't stress about anything because life is already stressful enough. I just do what I do. I know the last 55 to 60 pounds will come off when I start working out. I am 215 now. i feel better about my body and do not find myself crying anymore. Today I ate chicken chill - yum! 2 cups, 400 calories, 40 grams of protien and the rest who cares. I eat when I am hungry. I try to eat protein, but sometimes I want some mashed potatoes. We ate so much food before. I mean so much! I went to Olive Garden ordered the chicken alfredo. When the bread sticks and salad came I had 1/2 a bread stick and two small servings of salad. when the food came i had 2 bites of chicken and one bite of pasta. i was done at that point. i didn't even eat the left overs. I used to eat 3 breadsticks, two bowls of salad, a fruity drink, chicken alfredo and dessert. and then have another meal later. the sleeve saved me from myself. i was an overeater. so i don't think my couple bites of carbs or bread and butter are going to make me fat again.

Great post

at june13--- that is what i am doing. just worried that it wont work for me. i know i am eating 1/4 of the amount i used to. i am exercising too....just not as much as i know i should be. i was more dedicated in the begining. i need to get motivated.

I concentrate on overall nutrition, Protein first of course, but can't wrap my brain around cutting out that much good nutrition to do the low carb thing - it may help some who need an extra push beyond the VSG to reach goal or those who have diabetic issues, but for me to get to goal in six months rather than seven (assuming that it works as advertised) isn't worth the added health issues. Simple carbs have been limited, and I don't have as much fruit as I normally would in order to keep the calorie count in line (1000-1200 for me) but I do work to keep as much variety in my diet as I can. And yes, that includes potatoes sometimes (a good source of potassium, which is hard to supplement without prescription, and is a more efficient source calorically than most low carb alternatives,) and whole grain breads.

I'm six and a half months out and within 7 lb of goal - so low carb is by no means essential to our weight loss. As LilMissDiva notes, caloric deficit is the key to our weight loss. If adding low carb on top of the VSG works for you, great, but if it doesn't, don't agonize over it- do what does work for you.

This post just gave me so much insight! I can focus on protein and caloric intake instead of going crazy trying to avoid carbs. I'll see what works best for me and my sleeve.

I am really glad to see this post as well. I am 3 weeks out and have been extremely fatigued because of the clear liquids. I just couldn't get enough in. I even had to go to the hospital on Saturday because of dehydration. Today I began full-liquids. Today at lunch I made a baked potato and added low-fat sour cream, cheese and made it as soupy as I could. I can't believe how much better I feel just having some carbs. So, if I'm supposed to do low/no carbs and feel less energized...no thank-you! I have lost 18 lbs. in 3 weeks and was almost ready to say that this "sleeve-thing" was not worth it! Now that I have tolerated potato soup, I feel like a new woman!!!