Protein has the reputation of being the most important nutrient and the one to focus on at each meal. People think of protein, and they think “good.” That’s especially true in the WLS community. Gastric sleeve and bypass patients in particular need to focus on protein to prevent malnutrition. Plus, protein helps you stay full and lowers blood sugar swings.

But carbs? You hear all sorts of things about them…many of them pretty bad. However, there are all kinds of studies linking carbs to health benefits – as long as we’re talking “healthy,” high-fiber, less process carbs, and not refined starches and added sugars. Think oats, Beans, fruit, and vegetables – all linked to lower disease risk and even lower body weight!

Still, carbs can be high-calorie – think of a cup of whole-grain Pasta, beans, or sweet potatoes with over 200 calories. And many kinds of fruit are so high in sugar they can spike your blood sugar levels.

So, what are your attitudes towards carbs? Do you avoid them? Limit them? Choose only healthy ones? Make sure to balance them with protein and fat? Not worry about them as long as you’re within your calories? Share your thoughts and advice here!

I'm still early in the game(sleeved 12/08/15) so I try to limit my carbs to dairy only. I am a type-1 diabetic on an insulin pump so unfortunately, some carbs are almost a necessity for me. Those are mainly in milk and/or Greek yogurt form, which are fairly low. I am allowed to have saltine crackers with my tuna, rice, grits or oatmeal, etc. on this phase in the diet, but I haven't because I feel like that would be a slippery slope for me.

For me, Mister Carb is the driver on the bus to hell.

I have zero control when I start eating carbs. Garlic bread is the devil's work. Buttery white rice with salt and pepper - I become a fiend. pizza, I will CUT YOU if you try to take my pizza.

See? See how I get? I can't go there. I can't do moderation at this point, five months out. Since I can't eat any more than 1/3 cup at a time, I eat Protein and a couple of bites of green vegetable. The carbs I get are in greek yogurt and cheese. Maybe once a week I have a couple of grapes.

Remind me to respond to this when I'm not shoving a piece of toasted sourdough bread down my throat lol

@@Sharon1964, you made me laugh so hard when I read your post. That is exactly the way I felt about carbs (but you left out the mini York Peppermint Patties!)

The only carbs I take in are with veggies.

I have a bag of frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries) in the freezer - its been there since 2 weeks pre-op. I'm just afraid to have even one piece still. Although, for fruit, they are lower in sugar than most.

I can do a very small amount of cheese if its 'real' cheese, not anything processed like American cheese. And so far, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. makes me nauseous. I used to love yogurt and cottage cheese.

And I used to love tuna. A bit of mayo to kill the tuna taste, and a small amount of relish to kill the mayo taste. I've tried it twice since surgery (once I was cleared for soft foods) and got sick each time. The only times that nausea turned to actual upchucking since the surgery.

i personally avoid carbs like the plague, now that i am in maintenance mode, its easy to forgive more carbs, or so they say. after having this anti carb attitude for this year , its very hard to suddenly allow them back in. my carbs come from limited sources. i dont eat much if any fruit. that sugar has a nasty habit of showing up in my bottom line etc. nasically my carbs come from some types of rice now and then, brown rice or a little basmati, Beans do work for me no more than once per week. carrots and green beans once per week each. but things like onion, jalapenos, bell pepper, those happen almost daily. and my skinny girl flatout foldits.

As I am very early in my journey, I find if I follow my surgeons rules with protein first, I don't have room for carbs. I do eat cottage cheese, all kinds of cheese, apple slices with peanut butter, and yogurt which all have carbs. I just make my main focus protein and less than 50 carbs per day. I stay away from white carbs because they bring on sugar cravings ( I found this out when I enjoyed my planned Christmas treats)

I am scared of carbs .... I try to keep them out of my mouth ...

don't get me wrong .... I have had a bite of pizza ... the scraped off the toppings and gave the rest of the crust to the dog ( he LOVES my new way of eating ) ...

I have had a cracker or two ... it's mostly the salt on the top of the cracker that I enjoy ...

Surgeon drilled it into my head before and after that I had to avoid carbs ... being the rule follower I am ... I try to obey

I am early in this process, but I am opting for a monitored relationship with carbs. They are a part of my family's regular diet, I just need to work out how to safely enter them into the diet plan. My reality is that I have husband and kids that I cook for and like to share meals with. One of my biggest hurdles with this surgery was to address the social issues with food, drink and being part of the family interactions at the table. I spent a lot of time working my head around how to keep the things I love to do with my family (eat) and stay true to what is good for me. Part of it will be feeding my family meals that are less carb loaded. As the cook, I have some control there! The other part of it will be figuring out how to eat with my family and stay on plan when it is a carb heavy family favorite. I am still working out how to serve spaghetti night, but I think it can be done and not crimp the social interaction for me. I can't imagine never eating fruit or a piece of bread again, but the key is to figure out the relationship.

I try to stick with the better carbs but every couple of days eat a small amount of bread or crackers. I found this seems to confuse my body and the scales seems to move again. I stay away from trigger carbs such as Pasta and don't feel good if I eat any pizza even though I could probably eat half of a piece. I know if I limit myself entirely I am setting myself up for failure and really want to be successful at this for the long term.

Since undoing low carb at the moment this is really relevant to me. I've found doing low carb helps me break the sugar addiction I've fallen into the past few months but also, obviously, for me I lose weight faster.

With that said I ALSO have to be very mindful of calories knowing that for me to lose I have to be somewhere around 1000 a day. To maintain somewhere around 1350 or less.

I started this last Tuesday and have lost about 9 lbs in that time. Quite amazing to me but I know a lot is Fluid retention from the holidays.

My carbs are primarily eggs, hard cheese (light mini baby bel) and chicken. Small amount of beef. I try to keep the veggies to low carb kind with a few small amounts of carrots thrown in once in a while.

For me the hardest is fruit. I LOVE fruit. I was amazed to see on my MFP how many carbs a small banana had!! ????. I do usually have a half a Fuji apple with 1 tablespoon PB2 at night for a snack. I've also had a couple cuties which are not as high in carbs

Once I get really under control and re-lose my 15 lbs I will gradually add back more carbs BUT not like before where it was a free for all.

I need more fats at the moment but scared to add much since this seems to be working for me.

Oh, yeah, and I'm doing REALLY low cal couple days a week (500) twice weekly as part of semi-5:2 intermittent fasting which has worked well for me in the past.

Oh, yeah, and I'm 5 1/2 years out from Sleeve

@@teaqueen when I cook a full meal it is protein, veggie, salad and potatoes or rice. Nobody notices that I skip the carb side dish, and everyone eats healthier with the focus on lower carb veggies prepared in yummy ways while they still get their taters!

I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant and had to severely limit my carbs. The only way I can stick to any particular diet is if there are immediate consequences (the thought of giving my boy a lifetime of diabetes was horrifying enough for me to turn down all sweets and simple carbs). As a result, I *lost* weight while pregnant. And I ate like a quarterback. It was amazing. I've learned my body metabolizes Protein and fat much more efficiently than carbs. Thus the plan is to eliminate simply carbs but eat complex carbs like Beans, oatmeal, veggies, and fruits.

Of course as soon as I gave birth I went and bought a box of doughnuts

Of course as soon as I gave birth I went and bought a box of doughnuts

My neighbor, years ago, was coming home from the hospital with her twins. Her hubby was deployed and did not make it back in time for their birth. She also had gestational diabetes and had been following a low-carb diet to help her and the babies.

I drove her and the babies home from the hospital, and she had me drive thru a Krispy Kreme for a box of doughnuts.

She had bypass surgery years later and has kept it off for over 5 years now.

I eat carbs, but very minimal. When I do I make sure they are from low sugar fruits like berries, or low carb whole grain toast. I find the longer I go without them the less I crave them. I crave protein now a lot. I heard that carbs are extremely important for brain function.

Carbs are like men (or women): There are good ones, and there are bad ones.

When we're in the losing phases, it makes zero sense to eat any of the sugary, starchy, low-Fiber, overprocessed carbs.

When we get to maintenance, it becomes a different calculation: How often and how much of the "treats" carbs will work for us? The answer to that is a very personal, individualized calculation for each person. Some can tolerate more carbs than others. Some have food issues that are triggered by specific carbs that don't bother others.

So far, no specific food carbs eaten at mealtime and in moderation have caused me problems. I'm really pretty surprised by this. This means I can eat in moderation at mealtimes sometimes Pasta, breads, whole grain rice, even potatoes.

But what would cause me tremendous problems would be grazing, nibbling all day on completely worthless "foods" like potato chips, trail mix, candies. Ugh. Not going there ever again.

Also, drinking my calories would be terrible for me -- those are carbs, too.