Hi guys! Just curious... how many carbs do you have a day? I'm 6 weeks post OP and I know we try to stay low carb but have never gotten a clear answer. Thanks!

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I would like a number to,cannot get primary or nutritionist to give me a straight answer. If ya say low carb diet,explain low carb,right?

Mine said when I'm at full food that we should shoot for 60-75.

My nutritionist said 50-80 carbs once on full food

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I would like a number to,cannot get primary or nutritionist to give me a straight answer. If ya say low carb diet,explain low carb,right?

Same here. They tell me to eat "half a cup" 4 to 5x a day and I'll be good.

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Most programs don't have a carb target or limit. Just about every program says protein first, followed by green veg, and lastly carbs. If you follow that your carb count will be low

This is a tricky one as I have seen people post saying that they do not count carbs at all that they only count calories. I have never really seen a straight answer on this question. I am not sure which is more important, low calories or low carbs?

mine encourages below 50g a day

I'm a year post-op. I'd say I average about 60g of carbs per day.

I try to keep my carbs at 30 a day or less.

On 3/25/2019 at 7:33 PM, Walter.Sobchak said:

This is a tricky one as I have seen people post saying that they do not count carbs at all that they only count calories. I have never really seen a straight answer on this question. I am not sure which is more important, low calories or low carbs?

The answer is both! First off, you don't count total carbs because the carbs that you eat in the form of fiber and sugar alcohols generally pass through undigested and don't contributed to weight gain or energy productiion. You have to deduct them from your total carb intake--so the focus is on net carbs. I am personally follow an ultra-low carb diet and try to keep my total carb intake under 30 net grams (usually under 20). I also count calories and track what I eat. I budget 1500 calories a day, with 45 percent come from protein, 45 percent from fat (healthy fats) andn 10% from carbs. It's working for me.

I would love to know as well! They never gave me any specification on the carbs just eat protein protein protein!

And they won't ever give you a straight answer, cuz there is no one size fits all for WLS diets, nor any diet.

Clear as mud, right?

The right plan and the "right" amount of carbs for YOUR body is the diet that you can stick to and embrace for the rest of your life. But what is that diet? You have to hack your own metabolism to see which will work for you in the long term.

In the immediate/recovery/post surgery diet progression then purposely don't give you carb or calorie targets. Why? Cuz you are hopefully eating only minuscule quantities. So they ONLY want you to focus on protein. Protein. Protein. Protein! Then as @sillykitty said, leafy green veggies, then low carb veg, fruit, nutbutters/nuts/seeds, complex carbs. If you do that right and eat protein forward, then you eat very low carb as Steve said.

As a female, most goals are 60-100g or protein. Mine was 60-80g/day or exactly 74g protein.

Because I too am very carb sensitive and had a crapton of insulin in response to foods, I eat a very low carb healthy fat diet. It keeps me slowly losing and helps me maintain muscle. As @SteveT74 does, I shoot for my protein goal, then try to stop at 30g total carbs (mostly from veggies/nuts/seeds/dairy/a bit of berries), and the fat falls where it does until I hit my calorie goal for the day. Because I lose slowly and have lots of metabolic issues, I have to be between 650-800cals/day to lose. So it's not much fat right now...

Most solid girl losers I know, have to keep their calories in that lose range of 650-900cals/day to lose well.

On 3/23/2019 at 1:27 PM, Tejee said:

Hi guys! Just curious... how many carbs do you have a day? I'm 6 weeks post OP and I know we try to stay low carb but have never gotten a clear answer. Thanks!

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All instructions for weight loss and maintain will look different – Contact your dietician for clarification.

Many dieticians don’t worry about calorie and carb ranges until real food stage. Your restriction is tight and it’s hard to consume your 60 to 100 grams of protein. You should be given your calorie and macro goals as you progress.

My instructions are almost 5 years old. (Real food stage)

My dietician had me stay under 50 to 60 g of carbs. (No bread, crackers white rice or white potatoes) Most of my carbohydrates came from veggies

Maintaining instructions

Once I lost 75% of my weight, I added in low glycemic carbs to slow/stop my weight loss. Sweet potatoes, brown rice, whole wheat bread and pasta

Like others have stated above, everyone will have a different recipe for what works for them. What works for one, may not work for the other. With that said, I watch/track calories and carbs (and protein, fibre, fat).

These were two goals my nutritionist set for me, which I consider my primary daily goals (I don't always meet them, but I do the majority of the time):

• 70g protein
• minimum 2.5L water, the more the better.

The next two I set for myself:

• Net carbs under 20g.
• Fat, I put a limit of 20-30g (but this is the most flexible macro I watch/track). I have noticed that if I take in more fat over consecutive days, my bathroom regularity improves.

I end up averaging about 500 cals a day*.

* I know this sounds like a small amount of cals, but I don't feel deprived nor starving...primarily due to the restriction of my sleeve (sometimes I think my surgeon may not have meant to make it this size, but whatevs, I'll take it). I am physically satisfied with the amounts I eat at meals. My nutritionist last month said she would like to see me take in more calories, but not to force it, if I can't. I'm sure I could choose more fatty, high-carb foods to do this, but honestly, I don't want to. In any case, both she and my surgeon were satisfied with my progress.

P.S. I am also only 5'1".

3 hours ago, ms.sss said:

Like others have stated above, everyone will have a different recipe for what works for them. What works for one, may not work for the other. With that said, I watch/track calories and carbs (and Protein, fibre, fat).

These were two goals my nutritionist set for me, which I consider my primary daily goals (I don't always meet them, but I do the majority of the time):

• 70g protein
• minimum 2.5L Water, the more the better.

The next two I set for myself:

• Net carbs under 20g.
• Fat, I put a limit of 20-30g (but this is the most flexible macro I watch/track). I have noticed that if I take in more fat over consecutive days, my bathroom regularity improves.

I end up averaging about 500 cals a day*.

* I know this sounds like a small amount of cals, but I don't feel deprived nor starving...primarily due to the restriction of my sleeve (sometimes I think my surgeon may not have meant to make it this size, but whatevs, I'll take it). I am physically satisfied with the amounts I eat at meals. My nutritionist last month said she would like to see me take in more calories, but not to force it, if I can't. I'm sure I could choose more fatty, high-carb foods to do this, but honestly, I don't want to. In any case, both she and my surgeon were satisfied with my progress.

P.S. I am also only 5'1".

If you're only eating 6 or 700 calories a day and almost all of that is coming from protein, it sounds like you're not eating enough calories to support a healthy nutritional balance. You're also eating so much protein that you're excluding important micronutrients. I am a big believer in going ultra-low carb (love Keto), but to cut out carbs AND fat is definitely going catch up with you. You can live without carbs (except for fiber, which we really need a lot of), but fats and protein are both essential. Protein is very important--particularly in the month or two after surgery when you're recovering since amino acids are required for tissue growth, neurological repair and growth, hair growth etc. However, you can't really live long term on protein alone.

First off, your body will convert protein to glycogen to compensate for the reduction in available glucose that you might ordinarily get from carbs. Protein molecules can be converted to glucose by your liver in a process called glyconeogenesis. It's an inefficient way to create glucose--which is a good thing in most instances since it means that your body consumes about three time the amount of energy to create glucose from protein than it does from carbohydrates. However, this process also creates a lot of unpleasant by-products and waste that needs to be processed by your liver and kidneys. If this is your primary/only source of energy for a long enough period of time, your going to risk liver and kindney damage and possibly failure. This is one of the things your Surgeon is checking for when they do your blood work every three months (it shows up in your creatine, thiamine and protein level reports). This will tell him or her if you're eating to little or too much protein.

Second, you need to have fats in your diet. I am not talking about cheese burgers and bacon. We can all live without that crap. However, healthy fats are very important for neurological function, heart health, liver function and hormone production etc. You need to also be eating the right kinds of fats from things like avocado, fatty fish oil (wild caught sockeye salmon), extra virgin olive oil, ghee etc, nuts (pecans, macadamia, brazil nuts--all great). These are all great sources of omega-6 fatty acids, which are also very important for your immune function and will help you suppress free radicals and mutations that can cause cancer and other health issues.

Third, even though I am a Keto evangalist, you do need to some carbs in your diet. Those carbs need to come mostly in the form of fiber along with some nutrient rich foods that will help improve your micronutrient profile. Sure, we can take supplements but most of those pills only mimic the vitamins we would otherwise get through a healthy diet. There not one in the same. That said, 20 net grams of carbs is more than enough to live on---but your total carbs (including fiber and sugar alcohols does not require any limitation). Depending your choices though, you can certainly have more than 20 net grams of carbs and still be very healthy and lose lots of weight. You just have to monitor your calories a little more carefully.

Finally, even with your tiny tummy, you can easily get your calorie (nutrient) consumption up to 1000 to 1200 a day if you add in fats. A small handful of brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds or pecans will get you plenty of healthy fat, protein and fiber to fuel you through the day. Sure, these are calorie dense foods, but if you can't eat food in quantity, you should still try to get your calorie consumption up near 1000k a day. It's not going to really change your rate of weight loss significantly (it might slow things a tiny bit), but it will help you prevent regain to get yourself to a point where you can eat a sustainable amount of calories daily. You don't want your body to adapt to 600 calories a day and base your new set point on maintenance at that level. That's not a recipe for long term success.