Just for the sake of General Discussion, I wanted to post this here.

On Monday I made the decision to start significantly reducing my carb intake. Not the Low Carb most people might think about, where you can never touch even the good complex carbs again, etc.

Let me begin by saying that over the last 5 years I've done Weigt Watchers, Cabbage Soup diet, South Beach, Atkins, etc. I lost very little with WW and the CS diet, a little more with South Beach and a LOT with Atkins. If you know the science behind Atkins, as I am sure many of you do, you would understand why.

For me, Atkins worked by getting my body to burn fat for fuel. I did this the right way by following their rules for induction and lost a lot of weight in the first 2 weeks, Water weight mostly, but a lot of weight no less. I then began slowly introducing the 'good' carbs into my diet and all was going well. However, I was not able to stick with this because I started getting hungry a lot and the weight came back on, hence another failed diet.

Now, with the help of my lap band, on Monday I decided to start doing low carb again. I have lost 5 lbs. since. Prior to this my weight loss was very slow. Now I'm beginning to feel more energetic and my appetite has almost diminished. Don't get me wrong, I don't eat bacon wrapped in butter. My typical day's menu looks like this:

B - Protein shake (I am too tight in the a.m. to eat)

L - small salad with a little grilled chicken - (dressing is olive oil & vinegar)

S - 1/2 cup cottage cheese or cucumber slices

D - grilled chicken or salmon, with a small side salad

I remember to drink plenty of water. No kidney problems, constipation, etc. I take the sugar-free metamucil every day to keep me regular. My multi-vitamin is my friend. Any comments, good or bad, are welcome. Have a great day. :bolt:

How many carbs are you getting a day? I go back and forth with the carb thing and have decided that if I can do my carbs early in the day and not to many then I feel better than doing no carbs at all. I also try real hard to stay away from refiend sugar. I will have desert on ocassion, and sometimes eat white bread because it is the only thing I have in the house.

I am not banded yet, but should be on Oct 13th. I have reduced the amount of food that I eat significantly, to "practice" eating the band way. Since June I have lost about 35lbs, I am starting to think that I do not eat enough some days. I don't count calories, just portion sizes and little to no snacking. If I have a snack it is Peanut butter and an apple, but mostly just the apple. I always eat my protien first then my veggies followed by my carbs. Usually my carbs are a half of a small potato or 1/4 of a sweet potato.

I am finding that the recommended eating from my weight loss center program is very very low carbs. They insist that you do protein first, then veggies then if you have a bit of wiggle room carbs. So if you eat as directed your eating low carb. What carbs I have are good ones. Smart Pasta with Omega 3 and protein, pita bread made with flax seed and whole wheat bread. Brown rice. No white flour or white rice, no sugar either.

I started low carb April 1st and had my surgery August 4th. I lost 45 pounds prior to my surgery. I think I am a sugar addict, so when I stay away from the bread, cereal, rice, potatoes and sweets I seem to really lose the best. Like someone else said, the lapband diet recommends portien first. Usually I don't have much room for much of anything else.