I am trying to stick to low carb, low fat and high protien for my 3 mo. preop diet. But I am really not sure how many grams of each I should be aiming for each day. Is there an optimal level of each for weight loss?

Is there a ratio that is used? Like 60 of cals from Protein, 20 from fat and 20 from carb or something like that?

I am trying to keep calories around 1200 (give or take).

I have heard that too much Protein can leach your Calcium from your bones, not sure on the validity of that.

Anyway, I researched this last month when I was going to give dieting one more try before lapband (then had a bad gall bladder attack, and it's made me decide to get the gall bladder out and 6 weeks later if I am cleared just get the lapband and stop screwing around...)

I found all kinds of suggestions. I liked 40/30/30 because it was easy to remember and allowed me a high "low fat" So that's 40 % cals from protein, 30 % from carbs and 30% from fat. Don't forget fat has more calories than carbs so you can't just use the same number of grams for both.

Let me go to my sparkpeople page and see what I entered...

Ok:

Consume between 1000 & 1500 calories per day Consume between 33 & 50 grams of fat per day. Consume between 137 & 206 grams of carbohydrates per day. Consume between 38 & 56 grams of protein per day. Consume between 0 & 2300 mg of Sodium, Na Consume between 100 & 150 %RDA of Iron, Fe Consume between 100 & 150 %RDA of Calcium, Ca Consume between 25 & 35 g of Fiber, total dietary Consume between 0 & 120 mg of Cholesterol

Ok, now I am not sure what values I went with... Sparkpeople is mentioning ratio of 15/55/30 (protein, only 15% ?!!) so maybe I set it up for that.

I don't think I'm being much help here after all! Does that protein intake seem too low for a bander? Yikes!

Edited May 7, 200917 yr by 39andholding

I would love info on this as well! I currently have about 700 calories per day but am wondering how many grams of protien, fat & carbs to have. Carbs are bad for me so i really want to monitor them !

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You really have to overdo the Protein to start problems like calcium leaching - I think for the average woman, over about 100 grams a day and your body doubles the rate it excretes calcium.

40/30/30 wont hurt anybody. I dont find I can do it, all that protein makes me very upset and nauseous in the tummy and believe me, you wouldnt want to be downwind. I run better on a more carb based diet personally but I think its down to your personal constitution - so experiment a bit.

I agree 40/30/30 would be pretty ideal, but I also agree that I can very rarely do it.

I am not saying this is the best diet, but what I do is just watch my Protein to carb ratio. I try to keep it in balance. Thats just what has worked for me. Ignoring the fat isn't necessarily the best, but I have found it usually stays pretty balance naturally.

I think most of the doctors would like you at 90gr of protein a day. But, frankly, it depends on your workout level and your calorie count. I have noticed that at the very best, you almost always end up eating 10 calories to get 1gr of protein. 90grams is usually going to put you at 900 calories already.

Edited May 7, 200917 yr by Jaffa