Am I doing this right? Preop low carb diet

[SouthernSleever 228]

I've tried low carb before and it's been incredibly difficult. Friday I started my low carb diet for my VSG and I'm worried I'm not doing it right. I'm keeping carbs right at 30g/day but I don't feel weak or tired like I usually do on a lowcarb diet. I'm also not craving carbs at all. I fear I'm doing it wrong and my liver will be fatty :scared0:

[irkenpanda 0]

Hi D,

I am on a pre-op diet that Kaiser has you do pretty much for months so I can get used to eating more correctly which makes the transition easier. I think it's probably close to the same thing you are on now. Anyway, I think that drinking your fluids makes a huge difference when on a low carb diet. Another thing, I constantly craved carbs (BREAD,PASTA,POTATOES!!!) and after being on this for 2 weeks so far, I pretty much don't crave them at all so time helps and ridding your body of sugar also makes a big big difference. Also, I'm sure you are excited and ready to make the change so it's not so frustrating not being able to nosh on the old standbys.

[Peffermintchili 0]

What kind of stuff are you eating DJ ? And are you counting total carbs or net carbs ?

[SouthernSleever 228]

What kind of stuff are you eating DJ ? And are you counting total carbs or net carbs ?

I've been counting total carbs and this is typically what I eat

Breakfast 3 eggs, 2 pieces of sausage, 3tbs cheese, low carb torillia = 9 carbs

lunch is a Protein (kind) nut bar 11-15 carbs depending on which one I pick

dinner Turkey or steak green Beans and salad 4-5 carbs

Snacks ceasar salads - the croutons

I weighed myself Saturday evening and I weight at 276.6 and this morning I weighed myself at 271.6. The scale is kinda crappy and the time of day is different so I just cannot believe that I would have lost that many lbs in such few days. On another note, today is my birthday and I REALLY want a starbucks yummy coffee but it has to be low carb and suggestions?

[Peffermintchili 0]

It all looks ok, I would just check the sugar content on the Peanut Butter bar.

[Peffermintchili 0]

Davinci syrups are 0 carb and come in all the good flavors that they use at Starbucks. If you can get some of that in your hands then you could get a low fat latter without any sugar and put the flavoring in yourself x

Happy Birthday

[ouroborous 519]

I've tried low carb before and it's been incredibly difficult. Friday I started my low carb diet for my VSG and I'm worried I'm not doing it right. I'm keeping carbs right at 30g/day but I don't feel weak or tired like I usually do on a lowcarb diet. I'm also not craving carbs at all. I fear I'm doing it wrong and my liver will be fatty :scared0:

You will lose a LOT of weight on the preop diet, but it's all Water weight. The point of the preop diet isn't really to reduce fatty liver, but to dehydrate your liver slightly, making it easier (and safer) to manipulate during the surgery. Metabolizing carbs requires a lot of Water (I can't remember the old Krebs Cycle breakdown, but I think it's something like five waters per sugar or something like that), so naturally a shift towards carb metabolism makes you retain water, and a shift away is diuretic (it's a homeostatic mechanism).

The bottom line is that low carb "diets" don't really do much aside from help you lose water weight (plus refined white flour is very calorie dense, so it's good to avoid in the long run), but in the case of the pre-sleeve diet, water weight loss is exactly what's needed.

If you are following your surgeon/nutritionist's recommendations to the letter, you should be fine. If you have any questions, I'd give them a call, but just from reading your daily meals it sounds about right.