Carbs, Carbs, Carbs....somebody please help me !!!

[decamom 31]

My weight loss has slowed substantially and am thinking it is the sugarfree popsicles I love. They are giving me too many carbs I guess. So I have been looking at different Protein Bars and they all have carbs but some web sites say you can subtract the Fiber because...I don't understand why. Do you subtract the fiber carbs and just count what's left in your 30ish carbs per day? Can someone PLEASE help me understand this and give me some advice on how to work this part of my sleeve so that my weight will continue to drop. I am really needing some HELP here...

Frustrated and pleading for advice...

Laura

p.s....totally unrelated...how do I get my profile picture to display when I post things??

[Fat4now 7]

RE Ps: Go to your profile and "Change Avatar". Put whatever pic you want to show on your posts there.

[wishes 125]

Aw, I am sorry. I can at least help with the Avatar. Go to your profile. In the top right corner there will be a button "Edit My Profile", click that then it will allow you to edit your profile picture and your avatar. The profile picture is what people see when they get on your profile, and the avatar is what everyone see when you post.

[SmokyMtnGal2011 10]

Decamom,

per the Atkins diet website, fiber should be subtracted from the overall carb as this is a good carbs and can be broken down into good energy not just sugar energy. You can also subtract sugar alcohol as these are good carbs as well. At least that is what I learned from the Atkins website. I have trouble keeping my carbs below 30 grams daily - it is a hard battle but one worthy of conquering. Good Luck to us all.

[kellyw74 258]

I don't do net carbs, I do total carbs. That way, I know I am not going overboard on carbs for the day. I also count all carbs including the ones in my Vitamins.

Kelly

[ChooseToChange 19]

The fiber one bars are fantastic tasting and a helpful tool. For non bariatric food they are the healthiest out there if you take out the fiber and are counting calories. Good Luck!

[janinemaire 7]

I feel a carb is a carb whether it comes from fruit or bread. I usually eat good carbs though and keep it under 60 grams. How many carbs are sugarfree popsicles, I can't think it would be enough to stop weight loss?

[thinoneday 445]

The fiber one bars are fantastic tasting and a helpful tool. For non bariatric food they are the healthiest out there if you take out the fiber and are counting calories. Good Luck!

These are good, however, they give me the biggest problem with gas and bloat. . actually to me, they are worse then beans! Good luck!

[meggiep 57]

I do net carbs- carbs minus fiber- but I look at both! Fatsecret.com lets you select the things you want to show in your food log and I show carbs, fier, net carbs, fat, and calories.

[juliarh 35]

I've been doing low carbs since my surgery (about 10 1/2 mos. out) -- I DO NOT count the carbs in my fruits and veggies. I figure they're good for you, you should be eating them, so they don't count. I DO count the carbs in breads, pastas, cereals, rice, etc. You get the idea. Frankly, I think (and it's just my belief) that given our small stomachs, we need as much fiber as we can possibly get -- I still battle Constipation and if I don't get enough fiber in, I'm miserable. I've also come to realize in my short time post op, that while we should restrict "bad" carbs, we need to emulate normal eating as much as possible. Our tummies are going to be naturally restrictive (seriously) -- and despite what we eat (even if we fall off the wagon), we're going to lose. I'm about 5 pounds from goal and am still losing at a pretty good clip, despite the fact that I'm upping my calories, upping my carbs, etc.

The thing about weight loss, something I think we often lose sight of (and I do all the time despite almost being at goal and almost a year out) -- is that we don't lose at a steady rate. It's stair steps -- sometimes we lose a bunch, then our bodies stop. Then we lose, then we stop. It's our bodies' way of adjusting to the weight loss -- it's mentally frustrating (believe me!) -- but, we have to accept that we will lose as long as we are active and eating well. Now, if you're gonna binge on cake, well after awhile you're not gonna lose. But, eating well, moving our bods, and keeping the weight loss thing in perspective is what it's all about

[meggiep 57]

I've been doing low carbs since my surgery (about 10 1/2 mos. out) -- I DO NOT count the carbs in my fruits and veggies. I figure they're good for you, you should be eating them, so they don't count. I DO count the carbs in breads, pastas, cereals, rice, etc. You get the idea. Frankly, I think (and it's just my belief) that given our small stomachs, we need as much Fiber as we can possibly get -- I still battle Constipation and if I don't get enough fiber in, I'm miserable. I've also come to realize in my short time post op, that while we should restrict "bad" carbs, we need to emulate normal eating as much as possible. Our tummies are going to be naturally restrictive (seriously) -- and despite what we eat (even if we fall off the wagon), we're going to lose. I'm about 5 pounds from goal and am still losing at a pretty good clip, despite the fact that I'm upping my calories, upping my carbs, etc.

The thing about weight loss, something I think we often lose sight of (and I do all the time despite almost being at goal and almost a year out) -- is that we don't lose at a steady rate. It's stair steps -- sometimes we lose a bunch, then our bodies stop. Then we lose, then we stop. It's our bodies' way of adjusting to the weight loss -- it's mentally frustrating (believe me!) -- but, we have to accept that we will lose as long as we are active and eating well. Now, if you're gonna binge on cake, well after awhile you're not gonna lose. But, eating well, moving our bods, and keeping the weight loss thing in perspective is what it's all about

I don;t think I ever realized that you don't count fruits and veggies! Since you are the person I want to emulate that is valuable to know ;-P WHat do you keep your carb count to for the the things you do count? I think in counting net carbs I sort of do the same, but not quite.

Did you use Protein drinks during the main part of your weight loss? I have always wondered if you had access in Paraguay! One of my problems with only being able to get 1/4 cup in is that it is hard to get that balance of different foods plus get the Protein. How did you do that?

[juliarh 35]

I don;t think I ever realized that you don't count fruits and veggies! Since you are the person I want to emulate that is valuable to know ;-P WHat do you keep your carb count to for the the things you do count? I think in counting net carbs I sort of do the same, but not quite.

Did you use Protein drinks during the main part of your weight loss? I have always wondered if you had access in Paraguay! One of my problems with only being able to get 1/4 cup in is that it is hard to get that balance of different foods plus get the Protein. How did you do that?

I try to keep my carb count below 40ish -- recently, I've been upping the carbs to see where my threshold is (where I lose and where I gain) -- but in the past it was 40, not counting veggies and fruit. Now mind you, I don't eat *that* many veggies and fruits -- maybe an apple or two a day and some veggies for lunch or dinner. So it's not like I'm carbing out . . . as for Protein shakes -- yes, once in a while I'll have one. Especially if I feel I'm not getting in enough protein. Initially I had a non-flavored protein that I added to Soups and tea and such. But after I could eat a substantial amount of protein for my meals, I kinda stopped using Protein powder in my food except when I was being lazy and didn't want to cook anything In those cases, I'll make a Protein shake. At your stage, I was definitely using Protein Powder A LOT. I just couldn't eat much, didn't want to eat much, and basically had to get my protein from the powder. An egg was too much to eat. Glad that's over Now I eat between 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of food. Sometimes if it's slider food, I can eat like a normal person which is scary. For example, yesterday my son made me a Breakfast wrap for Breakfast -- it had a small low carb tortilla, scrambled egg, bacon, black Beans and cheese. It was very yummy and I could eat one entire one. Granted my kids each had 2 or 3 a piece. But the fact that I could eat an entire one was interesting -- I think 4 months ago if I could have eaten half of it I would have been lucky.

I still don't get really hungry -- head hunger is more of an issue now because I'm fooling around with my carbs more (word to the wise). But being in semi-maintenance, I'm trying to figure out what my normal is. And maybe I'll always be trying to figure it out, who knows.

Speaking of fooling around with carbs, seems to me that the processed carbs are the ones that affect me and not the veggies and fruit. So, that's also interesting (at least to me).

Hope that answers your questions. Basically, I was super strict up until about a month ago when I started increasing my carbs and calories to figure out how much I should be eating as a "real" person not trying to lose as much.

[swizzly 901]

I try to keep my carb count below 40ish -- recently, I've been upping the carbs to see where my threshold is (where I lose and where I gain) -- but in the past it was 40, not counting veggies and fruit. Now mind you, I don't eat *that* many veggies and fruits -- maybe an apple or two a day and some veggies for lunch or dinner. So it's not like I'm carbing out . . .

I'm also always wondering about the carbs and how to count them. I'm required to have them, but I keep them all 'clean' -- like from veg or wholegrain stuff. What I'm wondering is, do you count the carbs in things like Beans? I eat a lot of Beans and chili and stuff (to your earlier point about fiber...). There are also loads of carbs in prunes, would you count those?

I'm trying to be good AND follow my Nut's plan.

(Also, I have a girl crush on you now from watching all your YouTubes -- who knew?! I'm a YouTube n00b, but I've spent hours watching your videos, and Meggie's videos, and Renee's videos...amongst others. Good stuff!)

[juliarh 35]

I'm also always wondering about the carbs and how to count them. I'm required to have them, but I keep them all 'clean' -- like from veg or wholegrain stuff. What I'm wondering is, do you count the carbs in things like Beans? I eat a lot of Beans and chili and stuff (to your earlier point about fiber...). There are also loads of carbs in prunes, would you count those?

I'm trying to be good AND follow my Nut's plan.

(Also, I have a girl crush on you now from watching all your YouTubes -- who knew?! I'm a YouTube n00b, but I've spent hours watching your videos, and Meggie's videos, and Renee's videos...amongst others. Good stuff!)

Hi!! Ok, honestly this is exactly what I do. First, I record everything I put in my mouth on Fatsecret.com. I've set it to record my net carbs (that is the carbs minus the fiber). If I eat an apple or veggies (like broccoli or something like that) I record them and note how many carbs I've eaten. Now if I've eat a lot of carbs but most of the carbs are due to veggies and/or fruit (like apples), then I know that I'm ok as long as the rest of my carbs aren't over the top. For example, one of the granny smith apples I eat can be 20 or more carbs. I'll probably eat 30 more carbs during the day because I think apples are a good thing to eat.

I know that's not very scientific, but it seems to work for me. And in reality, it's not very low carb in the sense of eschewing all carbs, but I essentially have gotten rid of the processed carbs but still eat the real carbs -- if that makes sense.

As for beans, I think you should do what you think is best. I record my beans and if they're super high in carbs, I'd probably count them. But if they're not high in carbs, I probably wouldn't. Depends on the beans. For instance, I had 1/2 cup of lentil chili for lunch -- 16 net carbs -- 8.5 g Protein. The lentils plus the apple put me at 36 g of carbs already for today. Oh well. Both are really good for me and I hardly think I'm doing myself a disservice by eating them. Will I have more carbs for dinner? probably. But not enough to make me a carb monster, know what I mean?

I hope this is helpful. I know I'm not specific about the carbs, but really I have limited those things that I think are harmful to me -- like processed carbs (sugar, bread, etc.) Other things like fruits and beans and veggies I record but don't really limit myself. Clear as mud?

Thanks for the girl crush. I'm happy that you enjoy the vids -- sometimes I think I have nothing to say and I say it for 10 minutes - ugh. I think I need some topics. Maybe you all can feed me some topics -- I'm happy to run my mouth on and on about stuff as long as I have something to say.

[nikki c 16]

I count net5 carbs per my dr.s orders. I thought i would need more convenience foods than i actually do, and was worried about finding one i could eat. Now I've seen that i don't need granola bars or crackers. I got a good lunch box and ice packs and i take it almost everywhere with me. Another alternative, if you need something shelf stable, is baked cheese "crackers".

1/2 c cheddar

4 T Parmesan

bake at 350 on greased cookie sheet 7-10 minutes. put on sheet in 1 tsp mounds.