HELP! WHAT IS THE CARB LIMIT?

[tiarowley 36]

8 days post op and I can't find it anywhere in my paperwork! I found the Protein, sugar, and fat limitations, requirements but no carb numbers! ???????????? help! I don't want to sabotage myself already!

Thanks in advance!

Tia

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Just focus on the Protein for now. At 8 days out it is more important that you get in all your protein and fluids than anything else. Just make sure your Protein Shakes are low carb and avoid added sugar and starches and you should be ok.

[Bufflehead 6,358]

My surgeon's upper limit for carbs is 60 grams, but every plan seems to vary a bit.

[tiarowley 36]

Thx for the info! Are u loosing on that amount of carbs?

[malice95 12]

Thx for the info! Are u loosing on that amount of carbs?

Mine said 50.. but I try to stick to 20ish.

I lose about 20 lbs a month doing this.

[Debbie Jean 406]

If you can't find them you probably didn't get any. I didn't. My directives were 60 grams of Protein, 64 oz of Fluid first, then non-starchy veg, then fruit. If I had room I could then have complex carbs.

For all practical purposes this limits carbs because I rarely get to them and I usually consume less 50 grams per day. I'm down 78 lbs in 6 months so losing pretty steadily. Been in my first real stall the past month but sticking to my eating program and expect that will break when my body feels ready ????

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

There is no universal carb limit prescribed by surgeons after WLS that I know of.

My surgeon / NUT / bariatric PA never mentioned any carb limits at all. Just Protein limits.

Therefore, I never, ever focused on low-carb during all my weight losing phases.

Also, I read early on posts by the very small percentage of folks who developed post-bariatric reactive hypoglycemia. It seemed to me (just a theory here, no serious research about it done that I can find) that these posts were all made by people who'd gone significantly low-carb for most of their weight-losing phases.

So I decided I didn't need to lose weight super-fast anyway and would just eat plenty of healthy, unprocessed carbs. And I did. Coincidentally, I wound up matching my Protein and carb levels.

Early on, my Proteins / carbs were around 60, with daily cals around 800. Then in Month Five I ramped up to 1000 cals, and Proteins and carbs went up to 80. Then in Month Seven I ramped up to 1200 calories, and my proteins and carbs went up to around 100.

I reached my weight goal (150 pounds) 8.3 months post-op. I've lost another 6 pounds since then (in the last 3+ months), but I think I'm now stabilized. By now, my daily maintenance calories range from 1300 - 2000, and my weekly averages are over 1600 cals. I think my final maintenance calorie budget will be 1700-1750.

Honestly, looking back, I think I lucked out by not going super low-carb or super low-cal during my weight losing days. I have online friends who ate a lot less during the weight-losing phases, and some of them (not all) are struggling to maintain their goal weights at 1200 cals/day.

And who knows what I'll deal with in the coming years as I work to maintain this weight.

So that's been my experience. Take from it what you will. And realize that our bodies don't all respond the same to food. If we were all alike, this whole weight loss / weight maintenance business would be a helluva lot less mysterious.

[tiarowley 36]

Thx for all the info! It's nice to know. I guess I'll just have to work out my own plan and what works best for me and my body. ????

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

Tia, my final advice would be to seek out and consider as many different perspectives as possible. Try to remain open-minded as long as you can and not get so ideological about any one perspective that you aren't willing to hear (and appreciate) someone's different story. And don't be afraid to experiment a little bit to see how something different will work for you. You know I'm not saying "go hogwild" or anything like that.

And very best to you.

[tiarowley 36]

Thank you! I will stay open minded and I'm sure I will go up and down with carbs to see what works for me. Thanks for the advice! I seem to loosing steadily without watching it too carefully so I will continue to be aware but not vigilant about my carb intake. ????

[hockeyfan7 249]

I think it's definitely different for everyone. I have found that if I eat any carbs that do not come from veggies and fruit the scale goes up. So I have to stick to Proteins with non-starchy veggies and i have a small serving of fruit once a day in the mornings.

[coyoteugly5 1]

I agree that is the same with me, scale goes up with the carbs......and I have to stay away from the cabs.