Daily Carb Counts?

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JamesAztec
JamesAztec Posts: 524 Member
Another post has me thinking about carbs. lol. I know most of us worry first about protein, water, exercise, rest, etc. Don't see much discussion about carbs.

Do you monitor how many carbs you intake? What do you average? Do you eat fruit? I know some are on low carb diets. If so, what's your daily limit? Is this a short term program or something you plan on doing for life? Is there anyone in the group that's had long term success with a low carb diet?

I asked my dr about carbs and he told me to worry about protein first. And to limit/eliminate sugar and other processed carbs. So, I've pretty much been doing that.

Replies

  • april731
    april731 Posts: 122 Member
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    I answered your question in the other thread, but in case it gets buried there, I'll answer it here too and add a few things I thought of after the fact. Please note, this is just how I do things, I don't think there's a right or wrong here.

    I eat as close to no carbs as possible. I eat meat/fish, dairy (not milk but cream, butter, and cheese), eggs, and green veggies for the most part; occasionally nuts and rarely berries or low carb treats but I'm cutting those out (causing cravings). Nope, I have no plans to increase the carbs ever as I've never felt better, it allows me to use my stomach restriction to it's maximum potential, manages my hunger, and I don't crave sweet things generally.

    It's not conventional and it doesn't exactly follow my surgeon's/nutritionist's plan, but it works for me and is sustainable. You certainly don't have to eat like me to be successful, and I ate a bit more carbs (in the 60-80g range, partly because of those stupid vitamins!) in the beginning, but I feel better with less carbs.

    The biggest benefits to me other than it fixing some of the digestive issues I was having, are that I've been able to maintain steady losses without having to track anything. I just eat. Also, I think it's worth noting that when I dropped my carbs about 5 months ago to where I'm at currently, I saw a shift in the distribution of weight I was losing - in that 5 months I've lost only 1 pound of lean mass and 30 pounds of fat (I have a Fitbit Aria scale and I track the body fat % trends). Before that I was losing lean mass at a pretty steady rate of about 4-5 pounds a month.
  • klcovington
    klcovington Posts: 381 Member
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    My surgeon has me on 50 grams of carbs max now at six months out. Prior to that it was 30 grams of carbs max.
  • KarlaYP
    KarlaYP Posts: 4,439 Member
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    I do 20, or less, each day. Sorry I failed to address this in the other thread!
  • janet0513
    janet0513 Posts: 564 Member
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    I keep my carbs at 30%. I eat 1000 - 1300 so that is about 75g -120g of carbs. I mostly stick to good carbs. I feel I need them to balance my nutrition and to fuel my workouts.
    I feel this % works and keeps my cravings down. I am 3 months out from surgery and overall I am down 110lbs from my heaviest weight.
  • blairmundy
    blairmundy Posts: 219 Member
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    Generally I try to keep my % of calories from protein the same as my % of calories from carbs. I don't usually worry about the % from fat because that generally stays below the other two without me even trying. So if I'm getting my 60g of protein in, I generally try to stay below 60g of carbs. The % from calories is sometimes a bit different ratio, but it's close and mfp mobile has that nice little pie chart in the nutrition area that makes it nice and visual for me all day long. Nobody told me to do it this way, but I find it's a good way to make sure I get protein first and in enough quantity. Otherwise I tend to fill up on carbs and not have room for stuff. Also, most of my carbs are dairy or from protein bars, so there is a decent protein offset by default.
  • cabennett99
    cabennett99 Posts: 357 Member
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    I focus on the protein, eating protein and produce. I eat almost no rice, bread or pasta. No dessert, very little alcohol. I don't really miss the empty calories, and when I try them now they just make me feel a little yucky (for lack of a better more technical term). I check packaged foods and drinks and won't eat anything with more than six grams of sugar per serving (except for diary products which come by it naturally). I don't worry too much about the carbs I get from fruit or vitamins. I set MFP for 900 calories, 50% protein, 30% fat, 20% carbs - I'm eating slightly more than that, but still losing. Six months post RNYGB.
    Craig
  • spfldpam
    spfldpam Posts: 738 Member
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    Carbs is a controversial topic I have notice on MFP in the general discussion areas. My WLS program nut has told me over and over that a person needs 130 grams of carbs a day for healthy brain functions. So I follow that. Also the carbs should mainly come from "non processed" foods like fresh fruit and stuff like that. I usually do the 40/30/30 thing here. 40% is protein, 40% is carbs, 30 fat or 50/30/20 sometimes.
    Good luck!
  • KarlaYP
    KarlaYP Posts: 4,439 Member
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    @spfldpam , i wish you success in what you have found to be right for you. I am lucky that I have found what works for me.
  • juneaubug
    juneaubug Posts: 18 Member
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    I'm 18 months out from VSG surgery and have just recently started upping my carbs. In the beginning, I stayed pretty low carb (usually under 50g s per day). I think that's fine when you're not working out, but I do some intense workouts and heavy weightlifting now, so I'm to the point where I need to fuel my workouts for performance. My personal opinion is that staying low carb is good if you're sedentary (or if you're right after surgery, since you'll be struggling to get in all your protein).

    I'd follow the advice of your surgeon/nutritionist. I actually met with my Nut today and she told me I should be eating more fruit, sweet potato, and things like regular oatmeal, quinoa, etc. But again, that's personalized advice based on my metabolic rate and workouts....
  • Dannadl
    Dannadl Posts: 120 Member
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    I'm 3 years out from RNY and I'm still trying to lose 40-50lbs. That being said the nutritionist at my surgeon's office has me on 100 grams of protein a day (I exercise a lot) and no more than 50-75 net carbs a day. I do eat fruit, but I eat very little simple carbs, and very little grain or starch type carbs.
  • loriloftness
    loriloftness Posts: 476 Member
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    Good topic. I wondered about carbs too. I actually called my NUT to ask about this. Their answer was as long as the carbs come from my dairy (low-fat greek yogurt, skim milk), veggies or limited amount of fruit, they don't care how many carbs I get per day. However, they want the other carbs/(grain-starches) to be very little per day. For the most part, I can fill myself up with just protein & veggies so I don't even have to think about much else. I do occasionally throw in popcorn for a snack.
  • lyonsdesign
    lyonsdesign Posts: 7 Member
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    I'm so torn on this subject too. I'm about 20 months post op, still have roughly 60 pounds to lose. I don't eat any bread, rice, potatoes etc. Any carbs I have on my diet is from fruit, certain veggies like sweet potatoes, Greek yogurt and then any larger amounts is from my protein shakes and quest protein bars. I work out a LOT and hard. I was limiting my carbs and calories more then I was doing some research and thinking I wasn't eating enough for the amount I work out. I was getting too tired and hungry. I increased my calories to 1400 which puts my carbs about 120ish. Its so hard to find real good answers on this when you're farther out from surgery or so many articles are for non bariatric patients. So I think I'm doing ok but I always second guess it and feel like I'm doing it wrong even though I'm just trying to find some happy medium and still keep losing. I'm averaging 1-2 lbs a week weight loss now. I wish it were more but I'm trying so hard to be patient and just keep plugging away.
  • ac7nj
    ac7nj Posts: 266 Member
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    In the beginning we had to get protein and then we added vegetables and fruits. The body will turn any of this into sugars as needed. Carbohydrates are already complex sugars and if the body isn't in need of sugar it will be stored as fat.
    Some carbohydrates are in the fruits and vegetables. The important thing is that we change our lifestyle including activity and diet.

    Just saying
    Randy
  • happpy3
    happpy3 Posts: 5 Member
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    good topic