Are Carbs really the enemy!

[Wobbly71]

Hi everyone

I keep reading on here people counting carbs and protein levels.

Was this advice from your providers?

I don't cut carbs at all, my advice was to have for meals a tea plate half salad/veg, quarter protein and quarter carbs. This is what I generally stick to.

My normal day is: -

Brekkie: Warburton's brown thin, boiled egg, mushrooms and tomato

lunch - 2 ryvita, tuna and salad

afternoon - normally some fruit mango, berries or pineapple, low fat mousse

before gym - cereal bar

tea - salmon/chicken/fish with new potato and salad

then on a night I normally have something sweet and a cuppa.

I am losing weight I know it has slowed down a bit but that is with having 3 holidays and drinking too much wine while the sun has been shining. Got back into it strict exercising and no drink and lost 4 pound last week.

I am now 5 st 7lb down but would like to know more about the carb situation x x

 

[slaz]

Hi Wobbly, Your diet sounds very well balanced but what is more it is working very well for you. I only look more carefully at calorie, protein, carb levels when things are not going as well as I want then I can tweak things but otherwise I stick to a healthy well balanced diet. Well done on your progress and keep doing what you are doing.

 

[Yvessa]

Hi everyone

I keep reading on here people counting carbs and protein levels.

Was this advice from your providers?

I don't cut carbs at all, my advice was to have for meals a tea plate half salad/veg, quarter protein and quarter carbs. This is what I generally stick to.

My normal day is: -

Brekkie: Warburton's brown thin, boiled egg, mushrooms and tomato

lunch - 2 ryvita, tuna and salad

afternoon - normally some fruit mango, berries or pineapple, low fat mousse

before gym - cereal bar

tea - salmon/chicken/fish with new potato and salad

then on a night I normally have something sweet and a cuppa.

I am losing weight I know it has slowed down a bit but that is with having 3 holidays and drinking too much wine while the sun has been shining. Got back into it strict exercising and no drink and lost 4 pound last week.

I am now 5 st 7lb down but would like to know more about the carb situation x x

My provider also recommends carbs as part of our diet. I really cut back for a while and I did lose, but my personal feeling is that it doesn't make a difference. I now follow slimming world which is unlimited healthy foods - obviously I don't eat unlimited amounts or you wouldn't lose, but I do eat a bit more carbs than I have and I am losing better than with really low carbs. My dietician said that carbs are an important part of nutrition as they provide glucose which is the fuel the brain needs, and also they are part of feeling satiated; I do feel my restriction better when eating carbs. Personally to some extent its what works for you - I know preop I struggled with not cutting carbs as they affected my pcos, whereas post op the hormone changes seem to have really helped and my body can lose weight with carbs.

 

[Wobbly71]

thanks for the replies. I must admit when I have tried to cut carbs I do feel hungrier, especially when I am exercising every day.

I am following WW pro points at the minute, only for the last week but finding it great. I can still have a treat on a night which I do enjoy, a freddo or curly wurly or something x x

I have always said that this needs to be a lifestyle change for me not another diet , and I know I couldn't go the rest of my life cutting carbs x

 

[Yvessa]

That was my reason for trying sw - I was getting paranoid and obsessed - which is why I'd avoided counting for so long. I did great for 2 months and then the old behaviours started to creep in and I had to stop and take a step back.

 

[fjsinc]

I maintain that carbs should be part of a healthy balanced diet post op. For those of us that have had our guts rearranged, our protein needs are slightly higher. But Carbs are essential to fuel our brains.
Research published in critical care nursing suggests that for the best losses we need to keep our carb intake to under 130g (easy peasy) and our protein intake to about 1g protein per ideal weight in kg plus 25%. For for me my ideal weight is 64kg, 25% is 16, so 16+64 = 80g protein per day.

 

[top_kat]

I strictly limit my carbs, from personal choice. Pre-band, the carb foods in terms of "potatoes, bread, rice, pasta" were my downfall, and as such in terms of eating I find it easier not to have them than doing so. I rarely miss them.

I do still have carbs within my diet but source them from unrefined sources. I find that this works for me.

With my band, it hasn't taken away any of my hunger levels or given me restriction on what foods I can or cannot eat. My provider doesn't "ban" any foods and my diet is balanced. However, I also can see what I eat and when my weight loss slows or plateaus. They do say that we should focus on the protein first, veg second and then on any carb sources 3rd, as such, because protein is very much a part of my diet (I try to eat a minimum of 90-100g per day - sometimes it can be as much as 120g) I find that I don't particularly get to the need of having many carbs.

As such, I had a skin treatment last friday and had to go carb free for 3 days, and that shake up, has put me on track again with weight loss. The "shock" to the body I have found helps with plateaus, especially for me in terms of the overall weight I had to lose and still have to go.

My diet is healthy, its balanced and I will eat what I want, I just at times choose not to, or place a focus because I know it works for me.

As it is I gym 6 days a week, I swim a couple of times a week and walk a minimum of 90 mins a day. As such, I know that this increases my hunger levels, which when the band hasn't taken away any of my hunger anyway can be quite difficult, but having been on a carb free few days and then on about 30g max carbs a day for the past 3 days, it has helped with the hunger despite doing some double gym sessions.

I do what works for me. And that is where my focus is. I follow my guidelines and stick to them. I don't consider foods good or bad, and I don't subscribe to the "treat" thought, if I want something I will have it. THat is moving away from all previous attempts at weight loss where I saw so many foods good or bad and for me this is very much about getting a healthy balance of my mind, thoughts and eating processes as it is about having a healthy balanced diet.

If what works for you, works for you, that is what counts

 

[moomoo1]

I cut bread rice and pasta from my diet completely as I was told they are not greaqt band foods as they swell in the tummy , I didnt cut anything from my diet other than this I was lucky I had very good restriction pretty tight as I preferred and also little in the way of hunger.

 

[Lincs Lass]

I was advised half a plate protein, quarter of a plate fruit and/or veg, quarter of a plate carb. And to eat it in that order.

 

[flutterby1966]

I don't limit carbs but by focussing on the protein first the carb intake has automatically reduced as a side effect. I don't cut out anything from my diet. I also eat full fat things and things like bread/pasta/rice but not all the time and not in great volume. Most of what i eat is home cooked rather than processed so by that very nature I am eating more healthily. Its all about balance and I have lost 11 stones by cutting back on the volume rather than what I actually eat. Like tk, I dont have a really tight band ... and i can eat what i want, most of the time. i also don't think ... to treat or not to treat. But most importantly I have this healthy eating thing sorted in my head and and that's the biggest battle IMHO.

Wobbly your meal balance looks great and similar to mine ... Carry on losing xxx

 

[Wobbly71]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Interesting what everyone does.


I will keep doing what I am doing for now won't worry about carbs/proteins etc just try for a balanced diet x

Right pass me a glass of wine ha ha ha x x x

 

[sarahloveswelshcobs]

I try and steer away from bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, but haven't totally removed them.

A bacon sandwich with the crusts off is my treat of the week on a Sunday morning !

I will occasionally have a tiny amount of those type of carbs - but otherwise, I substitute with broad beans and pulses if I really feel like I want some carbs.

If I find I'm getting tired / lethargic quickly, the dietician advised me I NEED carbs - so I carry an emergency snackajack in a food bag in my handbag incase I really need something.

 

[Bernadette Roberts]

I find that I haven't the room for starchy carbs- still struggle to get the protein and unrefined carbs down- but I am only 10 weeks post-op!

 

[Mazza]

I think it depends on how your body copes with carbs. I have cut out processed carbs and rice and pasta because eating too much of them caused my weight gain. Also, I was told that rice and pasta can swell and become uncomfortable.

I know that my body is very good at turning carbs into sugar - meaning I don't lose but thats not the same for everyone.

If you are losing with your current plan, stick with it. Its got to be a way of life plan after all.

 

[moomoo1]

I think it depends on how your body copes with carbs. I have cut out processed carbs and rice and pasta because eating too much of them caused my weight gain. Also, I was told that rice and pasta can swell and become uncomfortable.

I know that my body is very good at turning carbs into sugar - meaning I don't lose but thats not the same for everyone.

If you are losing with your current plan, stick with it. Its got to be a way of life plan after all.

I wonder if the advice is slightly different now on eating bread rice and pasta we were banded same sort of time and neither of s do im wondering if they don't discourage from it now , so much seems to change over time

 

[Mazza]

I wonder if the advice is slightly different now on eating bread rice and pasta we were banded same sort of time and neither of s do im wondering if they don't discourage from it now , so much seems to change over time

Could be but its probably more to do with your dietician and what they can glean from your eating habbits before the op.

I was told to try and avoid them (everyone had the same eating plan which said this) but I chose not to have them at all. Don't get me wrong I still have carbs but much, much smaller portions and wholegrain etc

 

[moomoo1]

Could be but its probably more to do with your dietician and what they can glean from your eating habbits before the op.

I was told to try and avoid them (everyone had the same eating plan which said this) but I chose not to have them at all. Don't get me wrong I still have carbs but much, much smaller portions and wholegrain etc

my bands now empty so I can eat freely although still struggle with rice but am enjoying bread again but I never had at all befor

 

[Bookie]

For me, it's the same principle as pre-band: Low-fat doesn't work, carb cutting does. Carbs are bad for me, they have caused weight gain as well as other health problems.

Through reading the other posts, it amazes me how people still equate low-carb with removing carbs out of the diet altogether. There isn't a single low-carber that would tell you to cut carbs out completely. TBH, I don't think that it would be possible anyway.

What we're talking about is balance: Get your carbs from green veg and berries, not from doughnuts. Avoid refined sugars.

INCREASE your levels of fat and protein, and you'll find that you don't need as many carbs. I think the reason people still feel hungry when low-carbing may be because they're still doing low-fat as well and so don't get the feeling of satiety.

Ultimately, not everyone is the same and so, it's what works for you. In my case, I know that if I don't cut down the carbs, I won't achieve the weight loss I need. But at the moment, I am still eating more carbs than I normally would because I am eating baked potatoes quite a lot, it suits me. When I am good and ready, I will cut these down too.

Balance in everything, that's the secret.