Do you count calories or carbs?

I see everyone focused on calories, but my doc said to ignore calories and focus on carbs.  I'm just wondering if I should focus on both, really.  Right now I get between 600-800 calories a day if I get all my protein in.  That seems high to me for some reason.  My carbs are good.  Usually around 15 to 20.  I was losing more when I was barely eating, obviously, but I was not reaching my protein goals.  I just want this fat suit off of me!!  And I don't want to sabotage anything.  

My surgeon has new post ops focus only on grams of protein but of course wants us fairly low carb too. Once you reach maintenance the focus turns to calories as you try to figure out where you need to be to maintain. Once again though,each doctor is different!

I wasn't counting anything but protein and water at first but then the good people here who were much further out told me to start tracking in My Fitness Pal and it tracks everything and it's super easy. I'm 14 weeks out and get 600-700 calories, about 15-20 carbs and around 60-70 protein.

I track everything on my fitness pal too.  my dailies are around 600-800 cals, 15-20 carbs, 70-80 protein, 30-35 fat.  I love that site.  Just don't know if those are good numbers.

I'm definitely not an expert by any means but the carb and protein sounds good to me. I don't know about fat at all lol. The calories sound a little high to me. I was trying to be more around 500 when I was at your time out. But that doesn't mean it's right.

I agree with Mute (Melinda)!  When I was reading your post, I thought the calories sounded a little high, I was also trying to hit around the 500 calorie mark but didn't always succeed sometimes I only hit 400.  At your stage my doc also recommended just tracking my proteins but since I use MFP and it already tracked everything else, I decided why not!  It will only help me get use to tracking everything when the time comes.  So, I do!  Good Luck on your weight loss journey!

Melissa

I have a hard time with the protein shakes, so I have to go with actual dense protein to get my totals in.  Some day I can have a protein shake (like today) and my calories for the day will be around 500.  I can't do two protein shakes though, my body rejects it.  But on days when I can't take in the protein shake in the morning it is a whole other ball game.  And dense proteins have higher calorie numbers than protein shakes.

I don't really use protein shakes much any more -- and I usually meet my protein goal of 80 to 90 grams daily without going over 700 to 800 calories.  Have you tried tuna and shrimp?  Shrimp are amazingly high in protein and low in calories.  70 calorie tuna pouches are also a great source.  

Yeah I am finding tuna and crab and shrimp are a way to go.  I LOVE crab so that is not hard, just pricey.

I also track in MyFitnessPal (the app on my phone, though you can do it on the computer) - they have a huge database of foods, and it's important to me (even at 1.5+ years out) to continue to make sure I am getting my protein in, keeping my calories steady, and limiting carbs.  I would HIGHLY recommend counting carbs - I was under 40 g of carbs a day for a good 8 months...now they are higher and it does affect my weight loss.  I am in maintenance but eating carbs now does not fill me, and makes me crave more carbs.  I can see it clear as day, thanks to tracking.  So I do things like adjust my diet accordingly - if I know I am going to have carbs at dinner, I will ensure my breakfast and lunch are very low carb.  Once you get further out from surgery you will see how evil carbs are - how my little pouch that gets filled with 3 oz of tuna fish can eat 30 wheat thins is beyond me.  My friend Grim on here has a phrase that is so true - they are not called CRACKers for nothing.  Stay off the carbs as long as possible to optimize your weight loss - that's my two cents :)  Good luck!