Too few carbs?

Thank you so much! You have also done great! I'm wondering, how has your energy level been since surgery? Mine has been pretty low. I find myself needing a nap in the afternoon almost every day (thankfully I don't go back to work for another few weeks). I'm just hoping things will normalize soon!

I am one month out from my surgery and always tired come mid afternoon. The doctor said it's normal and it eventually will get better once I am eating more. Unfortunately I can't take a nap because I went back to work after the first week. I don't think my patients would like it much either if I was napping while holding stuff in their mouths LOL   

Well it's nice to know I'm not alone and I'm glad to hear it will get better! Congrats on your weight loss so far!

Congrats to you as well!

The lower the carbs, especially during the first 18 months after surgery i.e. the honeymoon phase, the better. The lower your carb in take, the more fat will be burned off. Good luck.

Kairk's answer was spot on. You can get by just fine on zero carbohydrates.

Technically, we do need a small amount of glycogen each day, which normally comes from carbs. But your body can also produce it from protein -- another reason protein is important. So really, zero carbs.

Your energy will come back. It has everything to do with recovery from surgery, not lack of food.

Thanks Grim!

Only an issue if your blood sugar is going low. 

This also puts you in a state of Ketosis which can be hard on your kidneys. I'm having some issues with blood in my kidneys so I'm taking it easy on them and no****ching the carbs like I used to. Well I get carbs through fruit and other healthy sources and I'm still losing. Anyways just be aware that it is hard on your kidneys. You probably don't want to do it long term but I'm no expert. Just throwing it out there. 

It's only hard on your kidneys if you have an existing kidney issue, or if you don't drink enough. 

If you are really low carbohydrates and in ketosis, your body is breaking down the protein you eat into amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Each amino acid contains an amino group, an acid group, a hydrogen atom and a distinctive side group all attached to a central carbon atom (amino means containing nitrogen). When an amino acid is broken down (this occurs when they are used for energy or to make glucose or fat), they are first deaminated or stripped of their nitrogen containing amino groups.

Two products are created as a result: ammonia and a keto acid.

Ammonia is a base and in excess it will upset the blood's critical acid-base balance. To prevent this from happening your liver combines the ammonia with carbon dioxide to make urea which is much less toxic. So the more protein you eat, the more urea your body produces. 

To get rid of the urea your liver cells release it into the blood, then your kidneys filter it out of the blood for excretion in the urine. To keep urea in solution, the body needs water so a person who consumes a high protein diet must drink plenty of water to dilute and excrete urea from the body. Without the extra water a person on a high protein diet runs extra risk of dehydration because the body uses its water to rid itself of the urea.

Translation: if you don't drink enough, you'll feel like **** Or actually, like **** And this is just one of the many reasons we need even more water than we might have before surgery.