Success with moderate carbs?

Thanks so much for this info! I looked into DS, but figured I would give VSG a fair shot first because of the risk of malnutrition. The long term outcomes are so solid, I was very tempted. Good luck with your revision!

You can absolutely do well with a VSG if you do not give up at changing habits. I've seen DS patients regain or have severe nutritional issues if they start eating crap, too. All of the surgeries are very behavior driven.

If you can immediately stand back up if you stumble, you will succeed with a VSG, too. It's when we let lapses become relapses that we fail.. In rarer cases, people do need the malabsorption, but also the enteroendocrine reset that any bypass provides. The metabolism "reset" is actually a huge part of why the DS and RNY lose weight - with the DS, the malabsorption is often a part of why it stays off.

Even with the DS though, many stay lower carb to lose and maintain. Also, many do not! It depends. The DS is sort of it's own dynamic thing, though.

I get incredibly ill in ketosis, to the point of almost requiring hospitalization. So I cannot do the very low carb diets at all. My surgeon says that if you can manage a low carb lifestyle, great. But in her experience most people cannot maintain it for long. The vets on this board certainly have maintained it for long periods of time, and credit it with their success.

I am only a year out, and not to goal yet (but it's in sight!!) so I may find as I proceed that my approach isn't a great idea, but since I physically can't handle ketosis, it's pretty much my only option.

I have tried to eliminate processed sugar and white flour products as much as possible from my diet, getting my carbs from whole grains, legumes, fruit, etc. As I also struggle with several chronic health conditions, I'll admit that there are times when I don't do very well at this at all. But since I don't have to deal with the ketosis induction when I start over, I believe it's easier for me to dust myself off and choose better next time.

I generally eat around 100-120g of carbs a day, but I'm also eating more calories a day than a lot of people here. I'm finding that I can keep losing at about 1,200 kcal/day and my maintenance level seems to be around 1,400-1,500 kcal/day. When I was first post-op and struggling to get my protein in, I was eating about 60-80g of carbs a day in order to stay out of ketosis. It is difficult to get all of your protein in and eat a lot of carbs.

My surgeon says she sees as much success with the "balanced macro" folks as with the low carb folks, so long as they stick with getting their protein in first and moving away from processed foods that are high in sugar and low in nutritional value. She left me with a nice tight sleeve so a year out I still have significant restriction, and that helps a lot. So long as I have regular meals and don't eat between them, I don't over eat, and carbs don't trigger me into a binge.

A lot of people here are carb sensitive and it triggers them to unhealthy choices and behaviors. So I totally get that low carb works for a lot of people, and I don't want to ba**** But I also maintain that it cannot be the ONLY option, or my surgeon wouldn't give the advice she has, and I don't think I'd have done as well as I have. Just realize that I'm nowhere close to being a vet yet, and I may very well be recanting this in a couple of years. :)

Thank you for sharing your insights. I also became quite ill after doing ketogenic for a couple of months. That is part of my concern. I appreciate you sharing your experience!

I think as you really want to keep your carbs up . I think you can manage it. For example yes main meals are mainly protein. But some people have two snacks like string cheese,nuts, low carb snacks.

You could make your snacks fruit and vegs and whatever else you enjoy. I just don't fancy fruit for snacks and find low carb snacks more filling for longer. :)

I'm exactly the same all the way down the line, AntiChick. Same macros - although I can eat slightly more in maintenance (1700 kcal). I consider myself lucky...

Yeah, I'm able to maintain on 1400-1500 with very little exercise. I'm anticipating maintenance for me once I've gotten my exercise increased to what I want, to be about 1700-1800.

Hi there.my plan calls for what you mentioned healthy balance of carb protein etc.

I am allowed potatoes fruit and bread and all that.

But wait till You have the sleeve you may want to aim for that balance. But for me.. Potatoes and bread etc no longer apeal to me.

So I am not trying to do low carb. But I Eat protein first . then I no longer want the carb that everyone is eating.

When I really focus on protein my weight drops faster. I usually do 3 ounce of protein. And then 1 ounce of veg like spinach. Or 3 ounce protein. 0.5 cheese 0.5 spinach. Its not much but I don't have dairy otherwise. And I enjoy it. I currently have no capacity to add potatoes pasta. I wouldn't even if I did as I feel light and refreshed after veg and meat. Feel sick and sleepy after heavy carbs and then hungry soon after. So just see how you get on :)

Thank you for your response, it is so helpful hearing about ya'lls experiences!

yes - there are some programs that are high protein/moderate carb. Mine was. I followed that and was successful. I should add that I'm not particularly carb sensitive, though, and I know many people on here *are*, so that might have made a difference.