Bread - The enemy?

I appreciate you taking the time to comment. It sounds like your experience is different from the majority here. I would love to still be able to eat a little rice or pasta, but at this point I don't know if I will be able to. I'm trying to cut these items now, so that post-surgery it is not as big a jolt to the system.

Do you use protein shakes to get the 100 grams/day?

Congrats on your success!

Yes, I still have a GNC Lean Shake 25 most mornings for breakfast, but most of my protein comes from chicken, fish and beef (in that order) and most days 3 servings of dairy (skim milk, full-fat cheese, and Greek yogurt). There's also a surprising amount of protein in the bread I eat and even a little in my colored, fibrous veggies.

Fun fact: they add MORE gluten to whole wheat bread to get the desired consistency, so you're actually adding more sugar to your diet with that whole wheat bread. It sucks, but you want to shy away from bread and all starches while you're trying to lose weight. I started enjoying a little here and there as I approached my goal weight, and today (12 yrs later) I eat it pretty regularly, mindful not to get stupid with it.

I can't tell you if bread is the enemy for you, but for me it definitely is. I agree with most of the posters here in that during weight loss usually you have to keep your carbs low, there are some who are the exception to that rule, but being pre op it'll be hard to know where you'll fall post op.

For me, I've had to keep my carbs low, but its not just carbs, but certain kind of carbs that I had to keep low. Breads & refined carbs had to be out of the picture, carbs from veggies was ok, even some nuts, but that also had to be in moderation because its a slider food & for me I can go nuts, on nuts. lol

Also for me, whenever I increased my carb intake, it always lead to a desire for more carbs, refined & not refined. It always stopped my weight loss & would lead to regain & my hunger increased as well. When I went back to protein, dense protein, not shakes or bars, hunger lessened, cravings lessened, weight loss continued/maintained at that weight.

Keep in mind something called trigger foods. For me it's eating a high carb food that led to a desire for more high carb foods. You don't want to fall down that rabbit hole.

Yep, what Rebel said, exactly. Though for me, what worked pre-surgery also works post, and that is very low carb, high protein, moderate fat. The macro ratio is an intensely individual formula, and what works for one person won't work for another. To lose, I need to keep carbs to 20-30 grams per day, and as Rebel said, those carbs need to be incidental carbs in protein and fat foods and from low-carb veggies. Bread, pasta, cereal, starchy veggies, etc. are all out for me. I will have a baked potato on occasion as a treat.

You will need to find your personal ratio. You can do that by cutting carbs to 10 grams per day for about 4-5 days. Then increase gradually until you reach a point where you don't lose. That will be your maintenance level---mine is between 50-80 grams per day, which for me is a lot. Seek carbs first from low-carb veggies and dairy foods if you eat those. I do. Dairy is a staple for me and accounts for a majority of my carbs. The rest come from raw salad veggies. I rarely eat cooked veggies.

Again, the number of grams you can eat daily and lose is specific to your metabolism and level of activity. You have to figure it out for yourself. The diet progression my clinic gave me is very high carb, and I am lucky that I know this will not work for me. If I were to follow it without question, I would not lose at all. Good luck finding your target ratio!

I was a bread/rice/pasta fiend for a long time.

After I became diabetic I stopped eating pasta. I minimized bread, and I tried to stick to brown rice whenever possible, but still ate white rice.

As I prepared for VSG, I gave up bread completely and minimized rice, having my last serving a few days before surgery.

Since surgery I haven't had any of that crap, and I honestly don't miss it. Every time someone has placed it in front of me, my first thought is "oh look, diabetes on a plate" and I remember the 12 medications I used to take every day (including two types of insulin).

I'm no longer diabetic. I've literally saved $3,500 so far just this year because I no longer take a single medication.

Do I crave carbs? Nope. Eating on plan keeps me on the straight and narrow, and eating actually nutritious food (hint: pasta, bread, and rice are not nutritious, they are basically junk food) keeps me very satisfied.

But the biggest thing is mentally owning my eating... if it useless carbs, it's not on my plate... I'm better than that. I'd have to be an idiot to let that crap in my body again. If i wasn't going to man up, why did I bother with surgery at all?