Questions about Carbs, Carbs v. Calories, Maximizing Weight Loss

Patty's advice is the best, no-nonsense, advice I've seen around this place.  I took her idea to heart, never went over 100g of carbs a day until I got to goal, and it worked out well.  Think of it as the last time in your life you have to go at restriction hard core.  I now eat carbs freely...really freely, and haven't seen regain yet.  When I do go up a few pounds, I'll hop back on the low carb train until I'm at a more comfortable number on the scale.  I've been spending too much money on clothes to go and gain a size and have to buy more.  My husband would NOT be happy with me spending more money than I already have this past year on clothes!! 

It's really up to you.  You might be a person that loses regardless of how many carbs you eat...but why take the chance of having this gigantic surgery and then not do everything you can to get the weight off?  It's a blessing to get the DS, the sacrifice of carbs is short term, the results of the loss are long term. 

Lori

I'm not one who has lost 100 lbs at 6 months out, but then I'm only 4 months 1 week out and have 70lbs down.  I found that if I eat more than about 70 g of carbs a day I either slow down or regain (yep I have done the regain thing a bit!) so I keep track of what I eat on fitday.com EVERY day to make myself accountable to those blasted carbs.  And do they HIDE!  lol

That said, I'm doing the 50-70 carbs a day and OVER 80 g protein a day (usually run 120 or more).  I seldom eat breads (have only found one that I can even eat wtihout getting horrible smelly, clear the house, gas and gut aches), completely NO pastas and no rice.  I do eat ham & bean soup with a couple of whole wheat saltines ONCE in a while (again this gives me horrible gut ache and gas and I have to REALLY want it lol).  Veggies and fresh fruits I will go for.  If I'm craving something sweet I have been able to tolerate a VERY flat coke zero, a sf popcycle and I keep sf jello made all the time, and add a dalop of sf cool whip to it. 

I know when I go into tetosis, I get this weird flavor in my mouth and I do find when I am keeping my carbs closer to 50 g I stay in it longer and I see a greater weight loss.  So I am trying to stay there right now. 

To know if this is normal for everyone?  who knows, I think it is like anything else and different for each individual. 

You are doing fine from the look of you siggy...you will learn to adjust and deal with what works for you and what doesn't. 

Thanks so much for telling me about your experience, Laurie.  Looks like you're doing fantastic.

I'm surprised to hear about the weight gain.  Are you weighing yourself daily?  I weigh only at the doc's office, but am thinking of weighing more often (maybe once a month).

1.  For those of you who lost >100 pounds in your first 6 months -- roughly how many grams of carb were you eating a day?

Under 50 closer to 25, I really did not count carbs in the beginning I just stayed away from the obvious ones.

2.  Did any of you experience inadequate weight loss in the first 6 months because you were eating carbs other than fruit or sugars?  Such as too many starches or veggies?

I just only ate veggies as carbs, the rest of my intake was from protein, protein and shakes. I did not start the half a piece of rye toast daily til after 9 months, and I still do not eat alot of starchy carbs, I may have 3 - 4 fries a week, a total of 2 slices of bread a week. If I have more  gas and theintestinal pain is not worth it. 

3.  I've heard that ketosis happens only when the carbs are ultra-low, around 20g/day.  So I take it that us DSers are not relying on ketosis for our rapid weight loss, right?

Can't help with this

4.  The reason we're not supposed to eat too many carbs is because we absorb the calories from these more than from any other type of food.  So is it just a matter of calories?  There is no magical chemistry involved, right?
Calories in vs calories used will always play arole in wieght. We just absorb differently. The higher fat calories which taste fantastic are the least absorbed so enjoy your meat slathered in buttery gravy, eat your protein and than if your still able have your carbs green veggies first then your starchy or sugary dessert.

Hi Julie,

Thanks for this great post.

I am new out but this has been my experience.

I lost 100 lbs in the first 4.5 months but I lost 80 lbs of that in the first 3 months. The last 6 weeks my weight loss has been slow and annoyingly almost stalled.  Looking at my sparkpeople reports it is easy to see why. I have been eating too many carbs. I get tired of eating the same food again and again  and I am tired of protein. I have found it harder and harder to make sure that i am getting in my 100 grams of protein a day and have been substituting carbs in the place of protein. (and then forcing myself to eat or drink at night to catch up on my protein.)

When i lost the most weight i was sticking to below 70 grams of carbs a day. I find going lower is really depriving myself because I rely on nuts and dairy for some protein everyday. Although some days i have been able to stick to the below 50 limit. 

I need to get back on track with regards to carbs and exercise. Enough of this ***** footing around.

catnip

For Me
As a carb addict, the more carbs I have the more I want. I find if I limit my carbs to the evening then I don't spend all day craving carbs.
 

1.  For those of you who lost >100 pounds in your first 6 months -- roughly how many grams of carb were you eating a day?  Hardly any.  I was very strict.  I know not everyone can do that, but I could.  If it was not low carb, I really just didn't eat it.  Treats every once in awhile were fine, like eating junk on holidays, but there was really no such thing as a treat "just because it's Friday" or anything like that.  I left the treats to vacations, holidays, birthdays, etc.  I hate to really advertise that because I know it's not something that everyone can really do, but if someone asks what I did and why I lost so much weight, I have to be honest.

There were no chips, crackers, or full-carb bread/tortillas.  No oatmeal, no cereal, not even any milk.  I didn't ignore the sugar in bbq sauce, ketchup, or gum.  Every carb counted.  I really did not like eating anything that had more than 1/2 the amount of carbs as it did protein.  So, if something had 10g of protein, it needed to have absolutely no more than 5 carbs.  I liked my ratio system because it meant I didn't need to count.  It wasn't magical or anything, it was just a really easy way to make sure I got a huge amount of protein and not a lot of carbs without keeping a long tally in my head.

Veggies were fine, but not starchy veggies.  I still avoided potatoes/corn/sweet potatoes.  Green stuff was fine-peas, green beans, asparagus, salads, etc.
 
2.  Did any of you experience inadequate weight loss in the first 6 months because you were eating carbs other than fruit or sugars?  Such as too many starches or veggies?  N/A

3.  I've heard that ketosis happens only when the carbs are ultra-low, around 20g/day.  So I take it that us DSers are not relying on ketosis for our rapid weight loss, right?  Ketosis just means your body is burning fat for energy instead of glucose.  So, any weight loss method makes use of ketosis.  People on low carb diets induce ketosis by not putting much food into the body that is glucose or is easily converted to glucose, thereby forcing the body to use the fat for energy much more quickly.

4.  The reason we're not supposed to eat too many carbs is because we absorb the calories from these more than from any other type of food.  So is it just a matter of calories?  There is no magical chemistry involved, right?  I suppose.  Too much thinking hurts my brain and it's my day off and I don't really want to think about it too hard.  All I can say is that is dieting mentality.  Yanno -- calories in vs. calories out.  Except now you've complicated things by adding malabsorption and it'll make your eyes go twitchy if you now have to calculate the calories you eat vs. the calories you absorb, which is something you really can't know for sure unless you have your diet and subsequent poop analyzed.

But, if you're looking for a way to validate eating 50 calories of candy instead of 300 calories of meat because technically speaking the candy is a lower calorie choice, I really don't think you're going to find it here.

Sorry if that sounded harsh.  I really do not even CARE what people eat post-op as long as they are eating enough protein.  Whatever they do after that is their own business and I refuse to be the carb police.  But, if there is some inadequate weight loss going on AND some over-zealous carb eating and that person wants some advice...they'll know exactly what my advice would be. 

I know you're craving carbs, but remember that carbs beget more carbs.  When I eat a ton of carbs, I want a ton of carbs.  I'm not immune to that.  If you're looking to eat fewer carbs, try a few "detox" days of eating hardly any and see if some of the cravings subside.  When you eat those carbs, your body gets a really easy source of energy and it just jumps for joy, which can cause it to make you crave more of those foods so it can have that easy energy source again instead of having to work harder by using fat for energy.

Otherwise, if you're feeling deprived, eat whatever you want.  You'll still lose weight with the DS, but maybe not as much as you'd hoped, and I'll be happy for you regardless.  If you're happy, I'm happy.

Hi Kayla,

Thank you for that thoughtful and quite brilliant response.

For the first 3 months, I was doing what you were -- counting EVERY carb -- down to the 1 g in my tablespoon of low carb ketchup and the 0.1 g carb per romaine lettuce leaf.

I did the same thing when I was on Atkins years ago.  (At that time, I did no more than 20g net carbs per day FOR SIX MONTHS.)

I find that my body and my psyche are revolting against the strict limitations.  For right now, I am on vacation from that.  Today I ate 120g carb (gross, not net).  Notably, this is less than half of the "recommended daily allowance" of carbs (which is 300g a day).   For right now, I feel like I need to allow myself to do this.  I don't want to engage in a diet mentality, even if it means I'll lose less over all.

I'm pretty ambivalent about how much I want to lose.  I'd be happy to be under 250 pounds.  I'm 90 pounds away from that, and hope to achieve it within the next 9 months (so 10 pounds a month -- 2.4 a week).  I think that's doable while I'm eating more than 50g, as long as I'm not eating sugars and large amounts of carbs (which I guess I'd think of as over 100g daily).

I'm just blathering on now.  I'm happy that you are happy!  I'm happy that you're happy if I'm happy.  With this formula, you and I can be nothing but happy!

Quit counting the veggies, give yourself two pieces of toast or two tortillas or whatever best fits into your usual eating habits, don't drink carbs, and quit worrying about it.

I generally stuck around 100 grams of carbs a day max, but if I slid beyond that I didn't consider it a crime. Tomorrow's always another day.

One big rule for me was: NO DRINKING CARBS, except in milk. No juice, no regular soda, no sweetened drinks of any kind.

The ketosis at ultra low carbs is a myth and does not apply to DS.

I lost 100 pounds in four months, 200 pounds in 18 months, 225 pounds in 21 months.

There is no magical chemistry involved in the carb issue. You will absorb all the carb calories you eat and not all of the protein or fat calories.

I bet if you kick up your fat intake, your carb cravings will diminish. Next time you go Mexican, eat the guac with a fork or spoon. And have a nice serving of queso as well.