Calories VS Carbs? What is your opinion?

I am over a year post op and things have slowed down dramatically.
I am by no means at my goal.  Trying to decide if I should count calories or carbs?

Any thoughtw would be great.

Thank you

How long have u had the band? Have u EVER had restriction???

I don't really do counts. I just kind of do "lower" cal and "lower" carb. I know a lot of ppl now tend to focus on low carb, but think about it...................prior to 10 years ago when the low carb craze started............ppl went on diets all the time and lost weight, so I don't really see that carbs are as major a factor as some ppl tend to think.

I think it depends mostly on how your body responds. I have insulin resistance and hormonal issues which get way out of wack when I let too many carbs in but my mom who also struggles with her weight responds far better to a low calorie diet. I didnt really grasp how much they affect my weight until recently but I cant not seem to lose weight if I am not aware of my carbs. That doesnt mean I cut them as low as some people do since our body needs carbs to work properly but if you can keep the biggest offenders to the minimum like bread, pasta, rice, and sugar you may see a difference.

I have IR as well [also PCOS] and try and limit my carbs to 100g or less a day. Where to you try and keep your carb intake at? I am fairly active and exercise between 45-60min a day. [I am also on 2000mg of Metformin]

Most of my carbs come from fruit and yogurt. No bread, rice, etc.

During the first year of my weightloss when I was losing really well and very careful with my carbs I would stay around 100 per day. However I got off track for about a year and didnt track them at all and when I got unfilled I started letting the worst ones in again. Even though I was eating few calories since I was on Weigh****chers, the fruit I think was killing me (since they made fruit free I was eating about 5 servings per day, oops). It was the affirmation I needed that they really do screw up my IR and hormones.

Now for the last 5 days I have been following the South Beach Diet which promotes the good carbs and doesn't encourage counting them so much as eating carbs like in legumes, and low glycemic vegetables. I have noticed that even with zero bread, rice, pasta, or sugar I am still around 70-80 carbs per day but I am staying full and satisfied on lean meats, vegetables, dairy, and beans. I have lost 7lbs in 5 days so I think my body is responding well again to cutting back on the carbs, even though no doubt some of it is water weight, I wasn't losing anything over weeks worth of weigh****chers.

Thanks. I have been eating about a cup of cut berries a day in addition to my yogurt. Berries are better for you than say an apple according to the IR diet... but I wonder if that is some of the reason for my stall teeter/totter the last 2 weeks.

It is so hard to figure out what is helping/hurting sometimes. I am losing inches right now with my workout schedule, so I am trying not to focus to hard on the number on the scale, but it is discouraging when it goes up.

Guess I will watch the carbs a little harder. Thanks for your reply!

I totally agree with Sarah.  I think it depends mainly on how your body reacts to carbs.  I was diagnosed as a Type II Diabetic at the young age of 29...so, obviously my body does not handle carbs well.  I can cut my calories drastically, but if I allow too many carbs (and it doesn't take much) I will gain weight.  Sucks. But, it's true.  

I agree with the others but you need to take into consideration your exercise also.

I hit a stall for three weeks almost four weeks because my calorie and carb intake was to low for what I'm doing in exercise and was told to bump mine up.

You cant eliminate carbs because your body does need them and you need them for exercise.

The days I do alot of my zumba I keep my calories around 1300 and my carbs around 50 to 60 and then the days I dont exericse I  stay around 1000 to 1100 and my carbs stay around 30-40 sometimes even in the 20's if I dont feel like eating any that day.  My NUT even said I could go as high as 70-75 if I wanted to but I never go that high but mabye once a month .

I cant lose any weight if I go below 1000 calories a day or make my carbs to low because I do , do alot of exercise now and Zumba is a very high impact dance.

After I bumped my calories up I ended up losing almost 5 pounds in one week just upping them by 300 calories made a huge difference , but like I said make sure you exercise if you are going to do that :o)

 Hi
The Band lifestyle calls for counting neither cal or carbs, but rather PROTEIN!!!  Eat 3-5x day - eat 15-20 gr of protein within a 1 cup portion.  If there is still room in that proverbial "cup" then you can have some carbs like veggies or a whole grain.  Sooo with that approach, your caloric intake of protein is 900 calories - so in theory, you can have another 300 cals in carbs (150-200 of them can be your slow cooked Oats in the morning) that leaves 100-150 remaining - which can be in the form of spinach, broccoli etc. with some healthy olive oil on it. 

Hope that helps.

Leslee,
So are you saying that you eat 1 cup of chicken for breakfast, a snack of greek protein, soked salmon for lunch, cheesestick for snack and the turkey  with a 1/4 cup broccoli for dinner? No fruits or grains and very little veggies?
This is where I have the most confusion. Do we eat just smaller portions of chicken,baked potatoe and green beans. Or forego everything put the chicken,1 cup.
I would apperciate any help with this. Thanks,Diane