How many carbs a day?

hey all I haven't been around much since I went back to work after my surgery and I am now 14 weeks out and I am down about 80lbs. I have started to see a huge difference in what I can tolerate and it has me concerned. The last time I was in the office I asked the girl who handles the nutrition how many calories and carbs I should stay at or under and she told me not to focus on that just focus on getting protein in. Well I am doing that but one of my concerns is that I need to know where to be when it comes to carbs (good or bad) I want to focus on good carbs such as veggies and grains but I cannot seem to get a straight answer from her. Does anyone know what the goal should be to stay at or under if I want to continue to lose weight?

It varies. I try to stay at 30 or less and I don't mess with the whole net carb stuff (mostly because it's too much work). Others don't focus on carbs at all. At 14 weeks out, I was still focused on my protein and fluids, primarily.

not all programs focus on or restrict carbs. Mine didn't. That said, during the first year I rarely ate more than 80 and never more than 100 (and that was VERY rare - I was almost always under 80), but it was mostly due to the fact that I couldn't eat all that much (volume-wise) and we have such a high protein requirement (even higher for me - 100+ grams - because we found out very quickly that I malabsorb it) that I didn't have much room left for carbs.

P.S. Like Partlypollyana, that early out (14 weeks) we were told to just focus on protein and fluids and not worry about anything else

My answer is much different at nearly 4 years out than it was at 14 weeks. I was 5 months out before I ate a vegetable and nearly 1 year out before I ate really any kind of carb. Surgeon recommendations vary, but for those first many months the recommendation from mine was to get 60g of protein. In order to do that, I couldn't really eat anything else - I served myself the portion of protein I could manage. Once I got a few months out I would serve myself the protein (3oz) plus a small portion of veggies. Then when that didn't fill me up I would add 2TBSP of carbs. What carbs you eat really depends on what you tolerate. I've never had issues with rice, pasta, beans, etc. So I just had a very small amount of what was prepared for my family.

At four years out and as a diabetic I prefer to save my carbs for something I really want - like a good piece of bread, or a sweet. So I generally eat the protein + veggie combo in larger portions and carbs stay pretty low for my meals. I've discovered that I don't really love a carb-y side dish all that much. I also try to avoid cooking things like rice/pasta based dishes that can't be separated.

I really ate almost no carbs until 30 months out. Then I had a gain and tried different diets. I ended up with Weigh****chers. I just follow points. If I track carbs in My Fitness Pal it is around 100 a day, but I am 13 years out from surgery. I also have kidney issues, so no longer eat high protein.

Tracking in My Fitness Pal is a good way to see how many carbs, fat, protein, and other macros work for you. I also like If It Fits Your Macros. ITFYM.com

When I was losing my weight I just focused on protein (goal - 100g a day) and water. If I had carbs I just tried not to have too many at any meal.

My Doctor's mantra was: Protein first, then veggies and then IF you have room then fruit and carbs.

That mindset really helped me.