I had found an article a long time ago when I was doing research about the sleeve that talked in detail about why the diet stages after surgery were important. Can anyone list kind of specific reasons for each stage so I'm not temped to get ahead of myself? Thank you!

The short answer and the one that will probably keep you from advancing too fast is this: your stomach is healing. Removing such a large part of it by cutting it and stapling it is traumatic to your body. It is swollen and pissed off. You need to be kind to it and eat through the stages. While really swollen only liquids so that it doesn't push. You don't want your stomach churning at this point trying to digest food when it is still recouperating from the physiological changes. Hope that helps.

My NUT explained that the stages were all about the texture. Our stomach's are healing from major surgery so we have to be careful about texture and while we heal, we need nutrition to heal so we need maximum nutrition.

I think there's more than one reason for some of the stages. Mostly it's about making sure you don't give your stomach something it can't handle early on, since it is fragile and healing. But the reason not to eat more solid foods too early is the risk of pieces getting caught in the staple line. Until the tissue around the staple line heals up, there are hundreds of tiny little nooks and crannies where solid foods could get caught and cause abscesses, ulcers, or leaks.

My surgeon's plan allows for soft Proteins starting on day three (cottage cheese, ground meat, Beans, etc- very small portions, of course). He said he stays up to date with all of the latest recommendations in the bariatric community, and has been doing it this way for years with no problems. I never had a miserable week of clears or liquids, and no eating mush for weeks on end. I've tolerated everything I've eaten, and am now 7 weeks out, and basically eating like a normal person (only real restriction is that I'm eating low carb), just smaller portions.

It has made this processes so much easier than I ever expected, and I'm down 45 pounds in 9 weeks (that includes 2 week pre-op diet). I am a big proponent for following YOUR surgeons recommendations, but just wanted to throw this out there to show how much the post-op diets can vary between surgeons.

~*~ Find me on YouTube: Trisha's Sleeve Story ~*~

My Dr said 2 reasons. First all the reasons people listed above about healing.

Then the 2nd reason is food are reintroduced in stages so you relearn how to eat. I didn't think it was possible this late in my life to relearn how to eat, but I have found it to be very effective.

Also I think it gives you time to learn your stomach and how it works.