Hello! I’m currently waiting for insurance approval for gastric sleeve surgery. The dietician gave me the post surgery food guidelines from week 1 through 18 months+. Weeks 1-4 are listed as pureed foods. Almost every article & forum post I read about this topic says puréed foods don’t start until week 3 in order to let the sleeve heal. I’m really worried that my stomach is going to stretch out right away. Can anyone else who’s been told to immediately start puréed food tell me how your recovery went?
Thank you!

There are a variety of post op guidelines. Some start purees/soft foods quicker than others some later than others. You don't need to progress through the stages if you don't feel up to it and can delay the stage for a week or two (or more) if you want.

Don’t worry you won’t stretch out your tummy. You’ll barely be able to eat much at all. For my first two weeks it took me all day to drink half a cup of soup & 300ml of protein shake. Thank goodness they counted to my daily fluid requirements.

Listen to your body. It will tell you physically (& not always pleasantly) & audibly what it can tolerate. Go slowly. Yes, your body is healing & it does take weeks. If you’re concerned, talk to your doctor. I doubt they’d say no if you wanted to start on liquids only before purées. (When you do go to purées think sloppy though it’s not all that appetising.)

Good luck.

plans are all over the board. I was on purees as soon as I left the hospital (in fact, they had me eating purees while i was AT the hospital...). And no, you won't stretch your stomach. That takes chronic overeating. And besides, you're not going to be able to eat enough to do that for the first few weeks ANYWAY.

I was given some strait forward guidelines. Day 1-2 clear liquid diet, Day 3-14 full liquid diet. Day 15-week 6 to 8, Pureed and soft foods. It was very clear and very spelled out.

Well, in the hospital that all went out the window. Day 2 the nurse brought me pureed chicken noodle soap. At my "two week" Zoom meeting (which was actually on day 12) they told me to eat ground meat, flaky fish and basically anything but tight grained meat. (steak, pork, etc.) They just seemed to rush me along on that aspect of recovery. Everything is fine, but they have been so meticulous in every other direction it was just a little surprising.

This will give you more options. Remember the puree diet includes everything in the liquid diet so you still have the option to continue consuming those things you like in your liquid diet. I did liquids only for 10 days post op.

Thanks, y’all! I feel better now. I’ll have questions ready when I have my pre-surgery nutrition class then I’ll be sure to listen to my body after surgery. I’m a natural worrier so I really appreciate y’all’s input.
@mattk53, I can easily see your experience happening to me! I’m happy everything went good for you despite the curveball!