I start the next phase of my diet tomorrow and realized that I only have TWO days of pureed before moving onto "very soft" foods - is that common? I was also surprised to see that "very soft" includes fish, meat, veggies - pretty much everything - as long as it's ground-up. The following phase is "soft" which will start 9/16 includes all normal foods, and they just have to be cut small and chewed well - no more grinding up. However, a general diet doesn't start until 10/1. I went thru the bariatric program at a different hospital before changing surgeons at the last minute, and their program required liquid for 2 weeks, pureed for 2 weeks, very soft for 2 weeks, soft for another 2 weeks, then general diet. I would have to be almost 2 months out before I could eat a general diet. I'm just wondering why the variance in the timing of these phases. ?

eating plans vary pretty widely - so no, I'm not surprised. I never had a liquid diet post-op (I just had the pre-op one). I went directly to purees as soon as I left the hospital...actually even BEFORE I left the hospital.

I was on clear liquids/shakes for 2 weeks, then full liquid for a week, then a week of pureed before moving to soft. It definitely varies between practices. If that's what your doctor says I'd go with it. Lucky! [emoji23]

1 hour ago, catwoman7 said:

eating plans vary pretty widely - so no, I'm not surprised. I never had a liquid diet post-op (I just had the pre-op one). I went directly to purees as soon as I left the hospital...actually even BEFORE I left the hospital.

Oh wow! I didn't realize it was common for things to be so varied. I just assumed that generally, we had to ease into "harder" foods as our stomach healed. I had a very small piece of string cheese the other day and was bracing myself for instant pain, but nothing...

3 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

eating plans vary pretty widely - so no, I'm not surprised. I never had a liquid diet post-op (I just had the pre-op one). I went directly to purees as soon as I left the hospital...actually even BEFORE I left the hospital.

WOW! Thanks for this info. I’m starting week 2, and on the same strict diet plan LAJ23 was originally on...liquids only and I’m so miserable.
I will try a purée for dinner! Thank you both.

I was two weeks, liquids, two weeks, puréed (sloppy foods - get out the blender) & two weeks soft (mushy with minimal chew - lots of slow cooking) before trying more solid food too. Personally I’d go slowly through these stages & don’t be concerned if you find you have to go back a step. You’ve just had surgery on your digestive system & will be healing for a while. You don’t want to put too much strain or stress on it. Your tummy will soon tell you what it’s ready to tolerate.

Good luck.

We had puree and soft stuff (yogurt, scrambled eggs) in the hospital and could move between the typical liquid, puree/mushy and soft phases as we could tolerate. Of course, protein was mostly shakes at first, but that left margin for trying other things that might only be tolerated in very small quantities.