Hi all! When did you guys start eating certain foods. Such as beef (like a meatball or hamburger) and hot dogs? Things like deli meats ( maybe a sandwich with lettuce and a tortilla wrap). I’m really interested in moving forward with trying new things but I am so scared to start trying new things.

Once you are cleared for soft food you can try those things. I would start with deli meat and end with hamburger. Meatballs may be easier cause they typically have sauce. Dry meat seems to bother some people. Lettuce also bothers some but I didn’t have any issues with any foods in terms of tolerating them. It’s just trial and error. Best advice is to go slow and Try one new food at a time so if you do have issues you can pin point it. The NP at my clinic said slow and moist And over chewed.

Did your surgery center not give you paperwork with all this info? On mine for my surgeon i was on soft foods like scrambled eggs, deli meats, chicken, tuna ect... after 2 weeks. but some others dont go to soft foods for 4 weeks. All surgeons are different.

I do have the paperwork but I am moving extremely fast with my eating. I was cleared for finely chopped foods 5 days after my sleeve gastrectomy

After week 6 to 8 weeks. Anything before that time it can be detrimental since the stomach isn't fully healed yet.

I don't do beef so I can't advise you on that, but like others have said, dry meats are tough to handle the first few weeks. I know chicken (like a chicken breast, for example) can be hard for a lot of people, too - too dry. I started with things like deli turkey and canned tuna.

oh yea - like someone else said, lettuce (and other raw vegetables) can be really hard on some people's stomachs, too. I think I was at least four months out before I tried that.

Edited August 8, 20224 yr by catwoman7

I think every plan is different. At 2 weeks, I was allowed pureed foods while trying to thin our pureed meats. At that point, I had eggs, purred chicken/tun salad and also had ground up meat like taco meat and pureed it a little extra.

At week 4, I was allowed soft foods. My team recommended cooking meats in a slow cooker as they stay more moist. At this stage I was still a little paranoid so I basically ate a lot of the same stuff as the pureed stage. But, more meat. I had taco meat, not pureed, spaghetti meat sauce with cheese (no noodles). I think the only "solid" meat I had at this stage was a turkey burger which I had some turkey gravy with so keep it moist and I made Salmon patties.

At week 6, I started slowly introducing a normal diet. I waited the longest to try steak and the first time was shaved steak (like what is on a cheese steak) but we made it at home. Then went on to an actual piece of steak. This is also when I introduced fruits and veggies and then some carbs.

I am about 4.5 months post-op now and I can eat just about anything just MUCH smaller amounts. I don't think there is anything that I have wanted and haven't tried and tolerance everything fine. (Luckily or not, depending on how you look at it.) haha