Need help and info on days post op and foods

hi I’m new to the group and have so many questions,

I had Roux-en-Y Bypass gastric bypass….

so rule of thumb is followed

• Weeks 1 and 2: Liquid diet
• Weeks 3 and 4: Puree diet
• Weeks 5 to 8: Soft diet
• After 8 weeks: Regular diet

But I’m having issues sticking to this, I need help and advice on what I’m doing and if I’m wrong to do this and I can’t find answers,

so I’m day 10 post op now as I had my surgery on the 2nd December 2023,

first few days kept to the liquid diet that being said I’m struggling with taking so much fluids, any way I would say day 7 I feel fine no issues or anything when I drink the shakes etc and they are thickish shakes so day 8 post op I tried a chunky soup it was potato and leak I chewed the chunks before swallowing and yeah only managed like 4 spoons and done I’m full….. but today 10 days post op again should only be on liquid but I had mash and beans and again only a few mouth fills filled me and I’m fine no pains or anything….. I know they say people heal at different rates inside etc and I do know I heal quick from surgery’s Iv had in the pact ext……

so my question is am I moving to fast is this safe for me to continue should I slow down and go back to what the plan is supposed to happen because with me only being 10 days post op I’m eating at week 3-4 puree diet and to be honest I think I might be ok moving onto week 5-8 soft diet in a few days….

just any advice of anyone who has had this issues or may know a answer from experience or knowledge.

many thanks.

Meg. From UK. (Manchester)

I think you're supposed to only eat liquids at first because you need to let your stomach heal. I wouldn't push yourself with solid food.

I replied to your other post but I will add your shakes & broths add to your total fluid goal & sip, sip, sip all day long. I used to dilute my shakes & soups to thin them out, help the flavour a bit & also to add to my fluid intake. Plus I’d just sip them until I was finished. Didn’t care if it took me two hours to drink my shake as long as I was getting protein & fluids. And I reiterate my message in my other response: stick to your plan. It’s given to you for a reason.

Now a little straight talking. This is about choice. You have chosen to go off plan. No one told you to or forced you to. The real question is not can I do/eat this but why I want to do/eat this. (I still have times I ask myself this plus do I need this or just want it.) The surgery doesn’t ‘fix’ everything. There’s a lot of hard work involved including changing your relationship with food.

Working all this out takes time but you’ll get to a place you feel confident & comfortable with what you’re doing & the choices you make. Don’t be hesitant to speak to your team either. They’ve likely heard it all & will be happy to guide you - they want you to succeed too.

You can get back on track. You won’t have affected your overall weight loss (we are only talking a couple of days). All the best.

I agree with Arabesque, you need to follow your plan. You were given that plan for a reason. You may feel like you've healed, but nerves were cut during the surgery and it takes them awhile to regenerate. You could be doing damage if you progress in your diet too quickly.

we've all had to move through a specific progression, about or exactly the same as the one you've been given. Yes it can be frustrating and seem agonizingly slow, but it's temporary and we've all survived it! You'll be able to eat more "normal" foods soon enough.

and yes - you can thin your shakes out if they're too thick (I remember not liking the thickness, either). Just add some water to them.

good luck and stick to it - the first few weeks can be tough, but again, they're just temporary.

My dietitian explained the reason the diet progresses so slow is because there are a lot of sutures holding your stomach (and intenstines) together and you want those raw edges to heal together without the obstruction of bits of food getting in their way irritating them. You want nice, smoothly healed suture lines. I don't think you've done irreversible damage from going off plan, but I agree with the others, I'd examine why you felt you needed to go off plan, and I'd return to it. If you feel you've healed faster than others and should advance, call your team and talk to them about it. They might let you advance sooner, or they might tell you to stay the course.

This surgery and the aftermath take a lot of willpower. We can choose to stay with the guidelines we've been given from our team, or we can do our own thing, but there will be consequences for each choice. If you bend the rules for earlier food progression, will you bend the rules when it comes to what you should eat as you begin to lose weight? Will you go off course throughout your weight loss phase because you don't feel like adhering to it? We all have those moments, it is understandable, we are human. But we have to be willing to confront ourselves when we do have those moments and look deeper into what is going on there that caused us to make those choices. Because one choice is one choice, but one choice made repeatedly is a pattern, and a pattern can either heal or hinder us.