I am currently 10 days post op and still on the liquid diet I started 2 weeks prior to surgery. I have my 2 week post op appointment this Thursday where I will be transitioning to mushies for 2 weeks then after my 1 month post op I will be transitioning to solids.

My problem is that I cook daily for my boyfriend and while I am cooking I taste the food to make sure that it tastes okay.

Nothing has ever gotten stuck, I haven't gotten sick as I do not have any restriction and am supposed to be filled at 6 weeks post op.

I've asked my doctor and he has not given me any justification only saying that it will help me lose more weight, which does not make sense as I have PCOS and it does not matter when I eat as much as how my body processes what I eat.

I curious to know why we have to do this transitioning 2 weeks liquid-2 weeks Mush-then solids. Does anyone know? Will my band be affected if I move to solids early?:confused2:

That should have been explained to you to make sure you know why you have to do it.

During the healing phase, the stitches holding the band to your stomach heal and the body also forms scar tissue around them which further cements your band in place. So it is important to avoid making the stomach do a lot of churning and heavy work which it has to do to digest solid food. liquids dont have to be churned up so much. That's why you do liquids to mushies to solids.

If you eat solid food too early you are placing yourself at increased risk of a slip further on down the track as the band may not be positioned properly if you cause it to move.

So its important not to eat too early.

If you must taste, spit it out.

Ditto what Jachut said. Yes, my Dr. said that this phase is for the band to heal properly in place! The body should be concentrating on healing and have as little digestion as possible. Also you will not see or know the damage right away until it is too late. I'm not trying to scare you, you probably haven't done much damage yet-if you haven't really been eating all the time, but you REALLY shouldn't further chance it. There are a few great 3-5 minute videos on Youtube.com right now (that were just posted a few days ago) from my doc-Dr. Ortiz. He actually talks about this exact subject. You should watch it.

It really bothers me when someone is this far into this process and does not fully understand it. Before I even had the surgery, the importance of the pre-op and post-op diets among other things were drilled into my head by my surgeon, his nurse, the nutrtionist and the psych so I was fully aware of why it is so important to follow it. Your doctor has dropped the ball if he didn't explain this to you then or now. Jachut explained the "why's" very well. As a self pay, you don't want to undo what you paid so much for.

Also, I have PCOS. I followed the pre-op and post-op diet and I lost weight during this phase and have lost pretty consistently since. Avoid tasting the food while cooking, if necessary avoid cooking but if you absoluteley have to taste it, don't swallow just taste and spit.

So what about the hundreds of people on here that have been told by their docs that they can eat right after the surgery or after a week after the surgery, how does this affect them?

There does not seem to be any consistency in regards to what the doctors are telling there patients. That is why I question this extreme transisition.

And honestly I don't see the difference between tasting a piece of food to see if it is seasoned properly and using applesauce to take medicine. Your body still has to process it right?

i am one whos doc told i could do a liquid diet for a week then full liquids for a few days then transition to mushies. i am 15 days post op and i aould be onto more solid foods but i have kept myself at the soft mushie stage for the very reasons stated above. i have every confidence in my doc. and wouldnt go to anyone else. but when i asked about why i could transition so fast he said if it made me more comfortable i could stay with the liquid longer bit by the time i went to the mushies my stitches would have healed and i wouldnt have a problem. i am still very careful with solids bc even though i wasnt self pay it is to high a price for me to pay to cheat from what the doc told me. we are on this ride to lose weight not be bugged that we cant taste this or that. if we cant control ourselves for that little bit of time then all the work we did pre op and post op are fruitless.

i figure hunger is a natural normal feeling so we might as well get used to it! and nothing tastes as good as thin feels!

You'll find that surgeons around the world give different instructions about how long to wait until their patients can move through the varying food stages. Remember doctors are coming from a medical and sometimes liabiilty perspective. Here in America, they know people will sue if they get a hang nail so doctors will generally give everyone the same cautious advice rather than tell "Susie" she can eat creamed corn and "Bob" can only eat cream of wheat. Your question is valid but I would just stick with what your doctor says. If there is something in particular that you want to eat - ask and see what he/she says. All the best.

What are you tasting? If you are taking in any solid food then there absolutely is a difference. Applesauce passes through your stomach easily whereas a more dense solid food(meat, veggie etc.) will get your stomach churning in order to break it down. The motion of that churning can pull at your sutures. I wasn't even allowed applesauce during my liquids phase.

I don't do what other people say their doctors said to do, I do what my surgeon tells me to do. You ultimately have to make the decision on whether you are going to listen to your surgeon or not. Maybe someone else will come on and tell you it is OK to go against your doctors orders but I just couldn't do that as most people here probably couldn't either. It is just a short time in your life and will pass before you know it. The benefits of this diet are not only healing and weight loss but preparing your brain to understand that you will be eating less. Good Luck!

I'm not tasting the food because I miss the taste. It is apart of cooking for others. You want to make sure you don't overseason or undercook. And I'm not saying that I am eating a steak or large portions. And it is not everything I cook.

I have no problem eating less as food is not an issue with me nor the cause of my inability to lose weight. I am following what my doctor tells me but I am getting conflicting information and that is why I am questioning this.

I have no problem eating less as food is not an issue with me nor the cause of my inability to lose weight. I am following what my doctor tells me but I am getting conflicting information and that is why I am questioning this.

I liked ur last reply the best, your following your doctors direction.

IF, and only IF, you listen to others will information be conflicting.

Just listen to your Dr. and assume because he did the surgery he has YOUR best interest in mind :-)

Just my thoughts, but I do understand the other woman who was critical of what "seemed" like you had no idea why you couldn't eat in the beginning? That you didn't know the healing process involved with this surgery.

You just have to remember that conflicting reports come from different people, with different health histories, with diff amts of weight to lose, with different bands (sizes/capacities) and different motivating factors.

Things are just different, again I applaud you for following your Dr's orders :whatchutalkingabout

Your question does seem to have generated a lot of debate, and that can only be a good thing.

I feel that there is a wealth of information on this site, from people who are willing to share thoughts, ideas, the advice they were given, etc.

The general concensus appears to be that the "only fluid" advice is given to people most of the time following surgery, and that there is then a gradual build up to solid food, which may take a month, sometimes longer.

Those who have been advised to just go onto Mushies straight away, i feel have been misinformed.

The stomach does take time to heal, and an enormous amount of damage can be done if this is ignored. it is like using a "broken arm" which has not yet been fixed.

I would suggest staying on fluids only for at least a week ( i have been advised two), and then passing slowly through the other stages until the stomach is properly healed and can deal with solid food. The risk of the band slipping is just too great, and will store up problems for the future

In the I'm our post diet is so different. I was given soup in hospital 6 hours after surgery , sent home to finish 48 hours of liquid, then purée for 2 weeks mashed for 2 weeks building in solids over final 2 weeks.

I'm not tasting the food because I miss the taste. It is apart of cooking for others. You want to make sure you don't overseason or undercook. And I'm not saying that I am eating a steak or large portions. And it is not everything I cook.

2nd2none,

I know what you mean on tasting things, I USED tocook that way all the time. I am on liquids only because all of the info/comments on letting the belly heal sounds very smart. Now I let the consumers of my cooking do the taste testing...not me. Also, I have found that I have to jot down how much spice to use when they tell me to add more or less. Recommend that you get boyfriend to step up and do the tasting.

I had my band Aug 5th and I had liquids for one week (stage 1) then stage 2 was mushy for 2-3 weeks then stage 3 which i am entering today and that is lumpy foods not mushy and 2-3 weeks for that then stage 4 which is how I eat the rest of my life. my thing is that I have had some foods and not mushy but I never go over 1/2 cup of food I am only aloud 1/2 a cup then now I am aloud 3/4 of a cup I eat mostly veggies and chicken and mashed potatoes and it's in the food processor. Now just lumpy i am thinking that I hope I did not do anything to myself.....I am following my sheets but not 100% I go back in 4 weeks and I get a fill i am nervous now that I did something wrong.......I knew you weren't suppose to eat but I never paid attention on why. My stupid fault. I will watch everything at this point. I just hope it isn't to late. I wouldn't want anything to go wrong with my band after all I went though. I am very upset over myself at this point. I am down 13 lbs. I am so glad I found this web site

Thank you all

Some of the difference in doctors instructions also has to do with how they placed the band. Some use more stitches than others. There are apparently pros and cons in terms of the number of stitches.

I am certain that if you follow the advice of your surgeon or health care practitioner who is familiar with your medical history, you will have the best chance at success with your band.

Welcome to BandLand........this is a fantastic journey