Week 4 - Soft foods hurt a little and feel stuck for awhile

I had RNY with a hiatal hernia repair on 3/11. I am completely okay with liquids (except I get embarrassing gurgling noises in my throat). However, the soft/diced foods I am now allowed to eat often feel a little painful going down and then feel stuck at the bottom of my esophagus for about 5-10 minutes. Anyone have experience with this? Is this normal? Could it be due to my hiatal hernia repair? Please tell me this goes away…  I also hit the dreaded 3-week stall a few days ago, but am trying not to dwell on it.

I did not have a hernia repair, so the best advice I can give you is take teeny tiny bites (I use a baby spoon) and chew it really well. Yes, even the soft stuff. I pretty much chew until it dissolves in my mouth. Also, try just a bite or two of a new food every day. It could be the specific thing you're trying just doesn't agree with your pouch yet, or possibly you're eating a little too much of it. How much are you measuring out? I literally started with one ounce of greek yogurt. It looks tiny but you'll add more in the future :) Now I'm up to 3 oz of cottage cheese and the 5.3 oz Light and Fit greek yogurt looks huge, but if I'm really hungry I can eat one slowly, since it's pretty much a slider. I've successfully had mushy carrots and very very soft chicken, both from a big pot of soup I made. I started trying one bite of the chicken, and it was too tough one day, too tough a couple days later, then a few days after that it was fine. The next day I had 1/4 oz. of it, day after 1/2 oz. etc. Can you tell I'm a little paranoid about getting sick/vomiting? I haven't vomited since 1996 and I want to keep up that streak! 

I did stall for about a week and did find that adding more calories (from 2-400 per day to 4-600 per day) and more liquids (from just barely hitting 64oz to 80-100) did seem to bump me out of it. 

I'm a little over a week ahead of you and also had hiatal repair as well. I have noticed a few times that I get a log jam down there temporarily, especially last week when I didn't chew a piece of deli chicken enough and had horrible radiating pressure up and down esophagus and a big batch of the foamies.  From what I have found for us early on this is very normal, and we need to concentrate extra hard on spreading our bites out and getting that food to baby food consistency. I have done this since my foamy session and haven't had any problems since. 

I also stalled for a good 2 weeks after quickly losing 24lbs from preop diet to a week out. However my last weigh in on Monday showed a loss of about 6lbs so I'm hoping that's passed for now as well. I'm trying to concentrate more on my liquids, protein and eating program and less on what the scale tells me. I've given that damn thing too much control over the years, and although I want to see it move, I'm trying not to make it such a high priority and just knowing long term this will work if I concentrate and relearn the right things for long term success. 

Yes, take it really slow. In the beginning I waited like a minute between bites. There is an app for your phone called eat slower that helps time you. I am sitting here right now with some pain because I ate too much/too fast... ugh. I may need to go back to the app myself...LOL Yes don't dwell on the stall. Mine started one week after surgery and lasted 3 1/2 weeks. I was sure it wasn't going to work, and my doc kept saying "I am not worried." I have certainly made up for lost time and am happy with my weight loss.

It really depends on the consistency of the food. I can tolerate most things I've tried well, but certain things give me that feeling. Initially it was eggs, but now it's foods that are really dry.