Reintroducing food

OK so I am now on week three and have been advanced to the stage 3 diet for nearly a week now but... I have to be honest sometimes (ok most of the time) I am so focused on getting enough water and vitamins and protein it's just easier to drink the shakes than to actually chew the food since it takes so blinkin long to chew as many times as you need to without the unwanted side effects. Can anyone else relate? Is there any real harm in prolonging my all liquid diet a bit - say a month or two? (kidding not well not really)

I stayed mostly shakes for three months.

I'm not sure what your "stage 3" diet includes, but can you go for foods that don't require chewing? You can run chicken, refried beans, etc. through the food processor until it's smooth like baby food and then you don't have to chew quite as much.

I was on protein shakes only for a few months. As long as you're getting your vitamins there shouldn't be a problem. At my surgeons office they said I could go slower on the stages BUT not to go faster. You might want to ask your NUT.

Liz

The key is to stay hydrated and that is the most important thing. I agree that sticking to pureed foods and soft foods for a while longer is fine and you can supplement with shakes.

I am 2 months out from revision to VSG -- and I still do at least 1 large protein shake a day (1 1/2 Pure Protein's mixed with iced coffee for 45 grams of protein) -- and then a greek yogurt to get up to 60 grams.

Then, I try to eat a small amount of tuna or chicken or egg salad -- working from 2 or 3 teaspoons to about 2 tablespoons around lunch time

I eventually asked my dietitian this and she said it was fine and to just focus on getting my fluids, protein, and vitamins. I am over five months out and am still doing a lot of foods and liquids from early in the texture progression. I am not going to worry about it as long as I continue finding it easy to stay around 800 cals. Once I start inching towards 1,000 cals, I will start doing more dense proteins. I wish I had done what you are doing from the start instead of trying to keep moving along like I thought I was supposed to.