When Were You Allowed Meat?

Hello Everyone:

How many weeks after surgery did you have to wait before your eating plan allowed solid protein, such as chicken or beef?

I am at the pureed foods stage but I'm craving real meat. My plan allows flaky fish starting week 7 but no meat until week 9. My stomach is doing great, I haven't had a bit of trouble except for cottage cheese which make my tummy hurt (although yogurt and ricotta are fine. Weird.) I'm sticking to my plan but I'm going to ask my surgeon's nurse practitioner about bumping up the meat timeline.

I would like to get an idea of  when others are/were allowed meat.

Many thanks!

My surgeon said i could eat anything I could cut with a fork, so I decided to have a go at a meatball. OMG. I thought I was going to die. The first half went down okay, but the second half got stuck...for 2 hours. I was utterly miserable. After that, someone told me that beef and chicken were hard to eat until much later. So I'm sticking with seafood, eggbeaters, and deli meat. I discovered i CAN eat grilled shrimp, so I'm in hog  heaven over that.

After three weeks, I was allowed ground turkey, chicken, beef...whatever I could tolerate.  I did not attempt beef of any kind until after 6-7 weeks though.  I stuck to ground turkey, flaky fish, and deli sliced turkey and chicken at first.

After four weeks I was allowed ground/canned tuna, turkey, chicken & I added ground beef.  6-8 weeks I could add non-breaded fish/seafood poultry & other lean meats.  Remember only 2-3 ounces at each meal.

I could eat anything after 2 weeks , my plan is for 2 weeks of full liquid then full food, but its best to start with softer food

I had meat balls during the third week with no problems

tuna or grilled Tilapia is a good food to start with

I was allowed most meat at eight weeks out once I moved on to soft foods. It had to be tender. No red meat other than ground red meat (hamburger, ground elk, etc.****il six months out.

I left the hospital on purees and I could have pureed meat in broth if I wanted.  After my one week checkup I was put on soft foods.  This meant it could be cut with a fork and chewed to an applesauce consistency.  No steak, pork chops, grilled chicken...but chicken in a crock pot, tuna and other fish, ground meats, etc were all ok.  I'm doing fine with that.  

It's interesting how varied the post-op diets are.  It's also interesting how many people feel that their postop diet and experience is the right one and if you're doing something different it must be wrong or too much or whatever.  

However, if your doctor gave you a plan to follow I'd stick with it no matter who experiences what and how well.  Can you call them and ask if adding some ground meat might be ok? 

I was sleeved on 12/17.  I was allowed to add meat in at my 4 week appt. but he said not to do chicken or beef until week 6.  I have not issues with eggs, tuna salad, ham salad, chicken salad, or deli meat.  I've been trying chicken and beef and it's killing me!  I don't know if I'm eating too fast, too much at a time, I'm going through a lot of stress right now so it could be that but it's not going down.  So, I'm back to eggs, soup, and protein drinks.

Thank you all for your replies. 

It is very interesting to see the variety of plans. I wonder why some surgeons feel it's ok to have soft meats earlier than other but I will stick with my plan unless my doc gives the ok to add in something early. I don't want to form bad habits or put my new tummy at risk or discomfort, or worse. 

Thanks again.

Mary

I was allowed it fairly soon (at 4 weeks) but I should have waited.  Hard protein caused all kinds of excess acid problems and I had to back off of it for awhile to allow everything to settle down.  Just FYI...