Don't people read their surgeon's meal plan?

My plan calls for three types of foods, meat, cheese, and eggs... so the topping off of a pizza is perfectly fine for meand I've had it with much success. I won't be eating crust any time soon but I can see having a slice at 1 year.

We eat pizza once or twice a month from a take out place (although we've found we can do the frozen pizza's on sale for even cheaper so we've been doing that instead). I eat one small, sometimes two small slices (about the same size I give my 4 and 5 year old). I love it. I don't eat much, but there's nothing wrong with it. NO food is an absolute NO to me. I'll eat an occasional candy bar, or an occasional desert. I "compensate" for it though.

 I got one nine years ago.  It was very specific.

I wish I could follow them NOW.

I have been wondering the same thing. I have a plan- it even includes sample menu's for each stage after surgery. I was given it at my nutritionist visit, my surgeons office and its avalible online.

I agree with you Kelly. I also think a lot of it has to do with what Hollie was saying about validation of starting foods early. I think people forget that surgeons are all different, and they all have different plans, and even customize some of them for different patients. I think it's important to go over what you're eating with your surgeon.

I remember when I was just post op, I was curious when everyone else started certain things, because it seemed scary to me to have a piece of bread or veggie, etc. I clearly remember being so NERVOUS about coffee! I was such a coffee addict before hand, and my surgeon's office suggested I stay away from it, because of the acid content of it (German coffee is MUCH higher acid wise than american). It took me 3 months to work up the nerve to have a cup...lol

My plan was very specific. (I HATED reading it, the number of typos drove my aesthetics insane, how can you name parts of the body with phonetic spellings?) I pretty much followed it for the stages, internalized it for what I needed to know when, and then I haven't looked in it for a long time. Couldn't tell people aabout most of the stages. Generally if I bother to answer a "when can I..." post, I ask them if their surgeon gave them a plan.

But it is my (perhaps snarky) opinion that some people are shopping around for a plan they prefer. If their plan says no coffee for 8 weeks, but they hear someone else's plan allows coffee from day one, and once they know someone can, they do. I could be wrong, and as I mentioned, I'm being snarky, but I most often think that it is not that they don't have a plan, but more that they don't LIKE their plan, so they want a better one.

Sorry to be snarky, but I'm feeling snarky

I suspect you may be right.  I do think some people are trying to justify eating something that their plan says they shouldn't eat yet.  And even if their plan doesn't list a specific food and when it's OK to start eating it, well... most people that are smart enough to get online, find this forum and post questions here are probably smart enough to know that Doritos are not a pureed food, right?  Or that milkshakes from McDonald's are not a good choice for a full liquid.

It's kind  of funny how people seem to assume that if someone else's doctor as said it was OK for them to eat crackers at two weeks post op, then it should be OK for everyone.  But they don't ask their surgeon why he recommended they not eat crackers yet.  However, with other things, like if you're surgeon told you it was OK to increase your dose of some medication, people would not automatically assume they should increase theirs too.  They would at least ask their surgeon first.

For the people without a plan, shame on their docs

for the people with a minimal plan (if it takes one page) SHAME on their docs.

For the people with a really good plan, still asking... shame on them.

I always find it funny when someone in the third category states they've had no plan from their doc, and then three people with the same doc say "didn't you get the binder? you can find it online here..." and give a link. Often those "shoppers" never come back because they've been so obviously been shopping for a plan they prefer.

I agree with your final analysis. People shouldn't expect a surgeon's plan to be one size fits all for every person. I noted variables within my surgeon's practice. I had no pre-op diet, and someone else had to go 6 week with mostly liquids and only one 4 oz solid meal per day. But then her BMI was much closer to 70 than 50. Another person who was a self-confessed diet-soda drinker had been told to lay off diet sodas forEVER and I wasn't (she flipped out when she found I was drinking something with artificial sweetener, and *****ed me out when she thought I was cheating and wouldn't believe our diets were different)

 I got a couple of handouts for the liquid diet and for the first few stages after surgery. I'm sure during my pre-op class that we'll get much more detailed information for further out. I'm also scheduled to see my dietician 3 weeks after surgery, so whatever questions, problems, etc. I encounter will be answered. 

Oh, I forgot to add that the first meeting with the dietician, she gave me a goal list to work on, such as not drinking with meals (30-60 minutes before or after), smaller bites, cutting back to 1 cup of regular coffee/switching to decaf, etc. You get the idea. Anyway, I keep that list near my bed so I can look at it most nights (depending on my daughter's sleep schedule LOL). It definitely keeps me more mindful of what I'm doing. 

 In my program, the nutritionist tells the weeks that will be what stages however there is no meal plan until that particular stage starts.  I start purée tomorrow but still don't know what I can eat until I go into a meeting with the nut to discover the new stage. It'll be the same with soft and then regular food stages.  I wish we could get it all ahead of time to prepare!