I will NEVER do that again!!!!

OMG!! For all you newbies, PLEASE do not take it lightly when they tell you to chew chew chew and not to take too big of bites. I have not really had any issues that I could not resolve by walki up until about an hour ago. the doc office told me that people usually have a problem with ground turkey so to try that late...ok I waited until today and I did ok with it mixed with a little spaghetti sauce and ricotta cheese...I could only eat about 2 oz. A couple hrs later, here about an hour ago I thought ok, I will eat a couple spoons of the meat alone. WORSE idea I have ever had!! I could feel it sitting in my chest.. I walked and walked and walked...for 45 min and then I swallowed and I could feel that saliva sitting on top of it and I thought I was gonna die. OMG it hurt so bad. I ran to the bathroom gagging and got up alot of saliva....I thought it was better. Wrong! the meat  was still sitting there....I waited about 15 min and out came the meat. It was horrible!!!!! I will NEVER do that again!!!!

I can't eat dry meat and especially ground turkey. I won't even attempt it without some kind of sauce.

OMG I will never do it again!! Any time I ever think of it, I will remember that pain. it was unbearable.

Sorry you're feeling bad.

Please see your thread about my comments concerning you eating meat, cheese, shrimp, chili and spaghetti sauce at two weeks out.

I don't want to seem to countermand your surgeon or nutrionist, but I think they're doing a disservice telling you it's ok to eat regular foods at two weeks out.  

Also, I'm amazed you could actually fit two ounces of that food in your stomach at two weeks.  I could only fit one.

I think you're really, really pushing yourself (in the wrong way) with your diet.  But I've said my peace and I'm going to drop it.  I hope you don't hurt yourself.  Good luck.

No Ruggie...please share your concerns with me! I need feedback from vets...It seems that all docs give different advice and diets and its very confusing!! My mushy stage consists of not only ground turkey, but deli shaved lunch meats, low fat cheeses, I even called them and she told me anything soft I could eat period. Based on my tolerance of course. Now, as far as the ounces, I do not quote me on that,....I was estimating. I measured 4 oz and I know I ate maybe 8-10 bites of it and I was done. I know the family I have that also has the surgery could eat about the same. Thanks so much for all your feedback I really appreciate your thoughts and advice!!

I was able to eat regular food as tolerated at 2 weeks out and could eat 2 oz at that time as well.

The "as tolerated" is the kicker, but sometimes you don't know what you'll tolerate until you don't.

Dense protein alone, without sauce or without a softer side item, is difficult to get down.  Now you know. 

I am so glad u said that so I know other people were put of mushies as early as me! No, I really didnt have any issues until I ate that,...everything else went down pretty good unless I ate too fast or didnt chew good enough and when that happened, I knew it. I am gonna try to go a little slower right now...

UGH! That sounds terrible!

In what order of "easiness" are different meats when you are adding them back in to your diet? Which ones are easiest?

(Yikes, just noticed your sleeve date!)

yea apparently its shocking to some that I am already eating ground turkey at 2 1/2 weeks out, even though its on my paper for my mushy stage?! This is so confusing!!! The doc gives you these foods u can eat and it seems like a shock to other people. It makes me feel that im doing something wrong...I DO NOT want to hurt myself. I dont know what to do. They told me to eat anything soft that I can tolerate including deli shaved lunch meats, soft cooked veggies, mashed potatoes, sugar free pudding and aplesauce, melba toast.....i am soooo confused :( 

It sounds like you're following your surgeon's plan, and every doctor is different in the progression to solid foods.  My doctor had me on clear liquids for 10 days, full liquids for 10 days, then mushy/puree type stuff for 10 days.  So a full 30 days before eating ANY type of solid food.  (My first solid was a bite or two of scrambled egg - so good!)

You're only a couple weeks from surgery and still swollen inside, so your poor sleeve won't tolerate much in the way of volume.  Go easy!  Just because your surgeon's plan says it's OK, doesn't mean it's right for YOU.  Some people slow down their progression to solid foods, or move back into mushies if they have an experience like you did.  We have a lifetime to return to the foods we enjoy....

That said, here's a visual that helped me a lot.  Your bites should be the size of a pencil eraser.  That worked for me, after having a similar experience as you - twice!  I guess I was a slow learner, LOL.  Just "small bites" didn't help much, but I read on here somewhere along the line, that means "pencil eraser" size.  And then chew it until there's practically nothing but spit left.  Not fun, but then it's all about healing that staple line at this point and waiting for the swelling to go down. 

Good luck sweetie!

Edited to add:  Per my doctor, mushies meant really soft things: applesauce, mashed potatoes, refried beans, hummus, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, regular yogurt, pudding, etc. (I didn't worry about carbs until I moved to solid foods.)  Actual solid food that's "soft" wasn't on the list, so no shaved deli, ground meat of any kind, cooked veggies, etc.  You might move to these types of things for a couple weeks, just to give your sleeve a little more time.  Just a thought.