Should I be advancing?

 I am a month out and in puréed stage but my doctor said I could be doing soft meats and fish too. I have to be honest, I haven't had any meat yet. I am content with cottage cheese, ricotta, Greek yogurt and some soups. I am still taking in my shakes so I can get all my protein, but I have no desire to add more food to my diet. I don't know if I am scared to add more food or if it's because I am simply not hungry. Should I be forcing myself to add some dense protein? When were you able to tolerate dense protein? 
Oh, I do enjoy egg whites and I can tolerate eggs but prefer the whites. I bought turkey meatballs in marinara sauce and took two bites of one tonight. First meat bite. I felt like it was in my throat and then felt nauseaus for a few minutes. Does that mean I'm not ready? Should I be eating more of those things by now? My surgeon said he needs to know if I can tolerate it but what if it's just too soon? 
Just looking for a little insight from all of you who have been here. Should I be concerned that I'm not advancing out of mushy food? 
Thanks! 
:)

Well you said a key point, your surgeon wants to know if you can tolerate things. Must listen to your surgeon.

Other then that, there are many vets that were on liquids for 6 weeks post op and they did really well in the weight loss department. Just make sure you are getting your protein and water in. Enjoy the earlier months because this is when you will see the most weight loss.

I would try one new food a day and even if it is just a bite or two at least you know. It is pretty awesome to just take out 1 or 2 meatballs for a meal lol. People at work thought I was starving myself when I was bringing in an ounce of food for lunch. A coworker stated one day when someone asked me what I was doing to lose the weight, "she is starving herself". Guess someone was looking at my meals.

 Personally, I see no reason for you to advance if you do not feel ready given that you are hitting your nutrition targets.  With that said, you should listen to the surgeon as well.  Maybe just try small amounts of stuff to figure out if you can tolerate it, but from that point don't eat more unless you feel ready.  The quicker you advance your stages down the road the quicker to upping the caloriee- but that is just my opinion. 

"Dense" protein wasn't in my plan until after 6 weeks. However, I could do soft proteins at 4 weeks. I ate a lot of baked fish, canned tuna, scrambled eggs. I also used canned chicken since it's so soft.

This early out, don't pu**** If your body doesn't tolerate something, take a break from it for a few weeks and then try again.

I was sleeved the day after you. According to my surgeon's plan, I am still at the mushy stage until tomorrow when I see the doctor. Then I move on to soft foods for a few weeks. So, some more conservative plans advance you through stages pretty slowly. Follow your doctor's plan, but if you need to go a little more slowly I don't think it would be a major problem.

You and I were sleeved on the same day and I'm already eating dense protein and I have no problems... But I would call ur nut to get clarification

 Ive read this before...where some surgeon's want you to advance the progression in texture phases of our post op diets....to test your tolerance/see if there is some physical obstacles like stricture.

Im not usually one to say NOT TO follow your surgeon's advice....but in your particular case...I wouldn't pu****!

I have always had problems when changing to the next phase ....liquids to mushies, mushies to soft, soft to regular diet....I pushed it! I advanced even tho my body said NO!! BIG MISTAKE!! I was miserable! In pain, nauseous OFTEN. ...nothing was ever wrong with my sleeve...it was tryin to tell me sumthing...but I didn't listen because "I was supposed to eat these foods at this time"  

I often will tell new VSGrs...listening to your sleeve, your body takes precedence over timing... back it up! don't pu**** even tho you are advised to...stay in the previous stage  a week more maybe then try again..

Soft flaky baked/steamed fish would be fine to try first!...vs. other types of animal flesh. Make sure its moist, not dry.  Tuna in water thinned w/ greek yogurt/chiptotle mayo another ex.

Some of us aren't TEXTBOOK new!  Why this board is INVALUABLE....because there is sooo much misinformation about VSG...and what happens to us....that our surgeon's nuts don't tell us, or is based on malabsorption (our diets) ...not VSG!   Ya get a WIDE range of experiences and pearls of wisdom...from others here that have walked the walk.....you won't get anywhere else! 

take the pearls of wisdom and experience....be grateful....and IGNORE the REST!!  whether it comes from yer surgeon, nut, or anyone on this board ...inc me! HA! 

It may not be so much as being ready for advancing as what you chose to try (not that it was wrong, but may not be the right thing for you at this time. The general rule is to try new things one at a time to test for tolerance; if it works, great, if not, try again in a couple of weeks. But then try something else the next meal. The turkey meatballs have several things in one dishe that can be a problem - the sauce, the turkey and whatever else is blended into the meatballs. Also, sometimes ground meats don't settle as well as other forms - my wife had problems with ground beef when she was going through this and the surgeon suggested that many tolerated filet better (and indeed she did, too.)

Flakey seafood like tuna and fatter, moister dark meat poultry is often suggested as the most easily tolerated meats to start with. My wife and sister roasted up a chicken early on, second week, IIRC, (so that the carcass could be used for some chicken noodle soup,) and I tried a little of the dark meat from it before returning to my greek yogurt dinner, and that settled well with me, so that gave me confidence to be a little more aggressive on the amount of chicken in the soup that next week. Tuna or chicken salad, where the chopped/shredded meat is well slicked down with slippery mayo, etc. is often suggested as good early fare (it's not my favorite thing, but tuna in a cream sauce worked well for me at that stage.)

It's all a bit of trial and error now - your stomach has had quite a bit of time off from exercising (even more if you had a liquid pre-op diet) and needs a bit of physical therapy to get back into the swing of things. You may need to go slower than others to work into it, or just try different things to find the right path, but it will come along. Good luck,

 IMO, no you should not be advancing...there is no need to rush through the stages, you have your whole life to be back eating solids and all sorts of foods...early post op is a time for healing... not testing out and pushing the boundaries of your sleeve to see what it can tolerate....let your stomach heal and go very slowly....I was consistently behind my surgeon's guidelines with advancing to next stage....my tummy just wasn't ready and his plan is very conservative and I still went slower than that....I was on full liquids for about 8 weeks if I remember right....soft food for weeks after that....I stuck with the same safe items over and over, for several months.....yes my diet was boring, but it didn't matter, it was preferable to getting sick...I never threw up or got the foamies, so I think it was better being slow especially when I read of other people's troubles and what they experienced post op....now I can eat pretty much anything if I wanted to at a year and 2 months out...

 Thank you so much for all of your feedback! You helped clarify how I felt and what I was thinking, I am going to take it slow! My sleeve isn't ready for more food and I am going to listen to that. As always your input is greatly appreciated and so helpful for my journey. 
Thanks again! 
:)