Low residual Diet Time period

3 weeks ago I had a really bad flare that sent me to the hospital for 10 days. There, they did a sigmoidiscope and saw 80% of my large intestine was in pretty bad shape. They put me on alot of prednisone and antibiotics and directed me to go on a low residual diet. I was released on Memorial day, and by that point, I had been eating semi solid food for a couple of days. Its now almost a week, and I have been eating alot of chicken breast, rice, potatoes, white bread, and eggs. Since I've been out, I've been having about 2-3 bm's a day with no blood, although with absolutely no fiber in my diet, the stools are not fully formed/really soft. Anyways, what I was wondering is, how long do most people stick with such a limited diet? I would like to start slowly introducing a little more fiber into my diet. How soon is too soon?

After my resection 30 years ago I followed this diet for at least 3-4 years. At that point I felt able to (and brave enough) to try other foods. Eventually I was able to resume a nearly normal diet with some restrictions. But my experience is to give it time to let your gut settle down. I'm not talking years, in my case 30 years ago there was little known and few meds to treat me so diet was my best route. I frequently go back to this diet in one form or another when I'm having a flare. Good luck.