Hi Linda, I am like Chris. I didn't push myself to eat solids. I make sure I get plenty of calories with the drinks and on my last meal of the day I usually try to eat something. It is hard to explain to people how hard it is to eat when things don't taste right and when it takes 20 oz.s of water to wash down a couple of miniwheats. Trying to do this filled me up with water and made it very difficult to also drink the 16oz CIB VHC, Ensure plus mix I have been drinking for 2 1/2 months. I lost 35 to 40 lbs but have stabilized my weight since about week 5-6. I am now almost 6 wks post and on my best day I ate about a cup and a half of very watery soup. It takes time. I am always happy that my wife cares enough to stay concerned but I finally had to sit her down and explain that pushing me to eat was a loosing battle. On top of the regular difficulties when I eat something that leaves a horrible taste or just a bad experience it seems to etch itself in my memory and really turns me off from that particular thing. That is why I take it slow and let it come to me. Good luck and keep an eye on him to be sure he doesn't get dehydrated or malnutrition. With just my liquid diet I'm getting 2730 calories a day in 3 16oz meals. When my throat healed up I added 1-2 Juven drinks to add some muscle healing nutrients. My rad nurse gave me the Juven but I wasn't able to drink it until about 3 weeks ago. It seemed to help my energy some. Good luck. Lee