What Should I Eat When Injured?
It’s a common question in the clinic but for different reasons. Some people are concerned about sustaining weight loss, others it’s maintaining muscle mass. For some, it’s about using nutrition to heal faster. In the video above I discuss all these points with Tim Goodman, founder of Food Flexibility. Click above to watch the video.
In the blog below I have addressed some of the key points Tim gave for fat loss and muscle mass when injured.
Worried about putting on weight when injured?
If you use exercise as a way of keeping your bodyweight in check it is completely understandable that now you’re injured you feel worried or anxious that you will put on body fat. Read below some of the points from my interview with Nutrition Coach Tim Goodman from Food Flexibility that will hopefully reassure you and give you some pointers.
- Gaining any body tissue takes time & you need more than 2 weeks of consistently eating more calories than you use (a calorie surplus) to gain fat tissue.
- Eating & exercising differently will change how your body stores water, which may account for the changes you feel in the early days after sustaining an injury.
- Your exercise regime will undoubtedly have given you a feeling of well-being & routine. Losing these aspects will have a knock-on effect on your eating habits. But, whilst more difficult, you have got control over these habits, use them as the one thing you can control.
- Change up your exercise rather than stopping and seek advice on what exercise CAN be done that might also support the rehabilitation of your injury.
- Put things into perspective, an exercise class will typically utilise around 300 calories, which, when it comes to food intake, isn’t very much.
Worried about losing muscle mass when injured?
If muscle mass is your concern, read the points below to help guide your action to maintaining this mass whilst you are injured.
- Overall calorie intake should be your focus, this may need to be reduced very slightly IF your activity is reduced AND you were eating a calorie surplus. Find your maintenance calorie intake and divide this into the key macronutrients as below.
- Protein should be the next consideration with intake between 1.6g to 1.8g per Kg of body weight.
- Carbohydrates are the area that you should look to reduce IF a reduction in your overall calorie intake is needed.
- Don’t forget your body needs calories to repair and keeping a spread over all macronutrients will help ensure you consume the micronutrients needed for optimal repair.
Key Points to Optimise Your Health and Nutrition When Injured
Follow the basics.
Tim has a great pyramid model that he uses to illustrate the importance of overall calorie consumption and then how this is broken down within the three macronutrients, where protein is considered first.
But make sure it’s all foods you enjoy, being injured is punishment enough!
Find your maintenance calorie level. Tim suggests using a tape measure around your stomach for four weeks whilst tracking calories to give you an idea of your maintenance intake. This will not only give you reassure that you aren’t gaining fat but also put you in a great position going forward knowing more about your body and calorie consumption.
Remember exercise is a small contributor to weight loss. Calorie-for-calorie exercise is a poor weight loss tool. So don’t ditch all your healthy habits just because this one tool is currently difficult.
Don’t stop, adapt. An injury doesn’t mean stopping exercise, you may need to seek advice, get creative, and yes, perhaps do an activity you don’t love quite as much. However, maintaining muscle mass of non-injured tissues, cardiovascular fitness and all the other positive benefits of exercise will put you a step ahead when your injury is healed and ready to go!
If you need support with finding the right adaptations for your injury or you need specific rehabilitation, contact me now to discuss.
