Diet after surgery Topic
Belleybomb
02/02/23
I’ve recently just had surgery to remove scar tissue from knee after a year long struggle of acl surgery, rehab, and pain while playing soccer in college. I understand that my body needs more calories to heal, but I want to try and lose ten pounds. Before the surgery I would weight lift, some days with my personal trainer, and six days of the week would do 30 minutes of cardio to help with weight lost and fitness. Obviously, I’m not working out except for upper body and doing rehab. I really don’t want to loose muscle I’ve built, but I do not want to gain weight since I’m technically over weight, bmi is 25.6. How would I go about this, I do know I need a lot of protein, but I just find myself struggling to get enough and not consume too much.
Stella_Celeste
02/03/23
I am not a health professional but I’m currently meeting a nutritionist on a regular basis. The consensus among nutritionist seems to be that you cannot use BMI for any individual person. The BMI was created for measuring the healthiness of population NOT for individual. In other words, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN IDEAL WEIGHT. You can have a “normal” BMI and still have metabolic diseases and you could be considered overweight or underweight considering the BMI and still be healthy. Also, the BMI doesn’t take in consideration the muscle mass (which is heavier than fat) and the bone size. So I think you should meet (at least once) a nutritionist to evaluate your situation. Also, since you’re doing rehab, maybe your physical therapist could also guide you. As long as it is a REAL health professional who is up to date in his/her profession you should trust their advice. By REAL health professional I mean a registered nutritionist, a kinesiologist, a registered physical therapist or a doctor. Personal trainers as good as they can be are not always kinesiologist so they are not health professional
Dietician
02/03/23
replied to Belleybomb
Hi there U1194393780-
Welcome to MyNetDiary! Glad you found us~
Here are some tips to help speed up healing in a healthy way-
Eat nutrient-rich meals and snacks. Don’t skip meals even if you aren’t hungry. It is normal to have a reduced appetite after surgery.
This is a good opportunity to focus on your diet quality. Tracking in MyNetDiary makes it easy to see how your diet stacks up to nutrient targets from protein to zinc and everything in between. This article walks you through the steps for setting nutrient targets in the app: https://www.mynetdiary.com/personalized-nutrition-plan.html
You may also find this article helpful. It reviews which nutrients are important to pay attention to after injury: https://www.mynetdiary.com/how-to-speed-wound-healing.html
Finally, staying within your calorie budget will help ensure you don’t gain a lot of weight during your recovery. For the most accurate calorie estimation, set your activity level to “sedentary.” You can do this under the “Me” tab >Personal info.
This is a unique time in your life that won't last forever! If you find it hard to stay positive, reach out to friends, family, and old teammates for support. Recovering from an injury is tough, both mentally and physically. Hang in there! Joanna (MyNetDiary Dietitian)
Diet after surgery
