Broken Bones and Calorie Deficit

kshama2001

yirara wrote: »

It's an old zombie thread, but I thought I'd dig it out. My normal maintenance calories are around 1750kcal without exercise. Since a complex proximal humerus fracture about 4 weeks ago I eat about 500 calories extra per day, and still lose weight slowly. That's about 1/3 extra. Never thought it'd be that massive.

I also sleep an awful lot. Every time the painkillers stop working (most don't work, and the ones that do only last just above 3hrs) I get terribly tired and fall asleep.

I had an open abdominal hysterectomy 8 weeks ago and my appetite has been massive. The holidays didn't help, either, and I've gained weight, but am hopefully back on track with the new year.

My energy levels are slowly coming back. I don't feel tired - until I suddenly hit a wall. I'm down to 0-1 naps per day. I'm having a lot of lower back pain, which I assume is from a weak core. I lie on a hot pad at least twice per day. I discontinued the opioid some time ago and OTC meds don't really seem to help, but I do take ibuprofen occasionally.

PAV8888

Both of you two: healing thoughts for 2023❣️😘

yirara

Thanks a lot @PAV8888, and also sending you healing thoughts @kshama2001 I can't imagine an open abdominal surgery! Yikes! When I lost my gallbladder I was very fit within a short time again. Ok, walking to the supermarket didn't really work when I found out all food I'd stocked up on looked yucky, and so I carefully rolled to it on inline skates.

claireychn074

kshama2001 wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

It's an old zombie thread, but I thought I'd dig it out. My normal maintenance calories are around 1750kcal without exercise. Since a complex proximal humerus fracture about 4 weeks ago I eat about 500 calories extra per day, and still lose weight slowly. That's about 1/3 extra. Never thought it'd be that massive.

I also sleep an awful lot. Every time the painkillers stop working (most don't work, and the ones that do only last just above 3hrs) I get terribly tired and fall asleep.

I had an open abdominal hysterectomy 8 weeks ago and my appetite has been massive. The holidays didn't help, either, and I've gained weight, but am hopefully back on track with the new year.

My energy levels are slowly coming back. I don't feel tired - until I suddenly hit a wall. I'm down to 0-1 naps per day. I'm having a lot of lower back pain, which I assume is from a weak core. I lie on a hot pad at least twice per day. I discontinued the opioid some time ago and OTC meds don't really seem to help, but I do take ibuprofen occasionally.

@yirara if you can arrange some sports physio when you are given the all clear, I would recommend it. I had open abdominal surgery eight years ago, and the only muscle not cut through on one side was the QL. Unfortunately I get pain now as that muscle gets overworked (being a competitive weightlifter possibly doesn’t help 🤣), and the exercises prescribed by my sports physio have been a complete life saver. After a bad bout when my whole back went into spasm, I do my exercises every day. It’s well worth doing, and will help your core to recover fully and get strong again.

PAV8888

My core probably needs it much more than @kshama2001's given her yoga background... no ?!?!?!?

kshama2001

claireychn074 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

It's an old zombie thread, but I thought I'd dig it out. My normal maintenance calories are around 1750kcal without exercise. Since a complex proximal humerus fracture about 4 weeks ago I eat about 500 calories extra per day, and still lose weight slowly. That's about 1/3 extra. Never thought it'd be that massive.

I also sleep an awful lot. Every time the painkillers stop working (most don't work, and the ones that do only last just above 3hrs) I get terribly tired and fall asleep.

I had an open abdominal hysterectomy 8 weeks ago and my appetite has been massive. The holidays didn't help, either, and I've gained weight, but am hopefully back on track with the new year.

My energy levels are slowly coming back. I don't feel tired - until I suddenly hit a wall. I'm down to 0-1 naps per day. I'm having a lot of lower back pain, which I assume is from a weak core. I lie on a hot pad at least twice per day. I discontinued the opioid some time ago and OTC meds don't really seem to help, but I do take ibuprofen occasionally.

@yirara if you can arrange some sports physio when you are given the all clear, I would recommend it. I had open abdominal surgery eight years ago, and the only muscle not cut through on one side was the QL. Unfortunately I get pain now as that muscle gets overworked (being a competitive weightlifter possibly doesn’t help 🤣), and the exercises prescribed by my sports physio have been a complete life saver. After a bad bout when my whole back went into spasm, I do my exercises every day. It’s well worth doing, and will help your core to recover fully and get strong again.

@claireychn074 I think you meant to send this to me, thanks! I know you're right, but at the moment I'm 45 minutes away from the VA facility where I can get PT and feel overwhelmed at the prospect of driving back and forth. I will be moving, and am planning on being within 30 minutes of the VA so this will be less of a barrier. I could also use PT for my wrist and knee

In our pre-op visit, my surgeon said she would not cut through abdominal muscles but rather push them aside. I did a lot of intentional visualizing pre surgery, and while I was at it also unintentionally visualized the pushing aside often (without it actually being a visualization GOAL.)

PAV8888 wrote: »

My core probably needs it much more than @kshama2001's given her yoga background... no ?!?!?!?

unfortunately it's been more gentle/moderate yoga since I stopped teaching.

Checkout the core strength on Briohny though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOV8mQ1PyhU

claireychn074

claireychn074 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

It's an old zombie thread, but I thought I'd dig it out. My normal maintenance calories are around 1750kcal without exercise. Since a complex proximal humerus fracture about 4 weeks ago I eat about 500 calories extra per day, and still lose weight slowly. That's about 1/3 extra. Never thought it'd be that massive.

I also sleep an awful lot. Every time the painkillers stop working (most don't work, and the ones that do only last just above 3hrs) I get terribly tired and fall asleep.

I had an open abdominal hysterectomy 8 weeks ago and my appetite has been massive. The holidays didn't help, either, and I've gained weight, but am hopefully back on track with the new year.

My energy levels are slowly coming back. I don't feel tired - until I suddenly hit a wall. I'm down to 0-1 naps per day. I'm having a lot of lower back pain, which I assume is from a weak core. I lie on a hot pad at least twice per day. I discontinued the opioid some time ago and OTC meds don't really seem to help, but I do take ibuprofen occasionally.

@yirara if you can arrange some sports physio when you are given the all clear, I would recommend it. I had open abdominal surgery eight years ago, and the only muscle not cut through on one side was the QL. Unfortunately I get pain now as that muscle gets overworked (being a competitive weightlifter possibly doesn’t help 🤣), and the exercises prescribed by my sports physio have been a complete life saver. After a bad bout when my whole back went into spasm, I do my exercises every day. It’s well worth doing, and will help your core to recover fully and get strong again.

Oh crumbs, sorry for tagging the wrong person 😳

yirara

No probs

tomcustombuilder

Annie_01 wrote: »

I broke my wrist on Friday and it has limited my activity. My first thought was to lower my activity level to sedentary in order to remain at a 1lb deficit. I planned on upping calcium and protein to assist in healing. I have been really tired but I related that to a lack of appetite...activity...pain medication...sore ribs.

I did some research this morning to see how being in a calorie deficit affected healing.

It seems as if the healing of broken bones can raise your BMR up 6000 calories a day if you suffer from multiple breaks. I expected it to be higher but not by that much.

http://www.betterbones.com/bonefracture/speedhealing.pdf

Provide the body with adequate energy. Fracture healing requires more energy than you might expect. Thus, it’s appropriate to increase your caloric intake to promote healing. In traumatic fractures of the long bones, for example, there is an immediate increase in metabolic demands that can translate into a caloric demand three times that of normal. While a normally active adult may require 2,500 calories a day, a bedridden, injured patient with multiple fractures may need 6,000 calories per day!2 If this demand is not met, the healing process is compromised.

I doubt if I would burn anywhere near that amount so I decided to start out at maintenance/sedentary until I see the orthopedic surgeon next week.

I was curious what others have done about calorie deficit after experiencing a severe injury.

Annie_01 wrote: »

I broke my wrist on Friday and it has limited my activity. My first thought was to lower my activity level to sedentary in order to remain at a 1lb deficit. I planned on upping calcium and protein to assist in healing. I have been really tired but I related that to a lack of appetite...activity...pain medication...sore ribs.

I did some research this morning to see how being in a calorie deficit affected healing.

It seems as if the healing of broken bones can raise your BMR up 6000 calories a day if you suffer from multiple breaks. I expected it to be higher but not by that much.

http://www.betterbones.com/bonefracture/speedhealing.pdf

Provide the body with adequate energy. Fracture healing requires more energy than you might expect. Thus, it’s appropriate to increase your caloric intake to promote healing. In traumatic fractures of the long bones, for example, there is an immediate increase in metabolic demands that can translate into a caloric demand three times that of normal. While a normally active adult may require 2,500 calories a day, a bedridden, injured patient with multiple fractures may need 6,000 calories per day!2 If this demand is not met, the healing process is compromised.

I doubt if I would burn anywhere near that amount so I decided to start out at maintenance/sedentary until I see the orthopedic surgeon next week.

I was curious what others have done about calorie deficit after experiencing a severe injury.

I would not even think of being in a deficit while trying to heal an injury. Maintenance or a slight surplus with healthy food.

I had a knee replacement last year which is by far the biggest physical trauma that I’ve ever experienced except for a motorcycle accident in my 20’s. It was a 6 week journey of pain and physical therapy. I was at Maintenance the whole time and my weight stayed about the same with protein being the priority.

Almost 3x maintenance when healing is laughable. 6,000 calories of healthy food would be incredibly difficult to wolf down, lol.

yirara

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

Almost 3x maintenance when healing is laughable. 6,000 calories of healthy food would be incredibly difficult to wolf down, lol.

Yeah, I think so. Been tracking for ages and maintaining at 1750ish when sedentary and no exercise. My guess is that my complex fracture needs about 600 calories extra, which is still massive. My guess is it's a combination of movements being a lot more difficult/exhausting, sleeping poorly and thus resting less, fidgeting more (part of physio) plus the healing.