Does a person need more calories when sick?

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  • mandimahoney5
    mandimahoney5 Posts: 93
    I was sick last week. and didn't loose weight.
    I figured out why. I never thought about counting all the calories from Halls and cough syrup. Halls are 15 calories each and I was taking about 2 a hour so maybe a extra 200 calories a day on top of not exercising
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
    Just as a counter-point: If you're recovering from trauma, you need more - a lot more. There's recorded instances where people with multiple broken bones had calorie requirements of 6000+ a day to stay at the same weight. When I was recovering from open heart my calorie requirements went up 60%
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    CipherZero wrote: »
    Just as a counter-point: If you're recovering from trauma, you need more - a lot more. There's recorded instances where people with multiple broken bones had calorie requirements of 6000+ a day to stay at the same weight. When I was recovering from open heart my calorie requirements went up 60%
    I was just going to say this. Having a cold =/= recovering from surgery or trauma.

  • badham72
    badham72 Posts: 7 Member
    I'm a nurse. You definitely need extra fluids. More calories are needed if your temperature is high or if you have shivers/cough/sniffles as this will mean your body is burning more fuel (raised white blood count)
    Healthy eating is best as it obviously contains more vitamins etc, though one comfort meal isn't going to hurt!!
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    edited October 2014
    megz4987 wrote: »
    That's a good question... I've heard of "feed a fever" or "feed a cold", whichever it is...

    I hope someone has the answer!
    The answer is, if you're feeding, "feed both." I'm not quibbling with anyone's grandma or mom who said either/or, but your body uses more calories to fight infection. :)

    And drink more water with your cold, OP. Helps loosen up the gunk. :)


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