Returning to lifting after injury - nutrition

SparklySarah412
SparklySarah412 Posts: 74 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I'm hoping someone can advise me what my nutrition should be like for returning to body building after a few months off with an injury?

A little bit of background, I bulked at the back end of last year and was most of the way through a cut when I got bicep tendonitis. (that was in March this year)

I had to stop pretty much all upper body work while I recovered and have lost pretty much all my upper body definition. I'm also ashamed to say that I was so depressed about being injured that comfort ate my way through everything I could get my hands on and have gained about 8 lbs, which undoubtedly will be all body fat.

I'm finally on the mend and in the last couple of weeks I've managed to do every lift in my old program completely pain free, just with lighter weights. I'm now going to start slowly slowly increasing the weights back to where I was before the tendonitis started.

My question is, what do I do about my nutrition? My gut feeling is that I should maybe be eating above maintenance in order to gain the muscle back that I have lost? (Has the muscle even been "lost"? What actually happens to muscle when you stop lifting but still eat above maintenence?)
would I maybe be better off eating in a deficit for a while to lose the excess fat that I have gained?

I hope this makes sense, I'm very confused!

Replies

  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
    I wouldn't eat above maintenance, maybe at maintenance. You have muscle memory and should gain the strength back relatively quickly. A couple of months shouldn't have actually lost much muscle, just the fullness.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    usmcmp wrote: »
    I wouldn't eat above maintenance, maybe at maintenance. You have muscle memory and should gain the strength back relatively quickly. A couple of months shouldn't have actually lost much muscle, just the fullness.

    This. I would not gain unless you are underweight, close to underweight or ultra lean. I would eat at maintenance.
  • SparklySarah412
    SparklySarah412 Posts: 74 Member
    Thanks for the advice, I will do that.

    When I look at my arms and shoulders in the mirror I can see the muscle is still there just that it's just kind of lacking in definition. So I'm really hoping it will come back fairly quickly once I start lifting a bit heavier. I could cry when I think about the set back I've had this year, I had so many goals that I wanted to achieve and now I'm having to start all over again :( I suppose it could have been worse if I hadn't rested it though!
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    SparklySarah412 wrote: »
    Thanks for the advice, I will do that.

    When I look at my arms and shoulders in the mirror I can see the muscle is still there just that it's just kind of lacking in definition. So I'm really hoping it will come back fairly quickly once I start lifting a bit heavier. I could cry when I think about the set back I've had this year, I had so many goals that I wanted to achieve and now I'm having to start all over again :( I suppose it could have been worse if I hadn't rested it though!

    If you see the muscle but are lacking definition then it's more a matter of leaning out/lowering bodyfat. Depending on your stats you could probably eat in a small deficit, or else stick to maintenance.
  • SparklySarah412
    SparklySarah412 Posts: 74 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    SparklySarah412 wrote: »
    Thanks for the advice, I will do that.

    When I look at my arms and shoulders in the mirror I can see the muscle is still there just that it's just kind of lacking in definition. So I'm really hoping it will come back fairly quickly once I start lifting a bit heavier. I could cry when I think about the set back I've had this year, I had so many goals that I wanted to achieve and now I'm having to start all over again :( I suppose it could have been worse if I hadn't rested it though!

    If you see the muscle but are lacking definition then it's more a matter of leaning out/lowering bodyfat. Depending on your stats you could probably eat in a small deficit, or else stick to maintenance.

    OK thanks. What I might do in that case is eat at maintenance calories for my current weight and create a bit of a deficit through my lifting.

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