Eating while recovering from surgery

crooked_left_hook
crooked_left_hook Posts: 364 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone know about how many extra calories beyond maintenance the body needs during the initial weeks of recovering from orthopedic surgery? I’m scheduled to have my second surgery to correct FAI and a hip labrum tear in my left hip. My right hip was fixed last April and I recovered well but I didn’t track my food while I was recovering and I’ve gained 10lbs over the last year (some is muscle because I’ve been very focused on glute/quad/hamstring strengthening but I’ll lose that pretty quick after surgery). It’s a pretty long recovery, with several month of reduced activity so I would like to avoid gaining weight again. Hopefully this recovery will be a little faster because I’m stronger going into it but there are no guarantees. My plan is to eat at maintenance-not active but want to make sure I’m giving my body enough calories to heal but not so many that I will gain weight.

Replies

  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    I think you are just going to have to wing it. Start by eating at maintenance and track your weight so that you know whether to increase it or cut back. I imagine that you need lots of protein and fats for the actual repair, as well as proper nutrition.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I am not sure you would need any extra beyond your maintenance calories unless you just wanted them to make your mental state better during the first phase of recovery. I doubt there is any advantage to weight gain with hip surgery even though I am sure you will retain a healthy amount of water for awhile.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    When I had my hip replaced I just ate intuitively and that seemed to work
  • crooked_left_hook
    crooked_left_hook Posts: 364 Member
    corinasue1143 wrote: »
    Curious so I looked it up. One source said 15 to 20 calories per pound of body weight. One source said 100% to 110% of maintenance for 2 or 3 weeks, then adjust. Both emphasized importance of balanced diet, whole food approach.

    That is for this. 110% of low activity maintenance sounds reasonable and puts me just below 1800 calories per day. I’ve seen the 15-20 cal/lb article and 15 cal/lb of my body weight would have me at 2310 calories per day which is a little over maintenance for me when I’m very active so that would definitely lead to weight gain. I’ve signed up for prepared meals to be delivered to my house for meals when my partner isn’t home and I will make up the missing calories with some high protein snacks.
  • grinning_chick
    grinning_chick Posts: 765 Member
    edited June 2019
    I am surprised your orthopod's office isn't supplying nutritional information upon request. This is this the sort of stuff that usually lends itself extremely well to patient handouts so I'm not sure why it wasn't automatic.

    I would be surprised if s/he didn't routinely recommend eating a minimum of maintenance, more likely with a small bump like 1.1-1.25X maintenance, for the immediate post-op healing phase of 6-8 weeks. Most orthopods I know recommend that the increase be due to upping protein, calcium, vitamin D3, and vitamin C.
  • jdog022
    jdog022 Posts: 693 Member
    I am also going for orthopedic surgery in less than two weeks. I plan to eat approx 500+ cals over maintenance for about 3 weeks. Then dial it back to 250 for several weeks. If I gain 5 pounds then so be it. I want to be positive that I’m giving myself everything it needs to recover especially initially
  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
    I'm going in for my 2nd spinal fusion very soon. The surgeon's office suggested sedentary maintenance plus 20% and bumping my protein up to promote healing. I'm slightly irritated since I'm back down to the last 5 pounds to lose but I guess I'll worry about that again once I'm healed.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    I know it would be a bummer to gain weight and have to lose it, but you know that you can do that. And you only really get one opportunity to fuel your body properly during recovery. If you don't give it enough fuel and material to do the job of healing properly, along with whatever PT is recommended and plenty of rest and sleep, you could end up with a poor recovery that could affect you long-term.

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