broke leg - how many calories a day ?

lilmisssunshine
lilmisssunshine Posts: 17 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I broke my ankle and leg, how many calories should I be eating a day. I set my Myfitnesspal App to 1100 a day, but I keep going over it, so basically it varies from 1100 to 1500 a day. Obviously with a broken leg I cant move much

Replies

  • rfarinha
    rfarinha Posts: 388 Member
    I can empathize... I just fell down the stairs last week, and wrenched my ankle pretty badly. It's not broken, but all of the tendons and ligaments are strained and swollen, which means I haven't been moving much either. However, I have been using a BodyMedia armband, and even though each person is different, I can tell you my experience, which may help you.

    My armband tells me how many calories I burn in a 24 hour period, even when I sleep. Before I fell, I exercising every day, and doing normal daily activities. In a normal day, I would burn between 2600 - 2900 calories in a day. The days following my accident I was pretty sedentary, and only burned 2050 - 2100 calories.

    Good luck to you, and I hope you heal quickly!
  • lilmisssunshine
    lilmisssunshine Posts: 17 Member
    ah its a nightmare, i have to keep leg up so no walkin around at all. Only to toilet or down to eat food. Hope you arent sore for 2 long, I am 3 weeks today with broken leg and I have to keep my cam boot on for another 6 weeks
  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
    You shouldn't have needed to reset MFP after you broke your leg. MFP already had your deficit for your weight loss goal calculated into the number it gave you. So if you continued to net that number, even if you didn't do any exercise, you would still lose weight.
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
    It's true you aren't very active now. However, keep in mind that your body is trying to heal and you need the calories, macros, and micronutrients to help your body do its job. I would say that healing properly should be anyone's first priority in a situation like this. I don't know your stats or BMI but I would stick close to what your BMR is, maybe even over, at least for now.
  • lilmisssunshine
    lilmisssunshine Posts: 17 Member
    ah noway, i thought because I have to be lying down most of the time I would have to reduce my calories, but i didnt do much before this so ye would be correct thanks a million girls :)
  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
    Your body still burns a specific amount of calories with you doing absolutely nothing. You shouldn't need to lower it, I just wouldn't keep going over since you can't exercise right now.
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    I would eat at maintenance if not somewhat above and be very very sure to eat good protein and lots of nutrient dense foods. Your body needs to do some major rebuilding. As frustrating as it is, I don't think now is the time to try and lose weight. You may end up not healing well or taking longer than normal to heal and then you'll just end up delaying the time in which you can get back to your weight and fitness goals.

    Edit to add: This doesn't go into calorie targets, but it gives some helpful suggestions for nutrient dense foods you should concentrate on -- all the time but especially when healing. http://www.lehighsports.com/assets/sportsmed/NutritionDuringRehab.pdf
  • pupcamper
    pupcamper Posts: 410 Member
    You can't exercise the way you normally would! Nothing stopping you from doing some resistance training on your upper body (just don't go crazy if you need crutches to walk!) It may make you feel a little better that you are at least doing something!
  • yeshikins
    yeshikins Posts: 1 Member
    In case anyone sees this in a search, please note that if you have a broken bone, you actually need more calories to heal, even despite limited mobility. You could be depriving your body of vital nutrients during the recovery period if you try to stick to your pre-break calorie intake.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    lilmisssunshine wrote: »
    I broke my ankle and leg, how many calories should I be eating a day. I set my Myfitnesspal App to 1100 a day, but I keep going over it, so basically it varies from 1100 to 1500 a day. Obviously with a broken leg I cant move much

    Eat at maintenance so you can heal.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    yeshikins wrote: »
    In case anyone sees this in a search, please note that if you have a broken bone, you actually need more calories to heal, even despite limited mobility. You could be depriving your body of vital nutrients during the recovery period if you try to stick to your pre-break calorie intake.

    Why would you bump this?! :huh:
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
    It is the night of the necro threads >:)
This discussion has been closed.

Categories