What happens to calorie needs during an injury?
Let’s start with defining a few terms:
Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) - An estimation of how many calories you burn per day when exercise is taken into account
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) - The number of calories required to keep your body functioning at rest
Thanks to the internet, it is easier than ever for people to calculate their daily calorie needs. For your BMR, all you need to provide is your age, sex, height and weight. This will give you a basic idea of what your body’s baseline caloric intake should look like.
For TDEE, in addition to the same information we just mentioned, you need to provide an estimate of what your daily activity level looks like. (Sedentary, Light, Moderate, Heavy or Athlete).
It makes sense that the more active we are, the more our calorie intake must increase in order to support our body. The opposite rings true as well. The more sedentary we are, the lower our TDEE. So what happens when you get injured? If an athlete is used to eating a certain amount in order to fuel themselves appropriately, then it follows that they should decrease their eating to match their activity level. This is true, to an extent.
When we are injured (specifically injuries to muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, etc), our bodies have to repair that damage. This doesn’t come from nothing. It comes from what we take in with our eating. This means that the body’s BMR actually INCREASES during times of injury recovery. That’s because the body has to use additional resources in order to make the needed repairs.
How much should you eat?
These numbers are purely for sake of illustration. Let’s say that your BMR is 2,000 and let’s say that with your activity level, your TDEE comes out to 3,000. Well if you get injured, your first response might be to take your eating down to what you would normally eat if you weren’t exercising at all. This is a mistake. Your injury is going increase your BMR by up to 15-20%, depending on the injury. So just based off of our example numbers, you might be looking at needing to consume around 2,300 calories to account for the increased energy demands. Make sure that you prioritize adequate protein intake during this time as well, as this is the most essential building block for laying down new tissue.
However, you should always seek advice from someone licensed in nutrition before implementing any extreme changes in diet. Moral of the story, be careful not to under eat while you are recovering from an injury, even if you aren’t exercising regularly.
Sources:
Tipton, K. D. (2015). Nutritional Support for Exercise-Induced Injuries. Sports Medicine, 45(S1), 93–104. doi: 10.1007/s40279-015-0398-4
Berardi, J. M. (2018, March 28). Nutrition for Injury Recovery: Part 3. Retrieved from https://www.precisionnutrition.com/nutrition-for-injury-part-3