Hey, all. I’m currently eating less than maintenance and I’m due for some knee surgery tomorrow. I’d like to keep dieting during my recovery, but I’m concerned about the effect this would have on the healing process. My intuition is to eat in excess of maintenance to provide my body with the necessary regenerative materials. Any opinions are most appreciated, thanks!
Make sure you get more protein than usual to aid in the recovery and healing process. Taking in less than maintenance after surgery is probably a bad idea, simply following my intuition like you have done. You want a nice balance of nutrients and are not really in a position where you can compromise what you’re feeding your body, since you want to recover ASAP. After you’re recovered, you can get stuck into the fat loss - hopefully having preserved as much muscle as possible. Good luck with the surgery.
I second what BigBruva is saying-post operation is not an ideal time to risk sub-optimal nutrient intake through dieting.Eat adequate protein,fats,especially omega-3’s,I would also consider glutamine,BCAA’s and arginine,and antioxidants to assist in wound healing.Glucosamine/chondroitin may be worth investigating also.And try to get plenty of good sound sleep while that knee is repairing.Best of luck!