Hi Jordan, i’m running a modified version of the knee rehab template following MPFL reconstruction (5 months postop now), my goal is to return to grappling as fast as possible. I had never lifted before. Since my knee injury i’ve gained a lot of fat, thus my surgeon told me losing weigth would aleviate pressure on the reconstructed ligament. On the other hand my physiotherapist told me my rehab is mostly about building quadriceps strength.
How can i adapt my nutrition to these two possibly conflicting goals ? (i.e losing weigth without compromising quad strength gains)
So far i’ve taken my diet from 2600 kcal approx. daily at maintenance to 1700 kcal daily. I lost 3kg in one month as planned, i feel i could lose weigth much faster but i fear it would impede my rehab program. What’s your opinion ? Where should i set the calorie deficit ?
The mechanical pressure secondary to weight (and subsequent weight loss) on your repaired ligament is inconsequential compared to your recreational and daily activity. Weight loss improves outcomes from osteoarthritis and other pain syndromes due to more complex interactions between fat tissue and the hormonal milieu.
Strength improvement does not require increased body weight.
You can gain muscle while losing fat or maintaining body weight, particularly the less trained you are or better genetics you have.
Provided you’re not malnourished, weight loss probably won’t impair recovery processes.
Overall, if you need to lose body fat I’d recommend you do it relatively slowly, e.g. 2.5% BW per month.
Hey Jordan, thank you for your response! Just to clarify you’re telling me that strenghtening my quads will have much more effect on my ability to return to sports ‘risk-free’ than losing weigth ? Also, are you recommending to lose weigth slowly for compliance reasons only or is there anything else to it ?
I just had an appointment with a nutrisionnist and she just told me to replace most of my strength sessions by cardio and drop my protein intake to have a ‘balanced diet’. I feel like even tougth it’s great for weigth loss, it is not so much for my return to sports / rehab which is a priority for me. I’m currently doing 128g Carbohydrates, 57g fats, 170g proteins.
I didn’t say that. Also, I don’t know anything about you with respect to anthropometry and injury history so would be hard to say.
LBM retention.
I’m not sure that I’d agree with her advice and would recommend hiring us (or another professional) if you need guidance here. That said, we have a lot of free information out here on this too: To Be A Beast - Barbell Medicine