22/11/2025
It might feel intuitive to reduce your food intake when you are injured and can’t train as much (or even at all), but this is likely to drag out the recovery process.
Repairing tissue and bone is an energy expensive process. If insufficient energy is provided, you will be slowing down the rate at which your body is able to heal.
Your goal should be to provide your body with sufficient calories to at least maintain your weight AND repair the injury properly, and depending on the injury, your caloric demand might be even higher than usual.
Smith-Ryan et al. (2020) estimated that a person might need an additional 20% of calories for minor injuries such as a sprain or clean wound, 50% increase for a major trauma such as ACL surgery, right up to 100% additional calories for severe injuries such as burns.
In addition to eating enough calories, your other priority should be consuming enough protein, aiming for at least 0.9g per pound of bodyweight each day. Your protein feedings should be spread throughout the day, ideally every 3-4 hours - consistently stimulating muscle protein synthesis will aid your recovery.
Other considerations include sufficient omega 3 fatty acid intake (anti-inflammatory and shown to aid muscle retention), vitamin D (deficiency is associated with prolonged recovery), and including a wide range of fruit and vegetables (antioxidants helping to reduce inflammation, aid healing and provide vitamin C that plays a vital role in collagen synthesis.)
If you are injured right now, think about what you can do to level up your nutrition to support healing, or get in touch for support and guidance tailored to YOU.
