Best diet post-op for recovery?

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Quote from: OverrideYourGenetics on April 27, 2018, 09:55:04 AMWith my gf staying with me during the recovery, I had the option of eating 6,000 or even 8,000 calories a day, but that turned out to be just impossible. Even after getting off painkillers (except for one per day before PT), my appetite has plummeted. I'm lucky if I score 2,000 calories a day, and that includes a protein shake and Gatorade powder added to water for extra carbs. My body is just reluctant to eat, and some food smells have become obnoxious. Anything remotely fatty (like sausages, which I'd routinely eat 4 of for lunch) is borderline disgusting. I can still eat fruit, ice cream and candy as I used to.

Anyway, even if you manage to eat 6,000 calories per day, I highly doubt much of that will go into maintaining muscle mass. Without consistent usage, muscle atrophies very fast. It's been 3 weeks since my femurs surgery and I've lost so much of my glutes that I no longer have the "nice butt" that my gf liked, and sitting has become painful because my sit bones dig almost straight into the skin.

Sorry to hear all that.

Do you think things would be different if you weren't doing quadrilaterals?

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Personally i lost about 30 pounds during my whole lengthening process which took about 60 days. 20 of those days i was in the hospital and i can tell you guys thats when i lost the most weight mainly because i wasnt getting enough food high in calories while at the hospital. Calorie intake is very important especially when your body is trying to heal broken bones. OYG is right, youll still have muscle atrophy due to not using your muscles as much. I wish i wouldve known this before starting my journey. Im sure that if i wouldve prepared myself a little better like bring protein shakes and had somebody cooking for me while at the hospital my bone growth wouldve been better. While at home i was getting about 2500 calories per day and i was still losing weight slowly but as much as i tried to eat more i was just in so much pain that i literally had no appetite and i was forcing myself to eat most of the time. At the hospital i was getting about 1500 calories if that so you can see why i had the most weightloss there. 

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Quote from: myloginacct on April 27, 2018, 02:26:03 PMSorry to hear all that.

Do you think things would be different if you weren't doing quadrilaterals?

Not really. I still would'be been on the same medication, and I still would've been unable to walk, so biochemically and mentally probably in the same situation.

I can't tell what had caused the drop in appetite, but good news - a few days ago, 4-5 weeks after the femurs surgery, my normal appetite came back. No obvious connection with anything. I stopped lengthening tibias afterwards, on Fri May 11. No changes in medication prior to the appetite coming back, though starting May 11, I dropped Neurontin from 900+600+900mg / day to 3x600mg/day. It's as if the return of the appetite anticipated me stopping tibias. So no idea what caused it.

Unfortunately my gf is back in California, so my dietary options are more limited :-/