Diet whilst injured

[richardcs]

I'm after a bit of advise as this is the first time I've been injured and unable to lift...

Last week I had the flu and was bed bound for 3 days... This left me unable to train for about 1 week, and as i was just about ready to start training again I got a severe pain in my calf... Turns out I have got a blood clot, which the doctors have put down to me being laid up for too long.

So I am now unable to put any weight on my leg and am hobbling around on crutches. This blood clot is expected to keep me off my leg for at least 2 weeks and unable to train legs for a month!

So I finally get to my question... How shall I go about eating during this period? I was in the middle of cutting and planning to get down to 10-12% BF, but I don't know if I should now start to eat at maintenance seeing as I can't train? Or do I continue with my 600 calorie deficit?

Also, should I change my macros at all? I was eating 2400 calories (maintenance being 3000ish), with a 45P/25C/30F split. Should I up my protein intake to help preserve muscle mass?

And now as I'm not training, how much will my maintenance calories go down? Normally my maintenance is 3000 calories, and I trained 6 days a week for 1 hour, no cardio.

If it makes a difference, my stats are...

23 years old
5ft11'
189lbs
13-14% BF

Any help would be much appreciated!

[rollingthunder]

you indicate your weight is 189 lbs and BF estimated at 13-14%, therefore, your Lean Body Mass is about 162-165 lbs.

your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is roughly 2400cal/day if you are not working out.

daily macros-
example: 225 gm P = 900 cal = 45%
125 gm C = 500 cal = 25%
67 gm F = 603 cal = 30%
Total cal = 2003

the above breakdown would put you in a roughly 17% (400/2400=.17) deficit, yet still provide enough protein that you should not lose too much muscle while you are not training. (i think 1 gm of protein per lb of LBM is enough if you are not training)