Should you eat less when you are injured?

Having injured my knee a few weeks ago on our 8 mile night run, I decided to rest for a few days, and then take it easier on my next run. The question came to mind whether I should reduce how much I’ve been eating because I’m not burning the energy running.

No, don’t stop eating.

Why? Well, your body needs to fuel itself to heal your injury. Just because you aren’t placing physically exhausting demands on your body (running, biking, etc.) doesn’t mean that your body isn’t burning extra calories to rebuild torn muscles or injured tissue.

Granted, if you’re an ultra-marathoner and eat 4500-5000 calories per day, and find yourself sidelined for a month, then you could probably drop down to a few less calories. However, the majority of us don’t require much more than we normally intake in a day to support moderate training, so don’t change that pattern!

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