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I'm going to be in-patient at a hospital here in Japan for about 7-10 days for an MMA bout-related injury. Basically it's a broken eye socket which they'll fix with a couple of metal plates and a piece of my hip bone. That'll play hell with my workout and training but right now I'm worried about the food situation.

While my Japanese friends have reported the food is good, it sounds like a typical Japanese diet - a good mix of proteins and healthy fats, assorted vegetables and fruit, lots of fish...but primarily rice. If I ask for a larger portion (since I'm larger than normal size) they'll just give me an extra helping of rice.

I'm concerned I'm going to lose a lot of hard-earned muscle on a diet like this, and I tend to get flabby on a high-carb diet like this.

My friend have offered to bring me some snacks when they visit. What should I have them bring? My injury is to my face so chewing might be a problem immediately post surgery. Or should I just relax, eat all the food they give me and get back to my normal carb-controlled diet after I get back out? I'm think I might get them to bring me protein bars or dried fish or something of that sort, so I can ensure I get plenty of protein.

Thanks,

Peter

Just chill on the rice and have your friends bring easy to chew protein. Maybe shakes if you can get them. You probably won't loose muscle. There is muscle memory, so going right back too it after you recover should take care of that. You need protein, calcium, vitamin D and magnesium and probably other stuff to help the bones heal.

Unlucky Peter, hope you have a speedy recovery...

The old 'cans of tuna' could be an option. I've been making mine slightly more bearable by adding a spoonful of mayo and a spoonful of tartar sauce and mixing it up. It's not enough to make a huge difference but when your used to eating plain tuna it actually makes it quite tasty...

I was quite unwell (with Mumps) for the whole of January. Eating, drinking and anything that stimulates saliva made it worse. Also feel like I had a broken jaw so chewing was difficult. This may not be any use, but scrambelled eggs were how I survived. Made them as bland as possible and obviously they don't require much chewing at all, and protein rich.

Also, I lost about 14 pounds of 'scale weight' (i say scale weight because my body fat increased, so the muscle loss would have been more). It's worth noting that the lost mass came back very quickly. Funny thing is, I kept the volume low as I just wanted my strength back first, so technically I wasn't training for size. Got my lost size back in about 3-4 weeks... Increased fat is still their though....

"I gained 14 pounds in 3 weeks!" ;-)

KPj

wow looks like you need to practice more! A broken eye socket? Crazy bro that $h1t scares me operations like that make me tremble. I went under the knife for a hernia operation and woke up with a bad taste in my mouth. Literally anestesia.... haha cant spell. Good Luck

Thanks for the suggestions, and please keep them coming. I'll ask my friends to sneak in some shelled hard boiled eggs, actually, when they visit. That might be easier than tuna in cans, especially on the disposal front.

I'll get my vitamins - D, Calcium/Magnesium tabs, C - together and bring them with me. Maybe I should splurge on some BCAA tablets, since they'll be portable and easy to eat?


And yeah, more practice. Got to get through the surgery first, and then it's back on the horse for another ride.

well peter you are better than me i suppose. As much as I know i would love MMA I love football more maybe when i turn 27 I'll try that. I have a friend who's into ufc type stuff. Unbelieveable. Hope all goes well be optimistic and train your butt off. When you heal that is. Did you win that match? I mean a busted eye socket means you really took a hit but ya never know.

Thanks man. No, I lost, TKO. I got the punch that broke my eye early, and they counted it as a knockdown despite me segueing right from "fall down to my knees" to "takedown" in a split second. A couple of exchanges later I took another head shot and dropped to one knee so my corner threw in the towel. It's alright, I suffered very serious damage but I kept fighting for a while afterwards, and despite the traumatic injury my eyeball is completely undamaged.

I'm actually more concerned about the hip surgery to get the bone they need, since that'll more directly impact my ability to workout hard.