Surgery in 23 Days...

5 months ago I got extremely ill and was eventually rushed into emergency surgery. Along with losing my colon, I also lost all of my muscle mass (from a lean and muscular 175 down to 144 of skin and bones).

Over a 5 month span between then and now…with help from muscle memory, Scott Abel (early recovery), Chad Waterbury (mid recovery), your I Bodybuilder plan (late recovery/present), and above all, God…I’m back to my original weight and am somehow even stronger than I was before my surgery. I truly am blessed to be back in the game.

But with that said, I still have two more major surgeries coming up. One is in 23 days. Do you have a recommendation or anything for “over reaching” with training beforehand? As of right now I’m simply bumping up food intake without worrying much about gaining a bit of fat beforehand (I’m also still on the I, Bodybuilder plan).

Once I have the surgery, I’ll probably be down and out for 6 weeks before I can start working my way back up again. The thought of losing everything I have (again) scares the bejeepies out of me…even though I know it won’t be as bad this time around since I won’t be in bed for a month straight in the hospital…and they won’t have to literally starve me like last time either. Ice chips suck…

Sorry to hear about your struggles dog. I had my labrum reattatched on Dec 9th and was in a sling till mid January.

My recovery has been everything I could hope for. When you eventually make it back (which you will if you’re determined enough) it’ll make you very proud of your recovery. I get a great deal of satisfaction knowing I haulted my training properly and chose to go under the knife to put me in the position I am today.

I kept my protein intake fairly high throughout b/c I was scared of losing all the mass I’d put on my lower body. My first day back in the gym I did band work on my shoulder then punished the hell out of my legs.

The shoulder injury is actually the best thing that ever happened to me b/c I got to focus on lower body only the last 6 months. Now my lower body matches my upper body for the first time in my life.

Good luck and I wish you the best. keep your chin up.

CT has stated in the past that he used Leucine during a stay in the hospital.

It would depend on what type of surgery you are having and any limitations that come along with it. IMO you shouldn’t try to “over reach” before the surgery. I’d be trying to build as much muscle as possible now and worry about recovering quickly post surgery (J. Berardi has a good article on dietary approach to injury).