Starting over - help please

[Kali]

Quick background:
About 7 years ago, I was a power lifter and kick boxer. I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease about 5 years ago and quickly started to lose size due to arthritis and constantly being sick. I stuck to a very good/clean diet and lifting routine but was seeing little to no results. About 1.5 years ago, I started to drop in size no matter what I did. We found that I had a muscle wasting disease and was administered chemo which I am still on. I managed to get pretty sick and recently blow out my knee. I dropped from 5'8" and a strong 158/size 12, to 127 and a size 4 within the last 8 months alone.

As soon as my knee feels better, my doctor said I could get back to the weights and diet. My only problem is that I am starting from scratch. I still have good definition, but I am skinny! (blah) I know I can't dive into eating 100g of protein and pushing normal weights, so I was wondering if you had any suggestions for someone that wants her body back, but just has to take it slower since I have become pretty fragile. If any of you have ever gotten really sick, or broken something, how did you come back? I have about 2 months to get together a good plan/diet before I can get back into it, and I would appreciate all the help I can get. Thank you in advance.

-Kali

 

[big4life]

Bump for kali.


I'm sorry about the health problems, hopefully some others here can give you some good advice.

PS. Welcome back.

 

[Sassy69]

I'm curious - if you have a muscle wasting disease, do you have access to prescription anavar or GH? These are both available to AIDS patients so I just wondered. If you haven't asked already, it might be worth asking about. It would definitely be a good support for you to start building back your mass.

You said you "can't dive into eating 100g of protein & pushing normal weights" - the weights can be built up to at a pace that you are comfortable with, but do you have any diet limitations that your program will have to work around?

 

[Kali]

I have no limitations on diet. The only problem is that because I was sick for so long, if I eat a normal meal, or even just a full protein shake, I feel like I am going to puke from the weight in my stomach. I have changed my diet a little in order to make sure I get all the fruit/veggie nutrients my body needs.

This is what my diet looks like now:
Morning: fresh juice (which is usually carrot/apple/tomato/broccoli/brussel sprouts & green beans,) cottage cheese, egg whites, and sometimes oatmeal or protein shake depending on how I feel... all in very small portions. This will last me from 4:30-12.
Afternoon: small chicken breast & some sort of green veggie
Night: steak or chicken
I am usually in bed by 7 so I don't eat too much at night. I try to have a protein bar, v8 and water by my bed at all times so when I get up in the middle of the night I can have a little something so my body doesn't starve for too long since I sleep all the time.

Right now I am doing pilates to build up some flexibility again and at least do something. I am going to start on an elliptical runner hopefully next week (if I get another steroid shot in my knee) and just go slow from there. I can not get var or GH legally because my health plan does not provide it in CA. They said because too many body builders were abusing it, imagine that. lol. I am getting monthly steroid injections from my doctor, and do have access to var, but don't want to use it until I get back in the gym and have hit a plateau. My weight has been pretty stable the last 2 months and I have only lost about 3 pounds. I have a very broad frame so I don't think I can get much smaller.

Please critique me! Thank you

 

[Puddles]

Kali, best wishes to ya, sunshine!

Just take things slow and have patience. Eat what you can hold down, lift what you can, you'll know when you're ready to push yourself and when not to.

It's nice to see you back online.

 

[Kali]

Thank you sweetie, it is definitly nice to see you in all of your wonder again too. You are looking better than ever!

 

[saint808]

The gh could possibly make your situation worse and definately wait in the var... i did some research and i don't think either would be a good idea at the moment. Slowly build back up your calories and wait for your knee to heal up. Essentially do what you can and drink some super food... i kind of built up a taste for it... good luck and i know you will prevail because i know you pretty well and you are a lot stronger than anyone here prolly knows.