ACL Ally
NutritionShopAbout
Sign in
Nutrition · fueling adaptation

You are not dieting.
You are fueling a rebuild.

Recovery asks your body to rebuild muscle, remodel ligament tissue, and tolerate loading, all at once. This is not the time to ask it to do more with less.

Your body is being asked to do three things.

It is good at two at a time.
Priority now
Build muscle

Recovery is a strength project as much as a healing project. Muscle is built in the kitchen as much as the clinic.

Protein is doing the heavy lifting here. The published range is below; your exact number is a care-team conversation.

Priority now
Remodel tissue

Ligament tissue, graft or native, adapts to load slowly. Remodeling is quiet work that runs on consistent fuel.

Under-fueling is the most common miss at every stage.

later
Lose fat

The one to bench, not abandon. An aggressive deficit now competes directly with the two jobs that decide how your knee feels next year.

Strength first. The scale conversation comes later, and easier.

The only question that matters
“Am I eating in a way that helps my rehab actually work?”

Not perfect. Supportive. Ally checks this with you at every stage.

The number to know
Protein has a published range.

Sports-nutrition guidance for injury recovery commonly cites roughly 1.6–2.5 g of protein per kg of body weight per day, spread across the day in meals of 20–40 g. Your surgeon, PT, or a dietitian can pin down your exact number.

Your weight

Enter your weight to see the published range for your body.

120 g of protein can look like:
BreakfastTwo eggs and a cup of Greek yogurtabout 28 g
LunchA chicken thigh and a cup of lentilsabout 43 g
SnackA glass of milk and a handful of almondsabout 14 g
DinnerA salmon filletabout 34 g

Roughly 120 g total. Swap in what you actually eat; the pattern is a protein anchor at every meal.

How Ally guides you, stage by stage
Surgery prep
Weeks before

Build the reserves surgery will draw on.

A protein anchor at every meal
Stock the freezer with easy week-one meals
Do not start a diet now; going into surgery under-fueled helps nothing
Worth asking

“Should I stop any supplements or change how I eat before surgery?”

Early recovery
Weeks 0–6

Healing burns more than you think. Crutch walking alone costs 2–3 times the energy of normal walking.

Protein at every meal, in the 20–40 g range
No calorie deficit while wounds are healing
Keep easy high-protein food within reach for low-energy days
Worth asking

“At my body weight, what daily protein target should I aim for right now?”

Building strength
6 weeks – 6 months

Training volume climbs. Fuel sessions like the workouts they are.

Eat before and after PT like it is training, because it is
Hydrate around session days
Spread protein across the day, every 3–4 hours
Worth asking

“Is creatine appropriate for me during my strength phase?”

Strength & return to sport
6+ months

You are training again, so eat for adaptation.

Keep the protein anchor at every meal
Fuel up on testing days and heavy training days
If weight loss is a goal now, plan the deficit instead of drifting into one
Worth asking

“If I want to lose weight now, how do I do it without stalling my rehab?”

Tell ACL Ally where you are and nutrition gets specific.
Start with your situation

Ranges cited from: ISSN position stand: protein and exercise (2017) · Rehabilitation nutrition for injury recovery of athletes (Nutrients, 2020) · GSSI: nutritional support for injuries requiring reduced activity

General education with cited sources, not a meal plan or medical advice. Your care team sets your numbers.