Kelly Turner

Monica-

Injuries are SO frustrating, but the best thing to do is rest them, or else you will end up hurting yourself further, need to take even more time off, and possibly hurt yourself permanently.

If your sports doctor says to rest, then you need to rest.

As far as gaining fat and losing muscle, they are separate issues. You may find some muscle loss after taking quite a few weeks off, but the good news is you lose muscle at twice as long of a rate as you gain it, so it takes a LONG time to actually lose muscle. But, losing muscle doesn't mean you automatically gain fat, so don't worry. If you focus on a really clean diet, avoiding sugars, processed carbs and saturated fat, and stay within your calorie range, you shouldn't gain excess fat just from not being able to workout your lower body.

Ask your doctor if non-impact cardio is ok (primarily swimming, which shouldn't put too much stress on your IT band) but above all else, what your doctor says goes.