I am about halfway to goal, and I am going to do an experiment. I have just read the New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women, and it recommends eating a lot more calories than I have been eating, 1800-2100 instead of 1300-1700, with more on long workout days.

Needless to say, I am scared to gain weight, especially since I am as thin as I have ever been. But I want to get stronger, and have been reading this website long enough to realize that weight training is the fountain of youth, and I'm not getting any younger.

My question is this - has anyone upped their calories like this?

Did you get fat, or build muscle?

I think the book is written from a "just starting out" perspective, not from a diet perspective. I am considering cutting the calories by 300 to 1500 on non-workout day to 1900 on a workout day.

Any information or tips would be useful. I usually run for exercise, and will be reducing my running, although I want to maintain a base of running at about 4-5 mile distances.

Why don't you try upping your calories slowly until you find the point where you are either losing at the same rate as you are now and lifting, or losing inches significantly.

When I started lifting heavy, I wasn't counting calories, but I'm sure they were lower than anyone would recommend. I probably doubled my calories when I started Body for Life. My result after the first 12 weeks was that I had gained two pounds on the scale, and lost two jeans sizes. I'll take it.

If you are already doing a lot of running and are going to cut that down when you start lifting, I wouldn't jump up as high in calories right away as the book recommends.

Another factor is your age, and how much weight you have lost already. Some of us find that we can't eat nearly what the charts suggest that we should, others are human blast furnaces and can eat in that calorie range. Remember, each of us is an experiment of one.

Let us know how it goes! I'm sure you'll be please with the results and it won't take you long to figure out the nutrition

Mel