Since I've started lifting I don't think I've really figured out that whole eating thing. I still have at least 33lbs to lose to be "healthy" and after that I'll re-evaluate (but I'd ideally love to lose another 48lbs) so I still have a ways to go. I know in the New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women they say to eat closer to maintenance level but I get the impression it's more for people closer to their goal weight, right? Eating low calorie = me starving. I can do something like 1300-1500 but the days I do that I'm always STARVING the next day. Sometimes the days I workout I'm not very hungry so I can eat less but then I'll be hungry the next day and eat more, which I know is the opposite of what the book recommends.

So here are my questions:

- considering that I still have a ways to go, how much should I be eating if I'm lifting heavy about 3x per week and running too?
- do you eat more calories on days that you lift? if so how much more?

Any thoughts/suggestions?

I have read that if you feel that you need more calories, that you could add back half of what you burned. So, If you burn 400 calories through exercise, eat an extra 200.

The trick is to figure out how many calories you're burning through your exercise.
A general rule is that the 'average' 150 lb woman burns 100 calories per 15 minutes of moderate exercise.

Thanks. So I do the NROLFW 3x a week and many times will do HIIT afterwards, which ends up being about 60-90 minutes of working out (so maybe 400-600 calories burned, although I'm 188 but it's probably better to be on the conservative side) so that means maybe an extra 200-300 calories those days? That makes sense because I think I could eat something like 1700-1800 on lifting days and be ok. Thanks!

I'm not a nutrition expert at all, so take this with a grain...

IMO, people who are used to having a full belly need to learn how it feels to have a belly that's empty most of the time.

The stomach is a pliable bag that can get stretched out and shrink. Feeling hungry isn't necessarily a sign that you need more food. Sometimes it can mean we need more water. In any case, we don't need to feel full EVER!

While it's hugely important to resupply the body with nutrients for energy to help us burn through working out later, I would caution upping your calories just to up your calories. I recommend refueling with proper nutrients on those days and don't consider a specific number of calories just for the sake of getting more calories.

Does that make sense?