Stronglifts 5x5 for Women

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Eating and Lifting question

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kopmom
kopmom Posts: 491 Member
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Ok, I started stronglifts a couple month back but had to stop due to a house emergency (house fire). I am ready now to start again BUT last time I really found it hard to eat enough. I am at goal weight and really do not want to be a slave to logging everything I put in my mouth.

Anyone follow a basic meal plan they can share? I need something that will give me enough energy to lift. Also do most people still eat higher calories on non-lifting days?

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  • winetoweights
    winetoweights Posts: 32 Member
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    I'm interested in hearing answers as well. I like the weight I'm at (could even use a couple more pounds added!) but don't want to stress about eating enough.
  • lauleipop
    lauleipop Posts: 260 Member
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    I'm not at a perfect weight or body fat %, but am not currently eating to lose weight. I'm not willing to put my body through the stress of a calorie deficit while significantly increasing my weight training and training for a marathon.

    I don't log every day, or even most days, but I do track my protein to ensure I'm getting enough of that. I've found ensuring that number is about right, the rest of the calories shake out. I eat 40% of my calories as protein (about 200g of protein), acquired through whey, salmon, chicken, beef, and eggs.

    As to eating, I tend to look at the week, instead of the day, because my calorie burns are...not uniform. I lift M W F, I run T W Th St. My T and Th runs are about 400 calories, my W run is about 800 calories, my Saturay run is 2000+ calories. Knowing about how much I burn, I try to spread the calories out over the week. I simply cannot eat 4000 calories on Saturday. And Wednesday, I lift at 5am, then work all day, go to school all evening, and then run 8 miles at night. Eating isn't a real high priority that day, so eating 3000 calories just isn't going to happen.

    TLDR version:
    1) I eat about 40% protein (for me that's about 200g)
    2) I spread my exercise calories out over the week, instead of using a "pay to play" calorie game
  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    If you know you are undereating but don't want to log every day, the easiest thing to do would be to add a couple of glasses of milk (depending on how much you are undereating) and/or an additional snack.

    So like if you know that when you eat 'normally' you tend to undereat by about 300 calories, you can add a glass of milk and a granola bar or a half a PB sandwich or whatever - the goal is basically to get a small calorically dense snack in that won't signal to your body that you're too full to eat. Milk is the traditional one because for most people our brains do not register calories drunk as 'food' so it won't interfere with your hunger signals. Chocolate milk is a tasty treat and a nice mix of carbs/fat/protein for your workouts.

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