Can someone please explain overtraining and how much to eat?

Last week I worked out pretty much every day, different things, different intensities.  Been really trying to step up the exercising, but I haven't been really increasing my calories.  Didn't do anything Sunday, then did the elliptical in the morning and my interval running in the evening.  I've been munching like crazy in the evening, really craving carbs, and been too tired to get up in the morning to work out the last two days.  What is overtraining and how do I figure out how much I should be eating now?  When I keep track (and don't add in mindless munching), I average about 1500 cal/day.

Thanks.
Jan

You have to learn to listen to your body and not your mind. Which is very tuff still for me. Some struggle for motivation to get to the gym and some like me struggle to stay out of the gym. You have to learn the difference between your mind saying to sleep in or your body saying to sleep in. When I want to hit the snooze I usually get up anyway and go to the gym and see how I feel after I get there. There have been days I drove in and loaded up the bar and tried one lift and went back home. You should really get 1 or 2 rest days everyweek. Everyone is different on the amount they need to eat so you just have to find out the amount you need for your goals. One thing I noticed with me is if I eat carbs post workout I tend to not crave them as much at night.

Thanks Nate, but how do you listen to your body?  I've spent 50 years not paying attention to mine.  I'm not a morning person, so how do I tell if it's mind or body in the morning?

Over time you learn the difference. Until then I would suggest planning your rest days everyweek. I usually plan for Friday and Sunday as rest days but change it if I need an earlier day off through the week.

girl, did you see my exhaustion post a few threads down? I'm feelin you .....

Yes I did and a lot of people mentioned overtraining, hence my question.  And I saw you got 2000 cal/day, so I'm really getting confused.  So your thread showed me the questions I needed to ask because I don't really understand them.  See, always inspiring me Kitten!

it also has to do with your energy stores in your blood and muscles.  it can take up to 48 hours for FULL recovery of your glycogen levels, so after a couple of days of hard workouts, you could feel very sluggish for a couple of days until you have fully recovered.  i would plan your nutrition and rest days until you can listen to what your body is saying to you.  overtraining can happen by ignoring the warning signs and continuing to push hard when your body is saying back off.  it can lead to injury (i get these a lot with my IT band) and worse could lead to chronic fatigue syndrome in hard-core athletes.

What do you do for your it band ? Had to stop my run short yesterday and afraid to even try it today. I have been feeling a twinge for a while and like the moron I am just kept pushing through it. Is rest the best option?

My coworker injured her IT from overuse (way too much running, no resting), and she's been going to physical therapy.  She says it's helping, but she's running again before they say she should.

I am currently going to physical therapy twice a week for my IT bands. I am allowed to run, but they told me to stop running when it starts to hurt, so I follow their orders.