GOMAD doesn't work for me

[mathgainer]

Just thought I'd share my experience with GOMAD after trying it for 1-2 weeks.

First of all it made me realize that I am lactose intolerant. The more milk I drank the worse the symptoms so I ended up switching to lactose free milk.

It is hard to explain the problem I had with milk other than that it made me noticeably weaker, less motivated, etc. I know this had nothing to do with digestive issues because I would digest the lacto-free milk fine. I did notice that milk is beneficial immediately after a workout.

Maybe the issues I had are because milk is "cooling"? If you have studied Ayurveda, TCM or any traditional medicine system you will know what I am referring to. I have noticed that the best bodybuilding foods are all "heating" foods: whey, meat, rice, fish peanut butter, etc.

It has also made my skin slightly "saggier". My skin was definitely tighter and warmer to the touch than before I started relying heavily on milk for calories. Also as I said, I felt more motivated and had a fire going into gym sessions. The best way I can describe the skin issue is if any of you have heard of Jason Blaha, it feels like my skin/muscles are going in that direction if I continue drinking milk for a long time. Maybe it has more of a propensity to build fat rather than muscle?

Interestingly enough, here is what Ayurveda has to say about milk in relation to building muscle tissue (mamsa dhatu):

"The best foods for mamsa dhatu are red meat, eggs, sesame seeds, almonds, and nuts. Sweet food like sugar, wheat, milk, and ghee helps nourish mamsa dhatu but lacks the warm qualities of sesame seeds and almonds. You can add warming spices to make them beneficial for the muscle tissue."

I wrote the above completely from my own experience so I am delighted with how closely it matches Ayurvedic wisdom on this matter.

If your experience with GOMAD is similar, what has worked for me is sticking to eggs, whey, chicken and beef as my main protein sources.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Just out of curiosity, what is your educational background?

[mathgainer]

Maths and physics (joint degree).

[Satch12879]

What’s the over/under on “starting with a gallon on the first day”?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Maths and physics (joint degree).

Do you know what "n=1" means?

[Martin Shenfield]

Just follow the Ayurvedic wisdom. All those Indians are huge.

[Jason Donaldson]

"The best foods for mamsa dhatu are red meat, eggs, sesame seeds, almonds, and nuts. Sweet food like sugar, wheat, milk, and ghee helps nourish mamsa dhatu but lacks the warm qualities of sesame seeds and almonds. You can add warming spices to make them beneficial for the muscle tissue."

So, did you add warming spices to your GOMAD?

[mathgainer]

What’s the over/under on “starting with a gallon on the first day”?

Do you know what "n=1" means?

Ok I will reduce to 1L per day and then increase slowly.

Just follow the Ayurvedic wisdom. All those Indians are huge.

I will definitely continue to follow Ayurvedic wisdom. Taking ashwagandha has increased my strength and recovery substantially.

So, did you add warming spices to your GOMAD?

This was only necessary before I used to drink lacto-free milk. It is for digestive purposes, rather than to alter the quality of the milk itself. When consuming 1 gallon per day, no amount of spices is going to make all of that milk "warming" all of a sudden.

[Stefan Rott]

Have some "Golden Milk", it's very tasty.

[KeithI]

Isn’t the cow holy in India? Can they even drink milk?