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Thread: Doing GOMAD as a late 20s intermediate and getting too fat.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
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    277

    Default Doing GOMAD as a late 20s intermediate and getting too fat.

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    Hi Robert,

    I'm becoming concerned about my increasing bodyfat. Here's some info:

    Age/Sex: 27/M. I'm a student and am mostly sedentary aside from going to the gym. I'm not a competitive lifter and lift purely recreationally.

    Training history:

    I've been lifting again since January (around 6 months), after a 1.5ish year hiatus where I lifted maybe once every two months. Started at around a bodyweight of 80 kg in January. Did SS for about 2-3 months, and then moved on to a 4 day strength split. As of recently, switched to a 3 day strength split and now I do two days of (fairly light, technique-oriented) Olympic weightlifting as well. I don't do any HIIT or cardio work whatsoever.

    The split is basically just one of the press, bench, squat, or deadlift following by some assistance work. (I shifted to a 3 day program by combining the press and deadlift days.) So I do each of the big lifts once a week. I LP the lifts as follows:

    +1kg/session on press
    +1.5kg/session on bench
    +2kg/session on squat
    +2.5kg/session on deadlift

    Current best numbers are:

    76 kg x 5 press
    101 kg x 5 bench
    202 kg x 5 squat
    231.5 kg x 5 deadlift

    Current weight and BF% estimate: 100 kg, 21-22% BF according to the Navy calculator, with a 38" waist.

    Current calorie and macro totals (if known):

    Here's where the shame creeps in. I really hate eating, to the point where I'm almost immature about it. So, what I do is this:

    I eat one meal of 400g 10%ish ground beef + ~200g of rice.
    I eat one whole cucumber
    I then drink 4L of whole milk.

    That's all I eat, basically every day. It's approximately 4000 calories. I know GOMAD is meant for young skinny guys on SS, but I basically just do GOMAD as meal replacements now...probably pretty stupid, but it worked well for me and my idiosyncrasies. Aside from making me kinda fat.

    Your question (don’t just post your stats without a question):
    I'm getting to the point where I'm unwilling to gain any further bodyfat, and want to actually lose a bit to get down to 17% BF or so. But, I also lift pretty hard and ideally I'd like to continue progressing fairly rapidly.

    I'm not really sure what the best approach is going forward. Should I just cut out the milk, substitute regular food, and aim for 3,500-4,000 calories? Should I add in a bunch of HIIT? Should I just reduce my caloric intake and suffer strength-wise, get down to my bodyfat goal, and continue after that point?

    I really want to keep getting stronger, but I'm putting my foot down at 22% BF. I'm not willing to go any higher (and want to go lower). Any guidance is appreciated!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Kingwood TX
    Posts
    8,914

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    Not stepping on Santana's toes I hope, but your approach to eating is retarded and you therefore can't really complain about the results. No one told you to eat this way so you are only "putting your foot down" to yourself. Cut the milk out, spread your meals out into 4-5 smaller servings per day with an adequate amount of protein/carbs per meal and your body fat will come down.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Phoenix, AZ
    Posts
    4,613

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by zft View Post
    Hi Robert,

    I'm becoming concerned about my increasing bodyfat. Here's some info:

    Age/Sex: 27/M. I'm a student and am mostly sedentary aside from going to the gym. I'm not a competitive lifter and lift purely recreationally.

    Training history:

    I've been lifting again since January (around 6 months), after a 1.5ish year hiatus where I lifted maybe once every two months. Started at around a bodyweight of 80 kg in January. Did SS for about 2-3 months, and then moved on to a 4 day strength split. As of recently, switched to a 3 day strength split and now I do two days of (fairly light, technique-oriented) Olympic weightlifting as well. I don't do any HIIT or cardio work whatsoever.

    The split is basically just one of the press, bench, squat, or deadlift following by some assistance work. (I shifted to a 3 day program by combining the press and deadlift days.) So I do each of the big lifts once a week. I LP the lifts as follows:

    +1kg/session on press
    +1.5kg/session on bench
    +2kg/session on squat
    +2.5kg/session on deadlift

    Current best numbers are:

    76 kg x 5 press
    101 kg x 5 bench
    202 kg x 5 squat
    231.5 kg x 5 deadlift

    Current weight and BF% estimate: 100 kg, 21-22% BF according to the Navy calculator, with a 38" waist.

    Current calorie and macro totals (if known):

    Here's where the shame creeps in. I really hate eating, to the point where I'm almost immature about it. So, what I do is this:

    I eat one meal of 400g 10%ish ground beef + ~200g of rice.
    I eat one whole cucumber
    I then drink 4L of whole milk.

    That's all I eat, basically every day. It's approximately 4000 calories. I know GOMAD is meant for young skinny guys on SS, but I basically just do GOMAD as meal replacements now...probably pretty stupid, but it worked well for me and my idiosyncrasies. Aside from making me kinda fat.

    Your question (don’t just post your stats without a question):
    I'm getting to the point where I'm unwilling to gain any further bodyfat, and want to actually lose a bit to get down to 17% BF or so. But, I also lift pretty hard and ideally I'd like to continue progressing fairly rapidly.

    I'm not really sure what the best approach is going forward. Should I just cut out the milk, substitute regular food, and aim for 3,500-4,000 calories? Should I add in a bunch of HIIT? Should I just reduce my caloric intake and suffer strength-wise, get down to my bodyfat goal, and continue after that point?

    I really want to keep getting stronger, but I'm putting my foot down at 22% BF. I'm not willing to go any higher (and want to go lower). Any guidance is appreciated!
    You aren't weak so that's a plus. This is neither an ideal or realistic way to eat long term. If you hate eating that much and can't construct a diet on your own you probably would benefit from diet coaching. From a calorie standpoint, switch to 1% or nonfat milk and you'll probably lose fat from that alone. Again, not a long-term solution. Your diet needs more balance than milk and cucumbers buddy. Spread those macros out into 3-5 meals, probably 3 to start out since eating is a problem for you. Then scale up. yes, it will be hard, but necessary.

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy Baker (KSC) View Post
    Not stepping on Santana's toes I hope, but your approach to eating is retarded and you therefore can't really complain about the results. No one told you to eat this way so you are only "putting your foot down" to yourself. Cut the milk out, spread your meals out into 4-5 smaller servings per day with an adequate amount of protein/carbs per meal and your body fat will come down.
    Not stepping on my toes at all homie. Appreciate your added presence here and completely agree with you.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
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    Thanks for your replies, Andy and Robert. I know my current approach is nothing short of retarded, but it helped having two knowledgeable guys echo the sentiment. As of now, I've cut down to 2L of milk a day and added in a second meal. I'll cut down to 1L (or less) and add an additional third meal as I find my bearings. I'll also try lower fat milk. I agree about the diet coaching, but it's not in my (student) budget at the moment.

    I do have have a couple of follow-up questions:

    1. How much should I eat, calorically?

    2. Would I benefit from adding in some HIIT or should I just concentrate on fixing my diet?

    Thanks again!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Phoenix, AZ
    Posts
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    Quote Originally Posted by zft View Post
    Thanks for your replies, Andy and Robert. I know my current approach is nothing short of retarded, but it helped having two knowledgeable guys echo the sentiment. As of now, I've cut down to 2L of milk a day and added in a second meal. I'll cut down to 1L (or less) and add an additional third meal as I find my bearings. I'll also try lower fat milk. I agree about the diet coaching, but it's not in my (student) budget at the moment.

    I do have have a couple of follow-up questions:

    1. How much should I eat, calorically?

    2. Would I benefit from adding in some HIIT or should I just concentrate on fixing my diet?

    Thanks again!
    1) Less than you are eating now through fat reduction

    2) The latter will do more in this instance

  6. #6
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    Mar 2019
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robert Santana View Post
    1) Less than you are eating now through fat reduction

    2) The latter will do more in this instance

    Got it, thanks a lot for your helpful responses.

  7. #7
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    Aug 2013
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    Phoenix, AZ
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    You are welcome!

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