Confessions of a Massive Eating skeptic

I tried to post this a while ago but it fell
into the black hole of the forum change-over.

I wanted to say thanks to John Berardi for advocating the massive eating/don't diet - even though skeptics like me were, well, skeptical. But since I'm open minded and always looking for new ways to improve, I've experimented with it a lot. (I also admit when I'm wrong about something.)

I've been experimenting with eating this way for a while now. When I first started eating this way my body felt like shit because I wasn't used to eating that way. (Mainly due to the P+F only meals, since my body hates keto - even single meals apparently.) After a while my body adapted, and now I feel fine. In a nutshell my results are that if I eat what used to be my maintenance cal intake, I actually lose weight and get leaner. If I were to eat the amount of calories JB recommends for massive eating while eating the old way, I would have gotten hella fat. But I've found that I can eat that many cals with only a little fat gain if I split the macros as he recommends.

So yup, now I'm a massive eating advocate. Thanks again for persevering the skeptics.

Free, nice post. Takes some guts to admit you were skeptical, but took even more sack to give John’s eating plan a shot and see what happens. As a former “fat guy” I often see something a bit different in the mirror than others do, like my wife, and it took some urging from John to give this plan a shot. If anything, I overeat on a regular basis and seem to have the metabolism of a slug, but combining food as per J.M.B. has made a big difference. Like you, I’m consuming more calories per day than I ever did and have lost weight and fat (when trying to) almost at will. The problem I face is dinner, the one meal often out of my control, so sometimes I end up eating more carbs in that meal than I really want, but if I lifted after work then I’m cool anyways. I try to compensate with fewer carbs during those days, too, and it seems to help.

I would have to agree with you. Right now i am eating the calories i normally would eat to put on mass, but the fat still seem to be melting off. Plus i’m gaining strength and muscle mass. After the last 6 weeks, i don;t know if i ever want to eat another way…

FREE- What macro ratio do you use? My body reacts badly to keto as well. Even after just one P+F meal like you said. But, since you say you adapted, maybe I should give it a longer shot.

VCreed: I eat 4 P+C meals per day and 3 P+F
meals per day. I find that 7 meals work best
for my schedule. Calculating the macro profile
of my diet works out to about 40% C, 35%
P and 25% F. The reason I feel bad on keto
diets is because my brain has no glucose to
function, which is not workable for me since
my work is very brain intensive. But as I
said, if I’m only eating some meals this way,
and not all of them, my body was able to adapt
to it. I think what happens is that my body
“learned” to somehow “conserve” glucose from
the P+C meals (glycogen?) and then draws upon
that during the hours after the P+F meals. I
have no idea, really. Just my speculation of
how I adapted.

Also, are you you using thermogenics?

john - interesting what you said about dinner. I too face this problem. I’m a student living at home, and prepare all of my meals except dinner. My mother is a full-time housewife, and I feel terrible when I don’t eat whatever she has decided to cook. Generally, she prepares very well balanced meals. However, they don’t always meet the massive guidelines. But I’ve learnt to chop and change things to suit, and she doesn’t seem to mind too much - providing I’m eating her meal to the most part, and sitting down with the family… hehehe…

VCreed: no thermos; except for an occasional
cup of coffee. I’m not dieting now. But when
dieting I use them sometimes.

Free- What is your bodyweight, and how many calories were you able to consume while still losing weight? Also, pre-workout, do you use John’s suggestion of eating P+F 1.5 hrs before, than a carb drink during? If not, what is your method?

VCreed: My bodyweight when I started was
around 200lbs @ approx 8% BF. My normal
maintenance cals was around 3200-3300.
Switching to JB split meals with the same cals
caused me to drop about 5lbs in a few weeks.
I eat a P+F meal 1.5-2 hours before my wkot.
I do not like using carb drinks while lifting.
I just drink a large C+P shake post wkot. No
more questions please, as I’m going to be
leaving the forum for a while.