So I just started starting strength and I’m having a few problems with the nutrition aspect. Do I need to drink a bunch of milk and eat a bunch of carbs? Because if I need to eat one more potato or drink one more glass of milk I might kill myself.
Essentially what I’m asking is this: can I just eat a bunch of meat? Because 4000-5000 calories of roast beef is something I’ll never get tired of.
You can keep your calories up at 4000 per day and eat whatever you want to see what works for you. I don’t think that much roast beef is going to feel good after a while.
Switch up your carbs… there’s a lot of alternatives. Go to the bulk aisle at the supermarket for ideas.
Five pounds of beed a day. Sounds balanced.
Ever heard of scurvy?
[quote]Alex Good wrote:
So I just started starting strength and I’m having a few problems with the nutrition aspect. Do I need to drink a bunch of milk and eat a bunch of carbs? Because if I need to eat one more potato or drink one more glass of milk I might kill myself.
Essentially what I’m asking is this: can I just eat a bunch of meat? Because 4000-5000 calories of roast beef is something I’ll never get tired of.[/quote]
Did you ever read some of the hundreds of nutrition articles on this site?
[quote]BrickHead wrote:
Five pounds of beed a day. Sounds balanced.
Ever heard of scurvy? [/quote]
LOL… serious question though, maybe you would know. The 2 guys that lived off meat alone for a year decades ago (hospital setting IIRC), how did they not get scurvy? just something that crossed my mind the other day.
Anthro: Bulk aisle?
Brickhead: After eating nothing but bacon, eggs and steak for a year to lose weight I’m not particularly worried about scurvy. And yes I’ve read articles but the big problem is I’ve got horrible intestines which cause me a rather large amount of pain when I have pretty much any carb except for potatoes. Even then, too many of those are unpleasant.
Jehova: Was that Stefansson?
Oh and I believe the theory was that they weren’t taking in enough toxins or whatever to actually need an antioxidant like vitamin c with just meat.
[quote]BrickHead wrote:
Ever heard of scurvy? [/quote]
Ever heard of the Inuit?
[quote]Alex Good wrote:
Anthro: Bulk aisle?
Brickhead: After eating nothing but bacon, eggs and steak for a year to lose weight I’m not particularly worried about scurvy. And yes I’ve read articles but the big problem is I’ve got horrible intestines which cause me a rather large amount of pain when I have pretty much any carb except for potatoes. Even then, too many of those are unpleasant.
Jehova: Was that Stefansson?[/quote]
http://discovermagazine.com/2004/oct/inuit-paradox/article_view?b_start:int=1
An other theory I read somewhere claimed that a low carbohydrate diet is anti-inflammatory so vitamin C may not be necessary in such cases.
[quote]Alex Good wrote:
So I just started starting strength and I’m having a few problems with the nutrition aspect.[/quote]
I’m going to bet you haven’t read the book, correct?
Rip covers “the nutrition aspect” for five paragraphs out of the entire book. But even in that, he suggests eating well when following the program. He explains:
“[Eating] ‘Well’ means 4 or so meals per day, based on meat and egg protein sources, with lots of fruit and vegetables, and lots of milk. Lots. Most sources within the heavy training community agree that a good starting place is one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, with the rest of the diet making up 2500-5000 calories, depending on training requirements and body composition.”
People overlook this idea in general, and overlook the last half of the last sentence specifically.
If you want to get fat and unmuscular, yes, do this. If you want to gain muscular bodyweight, try sticking to “the nutrition aspect” he described in the book.
Sure you can, but you’ll know after a week or two if you should adjust your diet for better results.
Your profile says you’re 6’5" and 265. What’s your current fat level (not percentage, but still flabby/pudgy, average, kinda lean, etc.)?
Take a look at this Nate Miyaki article for some other carb source ideas:
Also, what are your current training goals?
I actually really need to update my profile. I actually lost a bit of height as I lost weight (don’t ask me how) and right now I’m sitting at 220ish with a height of 6’3.5". I can’t find anyone to test my body fat % (my gym and doctor don’t do that) but the online calculators based on body measurements (I know, I know) put me at about 19%.
And it’s either food or the book right now I’m afraid.
I don’t understand why anyone would take Rippetoe’s nutrition advice or why he felt compelled to even address it in writing a strength program when it’s not his expertise. It’s kinda like he threw it in out of a sense of obligation when a great deal of lifters will get fat from consuming that much dairy. Or maybe it’s not too much. I have no idea how to quantify “lots.” Hell, he could’ve easily hired a consultant to write a whole chapter on proper nutrition for lifters.
/rant
[quote]Alex Good wrote:
I can’t find anyone to test my body fat % (my gym and doctor don’t do that) but the online calculators based on body measurements (I know, I know) put me at about 19%.[/quote]
What do you look like?
What exactly were the “nutritional aspects” that you were having trouble following? I’m just wondering what diet advice you were trying to follow, because there have been quite a few threads lately with people either misinterpreting GOMAD or using it inappropriately.
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
I don’t understand why anyone would take Rippetoe’s nutrition advice or why he felt compelled to even address it in writing a strength program when it’s not his expertise.[/quote]
It was a bit token, and that’s what I was trying to get at by mentioning that it was just five paragraphs (barely one full page) out of the whole book. But I’m guessing he wanted to address it on at least some level so folks would have some idea of what to eat.
Really though, milk aside, it’s not the worst advice in the world, saying to eat 4 meals a day focusing on meat, eggs, fruit, and vegetables. Definitely better that than some fad diets floating around.
Dairy is definitely a debated issue and some folks tolerate it much better than others, but for what it’s worth, he did make it kinda clear in his writing that the GOMAD suggestion (on top of “eating well”) was more specifically for skinny guys looking to gain.
I get what you mean, but I think that would take away from the “Basic Barbell Training” theme.
I look like a fair amount of loose skin from losing about 150lbs. It’s been fixing itself slowly but it kind of obscures my physique.
The nutritional advice that I had gotten was basically “eat everything in site”. I can’t really digest half of the foods in the world so for me this was basically meat, eggs, dairy, fruits and vegetables (with potatoes being cheap enough to constitute a large part of what I ate).
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
I don’t understand why anyone would take Rippetoe’s nutrition advice or why he felt compelled to even address it in writing a strength program when it’s not his expertise.[/quote]
It was a bit token, and that’s what I was trying to get at by mentioning that it was just five paragraphs (barely one full page) out of the whole book. But I’m guessing he wanted to address it on at least some level so folks would have some idea of what to eat.
Really though, milk aside, it’s not the worst advice in the world, saying to eat 4 meals a day focusing on meat, eggs, fruit, and vegetables. Definitely better that than some fad diets floating around.
Dairy is definitely a debated issue and some folks tolerate it much better than others, but for what it’s worth, he did make it kinda clear in his writing that the GOMAD suggestion (on top of “eating well”) was more specifically for skinny guys looking to gain.
I get what you mean, but I think that would take away from the “Basic Barbell Training” theme.[/quote]
Many people who are somewhat familiar with the book tend to blow up that small bit for much more than it really is. Somehow SS has become associated with GOMAD just through word of mouth. It’s to the point where the mere mentioning of SS will elicit a response like “oh, isn’t that written by the GOMAD guy!” But really, people need to follow the program and realize the nutrition doesn’t have to be any different than sound nutrition while running any other strength program.
But if someone is too dense to realize that drinking lots of milk is making them fat or giving them digestive issues all day and keeps at it, I guess you can’t hold Rippetoe accountable for that! Honestly, my only beef with that whole book is the “lots of milk” part. Purely anecdotal, but any time you look at the biggest and leanest guys gracing these forums, I guarantee milk’s not a staple in their diets.
This diet you described in this thread will be helpful increase your strength definitely. You should not go for chemical or artificial ways of body building. Natural supplements helps in strengthening in your body.