Anyone tried the 1 gallon milk per day diet?

[scskowron]

Mark Rippletoe from Starting Strength / Crossfit recommends drinking 1 gallon of milk each day while on the SS program. I have no intention to do the SS program but since I started Oly lifting about a month or two ago I've gotten significantly bigger and stronger and I wonder if added milk will translate to strength gains.
I am not interested in bulking up but being 5'8"/145 I could use a few extra pounds. Most importantly I still want to be able to run 50-60 miles per week and I don't know of the milk will help or hurt my running. I'm not interested in taking weight gainer or creatine or protein - I want to know what milk will do.
Any thoughts?

[king henry viii]

well. i don't drink a gallon of milk per day but I do drink a half gallon of chocolate milk per day. You will have sick gas.

Are you planning on drinking a quart every 4 hours or what?

[cravethedave]

Chocolate milk is a great workout drink. Better than water or gatorade. So adding a good amount of milk to your diet will definately help.

You run 50-60 miles a week bro? Thats intense. seems like too much almost

[rsctt83]

50 - 60 miles is not too much for a trained runner. Think about what you are training for ...... guess what three meals a day for five days = 15 meals x 2 mile roundtrip = 30 miles per week just running to and from meals. Add in all the training and guess how many miles you will be running per week??????

You guys need to think about this ........

[king henry viii]

50 - 60 miles is not too much for a trained runner. Think about what you are training for ...... guess what three meals a day for five days = 15 meals x 2 mile roundtrip = 30 miles per week just running to and from meals. Add in all the training and guess how many miles you will be running per week??????

You guys need to think about this ........

actually, a guy I know who is in PTRR right now said he measured it out last week and it's .7 miles to chow. so 1.5 miles round trip. but you're right, need to get used to running A LOT.

[itsallorganek]

still almost 23 miles a week just for three square meals...either way you look at it, your gonna run your *** off....50 miles a week isnt a bad goal to shoot for at all....

[amac5261]

scs..

I don't know if it will "enhance" muscle gain, or size, or anything like that.

I can tell you that if you were to drink a gallon of whole milk every day, you will probably gain weight. I say that loosely though, because the average person would.

There are 2400 calories in a gallon of whole milk. If you are keeping a 2000 calorie diet as of now, then that will be a total of 4400 calories, but since you are very small and you said your weight jumps a lot, I assume you are probably eatting a bit more.

Plus, in whole milk there is a large amount of saturated fat...so, watch that intake.

[bigv123]

Don't forget that milk has one of, if not THE, worst sugar on the planet in it...lactose.

V

[scskowron]

Don't forget that milk has one of, if not THE, worst sugar on the planet in it...lactose.

V

I didn't know that. I mostly eat clean but I also have a bad penchant for eating a lot of sugar anyway so I'm not sure how much that would affect me. What's the best type of sugar, the kind found in fruit or what?

I have read that the protein found in milk applies more slowly than the protein found in whey, and I wonder if that's a good thing. I didn't know if there was something magical about milk per se as opposed to other foods to add some weight.

Right now I get about 75% of my protein from peanuts and peanut butter. Probably not the best place to get it but it's cheap, tastes good, can go on lots of foods, and it's easy to make.

[king henry viii]

I didn't know that. I mostly eat clean but I also have a bad penchant for eating a lot of sugar anyway so I'm not sure how much that would affect me. What's the best type of sugar, the kind found in fruit or what?

I have read that the protein found in milk applies more slowly than the protein found in whey, and I wonder if that's a good thing. I didn't know if there was something magical about milk per se as opposed to other foods to add some weight.

Right now I get about 75% of my protein from peanuts and peanut butter. Probably not the best place to get it but it's cheap, tastes good, can go on lots of foods, and it's easy to make.

the best kind of sugar is no sugar. but yeah, sugars that are naturally in fruit and other ****, i think those are the best for you.

[mcbonas]

Mark Rippletoe from Starting Strength / Crossfit recommends drinking 1 gallon of milk each day while on the SS program. I have no intention to do the SS program but since I started Oly lifting about a month or two ago I've gotten significantly bigger and stronger and I wonder if added milk will translate to strength gains.
I am not interested in bulking up but being 5'8"/145 I could use a few extra pounds. Most importantly I still want to be able to run 50-60 miles per week and I don't know of the milk will help or hurt my running. I'm not interested in taking weight gainer or creatine or protein - I want to know what milk will do.
Any thoughts?

scs,
from your brief self description you sound to be about my size, but since your running 50-60 miles weekly you're in far better shape. That being said, you could probably stand to intake another 500 to 1000 calories than me without seeing unhealthy weight gain. But I would be wary as far as an entire gallon of milk goes. I try to follow the old adage "Everything in moderation". I would suggest maybe bumping up your intake of cow juice, but try to incorporate it into planned meals (ie whole grained cereals, natural sourced protein shakes, etc.) rather than just chugging down a quart every three hours.

[gmt-nyc]

scskowron, you should probably diversify your protein sources a bit. Nuts in general are an excellent source of protein, but they are very high in fat. Having half a cup of mixed nuts a day is fine, I do that. There are bunch of other high protein foods that are slower to digest than whey: milk (casein), soy-based products and eggs. Casein digests more slowly than whey and has anti-catabolic properties which is good for muscle growth. Soy has a number of health benefits, and studies indicate it helps maintain muscle mass. And egg is one of the best sources of proteins and most efficient foods for delivering such proteins to support muscle growth. You can read tons about these proteins, and when is best to consume each type, on the Web.

Some suggestions:

1. Oatmeal w/ soy milk - 472 cal, 8.5g fat, 84g carb, 16g protein
2. Berry and banana orange juice smoothie (ice only) - 314 cal, 0g fat, 77g carb, 3.7g protein
3. Egg sandwich (2 egg whites, 2 full eggs w/ slice of cheese) - 605 cal, 28g fat, 24g carb, 43g protein
4. Tuna in water - eat directly from can, or get a 1/4lb or 1/2lb from the deli. The mayo contains fat, yes, but you'll likely burn it easily
5. Chocolate milk - as noted already a great post workout drink w/ 170 cal, 5g fat, 24g carb, 8g protein in each 8oz
6. Various snacks - baby carrots and celery sticks w/ cottage cheese or hummus, Soy Chips, Mixed Nuts, Graham Crackers, Apples, Clementines, hard boiled eggs, and I personally love Clif Bars and Clif Builder Bars
7. Other meals - lots of chicken, turkey, some red meat accompanied by brown rice, veggies and occasional pasta

I eat #1 and #2 at 5am, then go do a warm-up and stretch at 6am and hit the morning WOD around 6:15/6:20. I then eat #3 around 7:30 after either a Gatorade w/ whey protein (if the WOD is strength training based, like Front Squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1) or a glass of Chocolate Milk (I drink this regardless of the type of WOD).

Anyway, I figured sharing my ritual and eating habit may provide you with some food for thought (no pun intended) about yours. I started to measure my food again recently as I increased my caloric intake to over 5,000 calories/day, which is nearly 4lbs of food! I determined that I could not maintain my weight, approx 190#, while following a workout regimen as intense as the NavySEALs.com one.

[rising_2_victory]

well nothing i can say will be better then the post above mine...lol
but idk about a whole gallon, but this past summer i was lifting 3 times a day and running everyother day, i was jsut training for football and trying to get some muscle, i was drinking about 1/2 gallon a day, and eating chicken for protien, it worked otu well until i stopped because of an injury but milk does help build muscle i saw good results.
rising