Does the GOMAD Diet Work?

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If you are a hard gainer and wanting to bulk up and build muscle you may be considering whether the GOMAD diet or Gallon of Milk a Day diet will work for you.
Let’s explore this unconventional way of upping your calorie intake.

Table of Contents

• What is the GOMAD Diet?
• Benefits
• My Experience on the GOMAD Diet
• Positives
• A Few Provisos…

What is the GOMAD Diet?

GOMAD stands for Gallon Of Milk A Day.

Drinking milk is only part of the program. The GOMAD diet includes all of the following:

1. Drinking a gallon of whole milk every day;

 This alone will give you about 1700 calories daily to help you bulk up.

2. Eating a meal every three hours:

On top of a gallon of milk, this regimen includes your regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals.

3. Doing a regular heavy compound weight-lifting routine:

A workout routine which focuses on heavy compound moves like squats, bench press, deadlifts, overhead presses, to help build up as many muscle groups as possible.

4. Weighing yourself regularly and recording your progress in a journal

Keeping track of how far you have come. It’s very important to keep track of how much weight you are gaining and whether you are seeing results on the GOMAD.

5. Ensuring you get enough sleep

Most important to bulking and gaining muscle is getting enough sleep.

Sleep is when your body repairs itself and when recovery takes place. If you stay up late playing video games, you’re not going to see the best results with this at all.

Benefits

The bulking benefits of this diet are of course an increase in weight, an increase in muscle from the protein in the milk which works in conjunction with the compound move focused workouts, an increase in testosterone production which is stimulated by the saturated fat in the milk and an increase in insulin, a hormone which assists in building muscle.

The GOMAD diet could be considered an unconventional way of consuming extra calories needed for bulking.

But some consider it safer than using bulking supplements which can contain fillers and unknown ingredients and taste horrible.

With milk, you know what you’re getting. Just plain and simple milk. Easier to digest (if you are not lactose intolerant) and of course very cheap.

My Experience on the GOMAD Diet

I did the GOMAD myself for a month straight.

I can’t remember accurately what my weight numbers were exactly because at the time I wasn’t taking note, but family members and colleagues at around the two-week mark commented that I was looking a lot beefier especially in the face.

Even though I was gaining weight like crazy and I could notice gains in the mirror, a few things would remind me that this diet is not sustainable.

Constant trips to the toilet.

I was constantly going to the toilet, and if I was in a location where there was not a toilet nearby I would have to refrain from drinking milk for that time.

For example, I would make sure I am not drinking milk before taking a long motorway journey. Just make sure that you know where the toilets are located.

The constant need to visit the toilet got annoying, really quickly.

Milk would make me sleepy

Drinking milk would make me very sleepy at times.

I’d start the day with a litre of milk and then drive to work.

By the time I got to work, I would be at my desk wanting to sleep because the casomorphin in the milk just made me feel so tired.

Not enough space in the fridge for all this milk!

I would go to the supermarket every day to get my daily milk gallon.

Positives

• It works – What more can I say, if you stick to this it can and will work for you, no two ways about it.

You just need to commit and maintain consistency.

I saw a definite difference in my appearance with it.

• I did get stronger – During my time on the GOMAD, my training did improve and therefore I did get stronger. 

I was able to work out for longer as a result even though I did feel sleepier overall.

• Money – Doing the GOMAD was cheap. Compared to buying supplements. 

I remember being doubtful of it working at the start but then I thought well this costs next to nothing so if it doesn’t work my monthly budget won’t be affected too harshly

A Few Provisos…

If you are doing GOMAD, I would strongly recommend you to keep track of your numbers, weigh yourself weekly and see what happens, that is one thing I wish I had done because even though I saw a massive change I wish I had kept a log of the numbers.

When you start seeing your weight go up don’t get complacent and think that you don’t need to be doing your weight training because you do.

High-calorie diets without physical training will not build your muscle. You need resistance training.

My answer to the question “Does the GOMAD diet work?” is yes, it does work but there’s more to it than just guzzling milk.