Before I started eating gluten free, I had no energy but I had too much extra weight.  Since I found out about wheat intolerance though, I dropped weight in no time flat and I’ve had the opposite problem:  being way too skinny.

I ate a decent amount, but never exercised aside from a few walks each week with the dog.  What made things even worse though, was over the winter when I caught a bad flu.  Couldn’t eat for weeks, and ended up dropping about ten pounds to a level slightly below the recommendations for my height.

GOMAD makes protein easy

GOMAD is the plan that got me those ten pounds back, and I’m glad to say that they’re almost entirely muscle.  What is it all about?  Well, GOMAD stands for a “gallon of milk a day.”  Yeah, that sounds like a lot, and it is, but the results are quite noticeable and it is a great gluten free solution for muscle gain (as long as you’re not intolerant to lactose, casein, or something else in the milk!).

Each gallon of milk has about 128 grams of protein, and if you’re eating that in addition to sensible meals that include a little lean meat and a lot of vegetables, you’ll have more than enough fuel to build up muscle and gain weight.

Of course, you can’t just stuff yourself and expect to gain strength, you’ve also got to lift some weights and get active.  Find some dumbells that are almost too heavy to lift – or even ones that require a second hand to get started – and do whatever you can every other day.  Don’t just stop with the bicep curls either, be sure to work on the overhead trilateral pulls as well as overhead shoulder lifts.  If you don’t have any weights, pushups will work if you do a bit of research to learn the variations that target different muscles.

Then, when you wake up and your upper body is sore, it is time to give the legs a workout!  Jumping jacks are a good free standard, and there are also some stretches and lifts that will help you build muscle.  Of course, squats are ideal, but you’ll need some equipment, or a gym membership, and some guidance to make sure you’re doing it right.

Watch the fat…

One potential problem with GOMAD is that there is a whole lot of fat in milk.  If you’re as skinny as I was, this probably won’t be a problem at first, but once you’ve started to fill out and you get passed the easy gains that any new lifter can take advantage of, you’ll probably want to switch down to 1% or skim milk.  You’ll get just as much protein, calcium, and vitamin D, but you’ll save on your daily saturated fat intake.

Oh, and it is convenient!

Finally, the convenience of milk might be one of its greatest advantages in the gluten free diet.  There isn’t a whole lot of food out there that is ready to go out of the container, nutritionally balanced, and safe for people with Celiac Disease.  Milk is ready to go just as quickly as you can get to the fridge, and no matter where you’re out and about it shouldn’t be too hard to find a pint of whole milk.