Why Eat Lots? – Part 2

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Why Eat Lots?
Part 2 – The Health Hysteria

Eating more than enough is important to grow, and growing is necessary if one is going to get stronger. The fact that growth is required to get stronger shouldn’t be novel, especially with how much I have written about it.

I am under the impression that nobody here thinks you can continuously gain strength in a linear fashion forever, nor do they think that body weight gains will continuously increase. There is this thing called “diminishing returns” that shows up a lot in life (economics, strength gains, running fast, etc.). In other words, in a given situation where increases have been made, more is required to make the same increase, so improvement is slower. Progress is made, albeit slowly.

In other words, you will not forever be in “mass gaining mode”. Nobody here has ever suggested that you eat tons of food when you don’t need to. If you are Fat Guy, you don’t need to be going ape shit with the milk shakes and large pizzas, even though it may be fun. If you are a girl who needs to gain weight or get stronger, you obviously won’t have the same dietary requirements as Skinny Guy does because you are hormonally different. However, if you are Skinny Guy, then you better throw down if you want to get strong.

Skinny Guy has an interesting task. He needs to drink a gallon of milk a day and eat four hearty meals. He needs to have eggs-a-plenty, bacon, and toast for breakfast. Skinny Guy should be consuming meat throughout the day and inhaling trail mix. There are hundreds of ways to add calories — hop on over to the Food FAQ for help or ideas. After getting more than enough protein, Skinny Guy will purposely be sloppy with his caloric intake if he is going to get as strong as possible in the shortest amount of time. If Skinny Guy is going to spend valuable time in the gym training, then he my as well eat, recover, and thrive so he doesn’t waste his or my time.

Skinny Guy may have been just Average Joe prior to his linear progression, or perhaps he was one of those “clean eaters”. It is understandable that Skinny Guy would fear eating tons of calories. After all, he is scared of losing his abs. Skinny (Weak) Guy shouts, “Hey, isn’t this unhealthy? I don’t want to have health problems!” Really, Skinny Guy?

The problem with this silly assumption is that it assumes you should eat like Homer Simpson for the rest of your life. Once you are done gaining lots of body weight, then you eat to maintain mass and/or increase lean body mass.

Since Skinny Guy is only going to be eating like this until he is no longer Skinny Guy, health issues are completely irrelevant. Do you really think that eating like The Blob for six months is going to pose long-term health risks? Unless you have some kind of pre-existing condition, You’ll Be Fine.

Besides, when you are training hard competitively, you must recover if you are going to succeed or improve. This requires lots of calories, and you must get them any way you can. When you instantly use the fuel you consume to repair your body, problems don’t exist. In other words, you can’t compare the effects of a sedentary person eating like shit and someone who trains very, very hard. I laughed when all of those assholes said that if they only “cleaned up” Michael Phelps diet, he would be an even better performer. The food he eats is the only way he can physically consume the calories that his body needs in order to recover. If training hard is a normal part of your life, you will eventually learn this.

A) If you are under weight, you must eat lots and lots to not be under weight.
B) If you eat lots, you are doing this for the sole reason to get stronger by increasing your mass.
C) Unless you have pre-existing conditions, six months of eating sloppy is not going to adversely affect your health. It takes years of unhealthy habits to start causing problems. Just ask your parents.
D) Inefficient people are annoying, so just eat the fucking food.

Tomorrow I will finish up by detailing food intake for the lifting population that doesn’t start with “Skinny” or end with “Guy”.
———-

Steve sent this video in. He squats 350 for a single and says, “Not too pretty, but got the job done.” More importantly, watch the end of the vid.

42 thoughts on “Why Eat Lots? – Part 2”

  1. Damn you, skinny guy..

    I can eat a snicker””s bar and look pregnant, and your little ass can bankrupt a chinese buffet and the only thing that will go up is your squat..

    Okay, enough insulting.

    –Justin

  6. It always seems to be the skinny guys that are dispensing dietary advice too. Like the guys with 16 year old girl legs telling you that you should only do half squats.

  11. Also, if Skinny Guy who is training has to consume 5500-6000 calories to gain weight, it”s not like he”ll can drop down to 3000 and be able to maintain all his hard-earned mass. He”ll still have to eat a shite ton of food to maintain and I”m guessing it can get really tough eating 4500-5000 cals of ”clean” food.

  16. Epic mustachio.

    I have actually started a challenge with myself to grow a mullet on my quest to get strong. The mullet will symbolize all that is 70sbig to me.

  20. Thank you friends, I am glad you enjoyed the video. Bodyweight was 192 this morning, so hopefully soon I won”t be skinny guy for too much longer. Incidentally tomorrow is my 25th birthday and I will be attempting a 360# single.

    Also, a sweet mustache will add 20# to all of your lifts.

  22. @ Alan

    70sBig for anyone over 6””0 is like 275+.

    I still look skinny guy status at a similar weight,and just a couple inches taller then you.

    Note: EaseUp is not one to be dispensing facts about 70’s Big.

    –Justin

  24. So I went by Pak-A-Sak yesterday, the gas station with a drive up window where I get all my milk. The lady inside knows me because Im there every other day to buy two gallons of whole milk. She has never said anything about it until yesterday. She said, “You must have a lotta babies at home.” I said “Whats that?” She said, “You sure buy a lot of milk. Are you feeding your babies?” I said, “Haha, no, no babies. Just like milk.”

  25. Being skinny guy does have its perks but being bigger and stronger, the wimmenz like it a lot more. I type this from my blackberry on my way to the convienece store to pick up some milk.

    I think you have been trolling me for a while. Delete is now associated with your name.

    –Justin

  26. I have to warn you guys that, like any website with a message and adherents to that message, I feel it””s all but inevitable that this comments section will start to be trolled with greater and greater frequency. The supposed “Skinny Guys” will ask dumb questions intended solely to get a rise out of people, which will probably work for a while.

    I think it””s worth seriously considering laying down a policy on trolls, so that those who are serious don””t waste time writing lengthy responses to people who have no legitimate interest in training and eating. An up-front “Don””t Feed the Trolls” policy would be great, I think, but I don’t know if there are other good ways of weeding them out.

    This should be implied. But, I now have a trigger finger for the delete button.

    –Justin

  28. first post, been reading for a couple of months now. these articles have been great to help me get past the mental block from growing up as the fat kid. Lost 100 lbs in the last 18 months and now wishing I had found SS and 70s Big MUCH sooner.

  29. Great posts, Justin. With motivation from ”70s big, I am now just three pounds short of becoming an adult male.

    I am proud to say, In the last 36 hours, in addition to drinking two gallons of milk, I”ve also consumed 2 cups of cheddar cheese, 4 lbs of beef, two onions, generous portions of American style bbq sauce and korean BBQ sauce (a must have in any ”70s big diet), and get this: AN ENTIRE LARGE CONTAINER OF SOUR CREAM. Boomshakalaka!

    I”m just wondering, at 5”8 is there a particular weight I should be shooting for? Obviously, I”m still trying to gain and gain, and put heavier poundages up on the bar, but I assume 200 lbs is still insufficient. At what point should I start cleaning up my diet a bit?

  30. Uncle Buck makes a really good point. I did a linear progression and made great gains, but my goal was never to compete in a strength sport and I enjoy feeling good and healthy from eating reasonable amounts of food (no silly Paleo orthorexia, just reasonable amounts of meat, potatoes and salad). I couldn”t eat enough normal food to maintain the mass gains I made, so I just slowly dropped back to a medium weight. I”m still bigger than I was, but I would have gotten here by adding weight more slowly. It”s not like there”s a rush, I love training and I”ll be doing it for years.

  31. DrMcFacekick, lol @ ”it”s like having machine guns on your face”!

    and, dhagerty,

    ”Daniel Plainview’s mustache will drink your milkshake. And then bludgeon you to death with a bowling pin.”

    is absolute gold!

  32. Hey Justin and the 70””s big crew, I gotta question about eating I am and never have been a skinny guy I am 6””4 and currently tip the scale at 254. I have just started the ss program what I want to know is should I be eating the amounts your recomending for skinny guy. I don””t
    mind gaining a few extra pounds but don””t want turn back into fat guy I used to weigh 320 of pure fat ass. Sorry if the questions been answered elsewhere.

    I understand that you apparently haven’t been paying attention to everything I or Rippetoe write, but why would it be recommended that you eat the same as a 150 pound kid?

    –Justin

  33. Since the subject has been mentioned, what constitutes 70sbig for those of us who aren””t midgets? 275 for those over say, 6””2″, would seem like a decent start point.

    I continue to maintain that there is no weight requirement. You will know it when you see it. You guys are so picky on the little things.

    –Justin

  34. Noice squat breh! Keep up the good work. I also have started growing my stash for Mustache March (yea i have to start now FML). Shoulder is starting to feel a little better. My unit is finally gonna let me start pressing again on mon! Also pants are starting to fit pretty tight.
    Get Strong!

  36. Sorry man I just found the article you wrote on December 11 about maintainting weight and such. I feel like a right twat.

    No problemo, dude. Let me know if you need further help.

    –Justin

  38. Hi man firstly thanks for the site it truly is awesomely presented and written so kudos. I””ve recently obtained weights and a rack and the SS book but i””m at a dilemma in regards to this very topic. I””m naturally tall and skinny but i””m sitting at a high bodyfat due to years of inactivity and poor nutrition, now clearly i””d like to get big and strong but i””m at a point where i””d be a blob if i gained much more bodyfat and a skeleton if i dropped it, just thought i””d ask for some advice so i can start training and eating correctly. Cheers.

    Just e-mail me. You were kinda vague.

    –Justin

  40. I reread almost every post over the last few days. There is so much good information there it should be required reading. It reminds me why I am here and keeps me on track. I think I will be watching the Pisarenko vids before deadlift tomorrow.

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