Like everyone else is saying, sweet potato PW is essential. It just is. I stopped doing that and stopped gaining. I make sure I consume between .75-1.25lbs of sweet potato PW with milk but I really love milk. I drink it all day. The rest of my meals are meat. I try consuming a little over a pound of meat per meal along with a few other veggies. Its been working pretty damn well.

My background is in strongman. I built my base of strength on classic 5x5 routines. I also dabbled in Paleo (Neanderthin) when I first started out in strongman, for about a year (2002-2004 or so)...

Now I lift 3 times a week, mostly front squats, clean pulls, and powercleans. I just eat paleo. Nothing special. My wife got the Sara F. "Everyday Paleo" book and has taken over the kitchen which is awesome for me (although my guts are not yet finished acclimating to the extra fiber and starch).

After having 3 shoulder scopes for calcium deposits/bonespurs, I can no longer in good judgement suggest anyone follow Gomad. I think you can get plenty of calories in Paleo, maybe a bit of dairy in the form of a pint of heavy cream per day...

The main reason why whey and other liquid calorie supplements were invented was so weightlifters could purposely overfeed. Why bother? You can get plenty of calories in with whole foods.

As long as you are liftiing heavy, getting enough calories, and getting enough protein you should be fine. PWO definitely get some potatoes/carbs and whey. If you are eating paleo and concentrating your carb intake post workout you shouldn't have any problems putting on that muscle mass while keeping lean. My personally favorite PW snack is a frozen banana with whey smoothie (berries, cinnamon, maybe a little cocoa powder...delicious). Then the rest of the day just load up on the meat and good veggies. Definitely agree with above poster about 1g to 1.5g a day. I usually hover around the 1g and do just fine.

Basically.... EAT, especially dead animals.

You really don't need a gallon of milk a day unless you desperately want to put on weight as fast as possible, don't care about adding some fat, and are already squatting a decent amount (1.5x bodyweight at bare minimum). Focus on meats and tubers or white rice for post-workout. Shakes with whey and a high-GI carb like brown rice syrup, dextrose, or maltodextrin may be slightly more optimal in terms of gains, but the whole foods route works fine as well.

I have found that low-carb postworkout does not work at all for me; I actually lost ground on my lifts during my month-long experiment with it, without losing any weight.

Get enough protein, get plenty of carbs after workouts, and you're set. Whey protein is good but not critical by any means.

Few easy basics:

Stay full paleo with a lot of potatoes and sweet potatoes

Use whey protein powder with minimal other ingredients. I use ON Whey. Cheap, basic.

Coconut water is a good carb source for immediate pre and post WO, but you still gotta eatbig post WO even after the coconut water. That cocnut is just for immediate refuel, it doesn't take the place of meat and potatoes.

Try 1-1.5 grams protein per pound of bodyweight daily.

You will be totally fine on any lifting program with basic meat and potatoes. it's worked for millions of lifters for a whole long time. Whey justmakes it a little easier to sneak in extra calories.

Sweet potatoes!!! I'm using the Westside lifting template, and I get by pretty well. You will have to most likely increase you kcal intake. Just eat more. Take a sweet potato, cover in butter, sprinkle cinnamon on top. Cook a steak with it. Rinse/repeat/etc.

I just eat lots of meat and eggs, and yes, throw in potatos in the PWO meals. My strength gains might be slower than some, but staying lean is important to me. I would rather eat a big pile of steak and eggs and taters than a shake any day.