Military Diet?!?!?

chelseakrenzke

So, two years ago I tried out the Military Diet. I lost 6 pounds in 3 days, and it helped me jump start my weight loss. I lost a total of 20 pounds in less than a month (but gained it back a year later . I only did the Military Diet once, and I was working out a lot. Sometimes going to the gym twice a day, and sometimes doing straight up cardio for the entire 3 hours of being there.

I'm about to try the Military Diet again starting tomorrow but I'd like some input on others who have tried it. Has it worked for you or not....how much exercise would you do during it.....did you do it every week or just once......and would you do it again?

galgenstrick

Why did you stop the first time you did it? It doesn't sound like it was sustainable since you gained the weight back...

TheVirgoddess

Based on the fact that you regained the weight, I'd say the diet doesn't work very well, right?

Maybe look into flexible dieting.

californiagirl2012

Anyone can lose weight if they follow that, but it's not sustainable and it will drive most people to binge due to the depriving yourself so much on it.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

Based on the fact that you regained the weight, I'd say the diet doesn't work very well, right?

Maybe look into flexible dieting.

^This. There is no reason to do something that didn't even work the first time around.

It's a restrictive VLCD, and it's not necessary.

strong_curves

How long do you plan on doing the military diet? For a week, lose a few pounds and then stop? If so, you will be right back here asking MFP on how to lose weight because you will most definitely gain whatever you lost doing the military diet.

Azexas

I'm sorry but a short diet = short results. With these 3 day diets, what you lose is water weight, which is usually regained once the diet has been finished. The diet is very restrictive and is only like 800 calories a day.

Why don't you enter your stats into MFP and then go by what the app tells you?

chelseakrenzke

I slowly gained the weight back over a one year time period. I kept it off for quite some time I just stopped working out and eating healthy. That's all. And no I don't plan on just doing this to lose a few pounds and then quitting.

TheVirgoddess

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I slowly gained the weight back over a one year time period. I kept it off for quite some time I just stopped working out and eating healthy. That's all. And no I don't plan on just doing this to lose a few pounds and then quitting.

That's kinda the point though. A successful "diet" will teach you long term habits that will help you keep the weight off. You don't need to jump-start your weight loss.

Anyway, you'll do what you're going to do. Good luck

allaboutthefood

I never did it, but have about 3 friends that tried it for a couple weeks, and once they stopped they gained the weight back plus more. I see no need to pretty much starve yourself for 3 days than if you follow the rest you are on restricted calories for the remainder of the week, then you repeat. Just eat within your deficit and exercise (to be healthy) and you will lose weight.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I slowly gained the weight back over a one year time period. I kept it off for quite some time I just stopped working out and eating healthy. That's all. And no I don't plan on just doing this to lose a few pounds and then quitting.

Gaining the weight back within a year isn't really "slowly" gaining it back - a year is pretty fast in the grand scheme of things.

I think you should just drop the gimmicky diets and eat at a reasonable calorie deficit. Just my two cents.

BronxBStanfield

We need a veteran MFP'er to address this idea of "jump starting" one's diet.

galgenstrick

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I slowly gained the weight back over a one year time period. I kept it off for quite some time I just stopped working out and eating healthy. That's all. And no I don't plan on just doing this to lose a few pounds and then quitting.

That's kinda the point though. A successful "diet" will teach you long term habits that will help you keep the weight off. You don't need to jump-start your weight loss.

Anyway, you'll do what you're going to do. Good luck

I was trying to say something along these lines. Thanks, excellently put. That's why diets like weight watchers and other crash diets fail. They don't build healthy habits, and they don't teach you how to have a healthy relationship with food. Once you're off the diet, you'll just go back to how you ate before because you'll have no idea what to do next.

brianpperkins

If the military diet works .. why do you need to lose weight again? If it is such a good plan, why does it need to lie about an association with the military? The same question goes for the GM diet.

Human bodies do not need a jump start, kick start, or reboot ... ever.

bpetrosky

Using a very short crash diet like the military diet doesn't actually help you lose any significant amount of fat.

The very severe deficit for a few days causes your body to burn through your glycogen stores, which bind up a lot of water. You see a dramatic drop of several pounds on the scales due to the water weight loss, but only lose a little fat.

Worse, if you don't stay in a deficit afterward or introduce enough carbs back in, your body replenishes the glycogen and that water weight with it.

The end effect is you haven't "jump started" anything.

A sustained reasonable deficit over time will lose weight effectively. It's not dramatic, but it works and isn't relying on toying with water weight.

chelseakrenzke

I guess I used the wrong wording. Not technically jump starting my weight los. It's just if I see some results right away it gets me motivated to keep going and work harder. Its not like I'm just doing the diet, I exercise and still will eat healthy on the 4 days I'm off of it. I understand a lot of these are just for quick results for special occasions or whatever and that you will more than likely gain the weight back. But that's only if you don't maintain a healthy diet afterwards. If I continue to workout and eat healthy I shouldn't really gain the weight back.

The reason I quit before and gained weight back was because I got depressed and i just gave up. I stopped working out, would sleep all day and I would eat a lot of junk food because I never felt like cooking.

bpetrosky

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I guess I used the wrong wording. Not technically jump starting my weight los. It's just if I see some results right away it gets me motivated to keep going and work harder. Its not like I'm just doing the diet, I exercise and still will eat healthy on the 4 days I'm off of it. I understand a lot of these are just for quick results for special occasions or whatever and that you will more than likely gain the weight back. But that's only if you don't maintain a healthy diet afterwards. If I continue to workout and eat healthy I shouldn't really gain the weight back.

The reason I quit before and gained weight back was because I got depressed and i just gave up. I stopped working out, would sleep all day and I would eat a lot of junk food because I never felt like cooking.

Ok, that's fine. But if the MD approach loses mostly water and no significant fat, why do it? Just set up your calorie target and do that. You might not (or might) get the dramatic drop in 3 days, but you're not making yourself miserable for three days either.

brianpperkins

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I guess I used the wrong wording. Not technically jump starting my weight los. It's just if I see some results right away it gets me motivated to keep going and work harder. Its not like I'm just doing the diet, I exercise and still will eat healthy on the 4 days I'm off of it. I understand a lot of these are just for quick results for special occasions or whatever and that you will more than likely gain the weight back. But that's only if you don't maintain a healthy diet afterwards. If I continue to workout and eat healthy I shouldn't really gain the weight back.

The reason I quit before and gained weight back was because I got depressed and i just gave up. I stopped working out, would sleep all day and I would eat a lot of junk food because I never felt like cooking.

Your post here concedes that you are not eating healthy while on the diet. It seems you're dead set on once again taking a foolish option ... so until next year when you're back looking for another jump start because of your choice to use fad, unsustainable, diets.

galgenstrick

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I guess I used the wrong wording. Not technically jump starting my weight los. It's just if I see some results right away it gets me motivated to keep going and work harder. Its not like I'm just doing the diet, I exercise and still will eat healthy on the 4 days I'm off of it. I understand a lot of these are just for quick results for special occasions or whatever and that you will more than likely gain the weight back. But that's only if you don't maintain a healthy diet afterwards. If I continue to workout and eat healthy I shouldn't really gain the weight back.

The reason I quit before and gained weight back was because I got depressed and i just gave up. I stopped working out, would sleep all day and I would eat a lot of junk food because I never felt like cooking.

Restrictive diets can trigger depression. Why not just eat a healthy diet now, then you don't ever have to go off of it? Makes things a lot easier. Also, find motivation in places other than the scale, this can turn into a major demotivator

vismal

It's a terrible diet. All a semi-starvation diet like this is good for is dropping a lot of water weight rapidly. That is what you are losing, a mix of water and glycogen. It would make much more sense for someone who needs to lose 5 lbs quickly for some sort of a sport/competition that require a weigh in. People with long term weight loss goals need not concern themselves with water losses. Fat losses are what is important. To attempt this type of eating for any great length of time is going to wind up biting you in the butt. You cannot effectively recover eating such low calories all the time. Numerous side effects will start to occur over time. If done for long enough, you will start losing muscle mass and if you are male, your testosterone will likely drop having even more of an impact on your workouts. A simple calorie deficit is a much better strategy. Even a fairly aggressive deficit is okay if you have a lot to lose, but nothing along the lines of what the this diet puts you in.

You are correct in that if you can eat maintenance calories after the diet is complete you will not gain any weight. This issue here is this diet doesn't prepare you for that. An extreme doesn't prepare you for moderation, moderation prepares you for moderation. Eating in a moderate calorie deficit makes the transition to eating at maintenance much more smooth and natural in my opinion.

stevencloser

People who win in the lottery and suddenly become millionairs often end up being broke again soon after. Because they never learned how to manage that amount of money.
It can be similar with weight loss. So you lose 20 pounds in a month by doing a diet you won't be staying on, you're at your goal weight and everything is fine and dandy.
And what now?
To lose the weight you ate in a way that was unsustainable and before you were eating in a way that made you gain weight. At no point have you eaten in a way that is going to keep you successful in the long term, so you soon fall back to the old habits and regain your original weight.

chelseakrenzke

I didn't get depressed because of the diet. There were other things going on in my life at that time that caused it. I do eat healthy now and I do exercise.....I have a hard time losing weight so that is why I considered doing this again because it helped me before. And if I'm exercising and lifting weights I shouldn't just be losing water weight.

TheVirgoddess

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I didn't get depressed because of the diet. There were other things going on in my life at that time that caused it. I do eat healthy now and I do exercise.....I have a hard time losing weight so that is why I considered doing this again because it helped me before. And if I'm exercising and lifting weights I shouldn't just be losing water weight.

Do you log your food? That's really the key to losing weight.

stevencloser

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I didn't get depressed because of the diet. There were other things going on in my life at that time that caused it. I do eat healthy now and I do exercise.....I have a hard time losing weight so that is why I considered doing this again because it helped me before. And if I'm exercising and lifting weights I shouldn't just be losing water weight.

You need a calorie deficit to lose weight. If you're having a hard time, you're eating too much. Are you logging your intake or are you just eating healthy (whatever you understand by that)?

bpetrosky

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I didn't get depressed because of the diet. There were other things going on in my life at that time that caused it. I do eat healthy now and I do exercise.....I have a hard time losing weight so that is why I considered doing this again because it helped me before. And if I'm exercising and lifting weights I shouldn't just be losing water weight.

Sorry, no. It just doesn't work that way.

vismal

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I didn't get depressed because of the diet. There were other things going on in my life at that time that caused it. I do eat healthy now and I do exercise.....I have a hard time losing weight so that is why I considered doing this again because it helped me before. And if I'm exercising and lifting weights I shouldn't just be losing water weight.

Exercising and lifting weights will only cause weight loss if you are in a calorie deficit. The military diet will create a calorie deficit but the days you do not do it may or may not. It depends how many calories (not how "healthy") you eat. You could eat 100% foods that are usually considered "healthy" and not be in a calorie deficit. Doing the diet will cause some fat loss, because you will be in a deficit the days you do it. What everyone is pointing out is that the majority of what you lose will be water/glycogen. So out of a 5 lb loss week 1, you might lose a lb or so of fat. It totally depends on how many calories you eat during the off days. If you eat enough during those days, your net fat loss could be a little as zero.

chelseakrenzke

I am logging my food, I stay within my calories most days. Sometimes I go a little over by 100-200 calories. But it doesn't happen often. I mainly eat fruits, veggies, salad, shrimp, fish, rice. And I allow myself one cheat meal a week. Not a whole day because I feel like that's ruining my whole week, so I limit myself to one cheat meal a week. I do at least an hour of exercise a day givig myself one day off a week as well.

stevencloser

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I am logging my food, I stay within my calories most days. Sometimes I go a little over by 100-200 calories. But it doesn't happen often. I mainly eat fruits, veggies, salad, shrimp, fish, rice. And I allow myself one cheat meal a week. Not a whole day because I feel like that's ruining my whole week, so I limit myself to one cheat meal a week. I do at least an hour of exercise a day givig myself one day off a week as well.

Are you using a scale?
Are you eating back your exercise calories?

Not using a scale and overestimating exercise burn are probably some of the most common reasons for having a hard time.

brianpperkins

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I am logging my food, I stay within my calories most days. Sometimes I go a little over by 100-200 calories. But it doesn't happen often. I mainly eat fruits, veggies, salad, shrimp, fish, rice. And I allow myself one cheat meal a week. Not a whole day because I feel like that's ruining my whole week, so I limit myself to one cheat meal a week. I do at least an hour of exercise a day givig myself one day off a week as well.

Are you measuring your food?

vismal

chelseakrenzke wrote: »

I am logging my food, I stay within my calories most days. Sometimes I go a little over by 100-200 calories. But it doesn't happen often. I mainly eat fruits, veggies, salad, shrimp, fish, rice. And I allow myself one cheat meal a week. Not a whole day because I feel like that's ruining my whole week, so I limit myself to one cheat meal a week. I do at least an hour of exercise a day givig myself one day off a week as well.

Too many variables. 1 cheat meal, believe it or not, can undo an entire weeks worth of effort. It all depends how many calories are consumed in that meal. Also, the types of foods you eat do not matter at all. It comes down to calories in vs calories out. If your weekly intake isn't lower than your weekly output, you will not lose fat.

chelseakrenzke

I really do appreciate everyones input on this subject by the way