Needing help to achieve a dream

Frenchyken89

Warning- Kind of a long post....

I have made a big decision to change my life and my families life. I've decided to try and join the Air Force as an officer. I've been going back and forth on joining the Air Force since high school and decided I don't want to have any regrets.

I'm qualified except for my weight (and a small tattoo I'm currently having removed). I'm not severely obese but am chubby. My recruiter has given me the task of losing 38lbs by early December.
Currently I'm 26, 4'10" and 159lbs. He wants me at 121lbs. I haven't been that since high school.

I'm a vegetarian but am fully aware I'm more than likely going to have to start eating meat to accomplish my goals and after joining. My recruiter wants me to focus on cardio and he made sure to say not to lift weights to make sure I don't gain muscle weight.

I need advice on how to accomplish this damn near impossible goal.... Obviously eat right and cardio till I die...but anyone have meal pans (I'm willing to eat chicken if I must

singingflutelady

Good luck! But I disagree with your recruiter about lifting weights. You aren't going to gain a large amount of muscle eating at a deficit. If you wish to help maintain your muscle mass as much as possible you need to lift weights or do bodyweight exercises. The goal is to minimize the muscle loss and maximize the fat loss especially if you have to do basic training.

Frenchyken89

I think what he was trying to get at is I need to meet that weight to qualify at MEPS. Even if I look better and feel better, I need to make sure to hit that weight goal.

KateTii

Lifting weights is great exercise, especially if you hate cardio (like me).

Forget meal plans and cardio - get a food scale, figure out what you like to eat and fit it into your calorie goal. Lift weights for exercise (so much better than a bloody treadmill). Cardio is still important for lung capacity, running drills etc. but you do not need to limit yourself to just Cardio.

Oh and eating meat is NOT required for weightloss or muscle gain. Protein is important but you can get it from plenty of vegetarian (and vegan) sources. I'd also believe there would be non-meat options available once you get into the Air Force.

Add me if you like - my diary is open and while I've been pretty lazy lately and i'm not a vegetarian, I don't restrict any food or follow a meal plan.

saphin

I'm not certain about American Air Force requirements, but the British Air Force basic training is very intense and you need to have good CV fitness and reasonable strength (especially upper body strength). If you are eating at a deficit to lose the weight required it will be very improbable that resistance / weight / strength training would build any muscle but you would see valuable strength improvements.
You would therefore be wise to do both cardio and strength training as well as eating at a deficit of around 750 calories (1 1/2 lb a week loss). Try something like running or cycling for your CV fitness (running is what you would have to do in basic training so that may be your best plan) and "You are your own gym" was developed by a US special forces PT instructor so should give you a good start on strength training.
Good luck in your new career.

2metraninja

First congrats for deciding what to do with life and choosing a goal to pursue.

Few advices from me too about how to achieve it. Install and set a weight-loss goal with myfitnesspal app and be strict with writing down your food and excercises. Results are guaranteed to follow. 6 months is not small ammount of time, thats 3 kgs lost a month, which is totally doable, of course it requires power of will and determination. Cut on the carbs and get your calories from protein and fat sources. Being vegetarian is not restriction at all, especially if you can eat fish and diary products. Refeed for 2-3 days each 2 weeks to tell your body it is not going to starvate forever and not slow his metabolism.

About cardio and strenght training, for sure do both. Cardio early morning before breakfast and streingth training after work. Cardio burns more callories per given amount of time, but strenght training speeds up your metabolism - post-training energie expenditure, hormones, etc, which will result in greater fat loss in the long term over cardio and for sure over any possible muscle tissue weight gains (not much likely you gain any at all if on severe restricted calorie intake anyway.)