Military Diet??

sydneyrester
sydneyrester Posts: 10 Member
edited November 18 in Health and Weight Loss
I've thought about trying the military diet on multiple occasions. Has anyone tried it and does the weight stay off?
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Replies

  • Lenala13
    Lenala13 Posts: 155 Member
    Had to look it up, since I've never heard of it. Looks like a low cal meal plan. The "meals" seem to do okay on veggies/protein, but there really isn't much to it and it doesn't seem like it's adapted to an individuals caloric needs. So basically, you'll be in a calorie deficit for 3 days...and once you're done, unless you adjust your activity/calorie intake level for the long term, you'll likely gain whatever you lost back.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    sydneyrester wrote: »
    I've thought about trying the military diet on multiple occasions. Has anyone tried it and does the weight stay off?

    So why haven't you ever done it?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    The whole food combination thing is woo. This diet has been around for decades, it keeps getting renamed. It's very low calories 3 days at a time. Nothing special.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited May 2017
    It's made up -- there's nothing special about the food choices and they are unappealing to me, and I've never been attracted to diets that require a particular menu.

    It's low cal, so you lose based on that.
  • BeauTluv
    BeauTluv Posts: 1 Member
    edited May 2017
    I tired it. Didn't lose the 10lbs or so that some people claim to lose. Longest 3 days of my life (can't even stand the smell of hot dogs) only thing I got out of it was, I actually enjoy cottage cheese.
    Just stick with a calorie deficiency plan. You'll get the same results with eating foods you like.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    Nope!
  • Rebecca0224
    Rebecca0224 Posts: 810 Member
    BeauTluv wrote: »
    I tired it. Didn't lose the 10lbs or so that some people claim to lose. Longest 3 days of my life (can't even stand the smell of hot dogs) only thing I got out of it was, I actually enjoy cottage cheese.
    Just stick with a calorie deficiency plan. You'll get the same results with eating foods you like.

    One of my favorite snacks is cottage cheese and Doritos.

    Being at a calorie deficit for three days is going to make you lose water weight. Try eating a at a resonable calorie deficit for a few months and adjust your macros so you don't feel hungry all the time. You don't need some special diet to lose weight you just need to make small sustainable changes over time.
  • Rebecca0224
    Rebecca0224 Posts: 810 Member
    FreyasRebirth wrote: »
    I don't think you'd lose very much living on MREs. :D

    But I do like the chilli mre
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,328 Member
    It's a silly, nonsensical Pintrest diet with no connection to the Military.
  • EternalSnow627_
    EternalSnow627_ Posts: 85 Member
    I've tried it weight did stay off but I only lost 2lbs on it. The food was terriable. Especially eating tuna alone...without anything was just bad
  • LexiAtel
    LexiAtel Posts: 228 Member
    I agree, the tuna is the worst. *shudders* I plan on exchanging that for chicken next time.

    I also thought the 2 TBsp of peanut butter was too much for one piece of toast.

    Lost 4lb though. I'll see what I weigh on Tuesday (that'll end the week, including the 4 'normal' 1500 calorie days that everyone seems to forget about).
  • meccanaje
    meccanaje Posts: 4 Member
    edited May 2017
    Y'all to judgmental on this thread!!
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    makes me shake my head with disbelief as to why someone would want to eat like this and why they keep repeating the same thing over and over. pure insanity I tell you. I cant see starving myself for 3 days just to lose a few lbs that could be mostly water.I think I will stick to eating at a regular deficit and eating the foods I like and losing that way.
  • LexiAtel
    LexiAtel Posts: 228 Member
    edited May 2017
    meccanaje wrote: »
    Y'all to judgmental on this thread!!

    You can feed them or starve them. As a book writer with lots of 'critics', I have learned it's better to starve 'em. You aren't going to change their mind, and they ain't gonna change yours (not with the approach most of them take).

    I thoroughly researched this diet for a week before considering it. I obviously wasn't eating healthy before I started dieting weighing 40lb + overweight (I've been watching what I eat on and off since February and lost 11lb so far, so I'm losing at an okay rate, imo). I really don't see how 'starving' myself is any worse than my eating habits before. At least I'm eating more vitamins/minerals now, and less junk. At the same time, I'm learning to eat and enjoy more portion control.

  • LexiAtel
    LexiAtel Posts: 228 Member
    The whole chemistry of what it originally stated is debatable (I'm not a believer in it). The part that I was more referring to is those who say that it doesn't work and /or that it's starving you.

    I'm just going to say this now: it can't starve you-- well, at least not like they're implying. The problem is that people see 'three day' (both the dieters and the critics). It's not a three day diet though, it's a seven day. It clearly states to eat "normally" (scoffs...!) for four days afterward that equate to 1500 calories a day EACH.

    You don't starve yourself, not anymore than any harsh deficit plan. Infact, you are very likely to reach above the minimal amount of calories per day that is recommended by anyone on this site. On average, this diet will bring 1235-1300 a day (or possibly more, depending on the certain brands and sizes of the foods), if it is followed by the complete guide.

    Here's what I got according to my own choices of foods:
    DAY 1 (1,106 calories)
    Breakfast:
    1/2 Grapefruit (52)
    1 slice toast (70)
    2 TBsp peanut butter (190)

    Lunch:
    1/2 cup tuna (120)
    1 slice toast (70)

    Dinner:
    3 oz lean meat (cooked chicken breast: 84, give or take)
    1 cup greenbeans (34)
    1/2 banana (50, give or take)
    1 small apple (80, give or take)
    1 cup vanilla ice cream (300...? Highly depends on the type you get, I aim for 150 per serving).

    DAY 2 (961 calories)

    Breakfast:
    1 egg (70, give or take)
    1 slice toast (70)
    1/2 banana (50, give or take)

    Lunch:
    1 cup cottage cheese (200, give or take)
    1 egg (70, give or take)
    5 saltine crackers (65)


    Dinner:
    6.5 oz COOKED chicken (300, give or take)
    1 cup broccoli (31)
    1/2 cup carrots (25)
    1/2 banana (50, give or take)
    1/2 cup vanilla ice cream (150...? Highly depends on the type you get, I aim for 150 per serving).

    DAY 3 (975 calories)

    Breakfast:
    5 crackers (65)
    1 oz of cheddar cheese (100, give or take)
    1 small apple (80, give or take)

    Lunch:
    1 egg (70, give or take)
    1 slice toast (70)

    Dinner:
    5 oz chicken (240, give or take)
    1/2 banana (50, give or take)
    1 cup vanilla ice cream (300...? Highly depends on the type you get, I aim for 150 per serving).

    TOTAL: 3, 042 calories

    Plus the "normal" 4 (days)x 1500 (calories)= 6,000 calories

    3, 042+ 6000= 9,042 weekly calorie intake

    9,042 ÷ 7 = 1,292 daily calorie intake which is over the minimum that is suggested.

    I have noticed that when I start eating better foods, that it's hard to make the minimal limit(it fills me up well enough), so it's really hard making the 1500 calorie goal without eating a lot of junk. I'm trying to work on that.





  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    edited May 2017
    Weight loss is calories. You can eat the right amount of calories eating a balanced mix of foods you like, or you can do it eating some weird and arbitrary combo of random foods some faceless stranger gave a name. How this fake diet continues to multiply on the Web is beyond me. I guess some people need to believe it's more difficult than it really is.
  • Zipbsky
    Zipbsky Posts: 99 Member
    I did this diet in the nineties when I was in high school. I lost 30#s that summer, close to 10 the 1st week and slightly less each successive week. But i was 14 then and didnt know any better, I really believed that the food combinations somehow magically affected my metabolism. I did keep the weight off for several years, but the most lasting result is my prefence for black coffee
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    What do people think the combination of food achieves? It's completely arbitrary. You'd lose exactly the same amount of weight eating the same amount of calories in any combination of food.

    Right. If you want to do 3 super low cal days and 4 higher days, why not make your own plan or just do alternate day fasting or 5:2. (1500 is quite low for the high days on such a plan, though, although with IF the low days are lower.)

    The disgusting food choices and made-up claims that there's something special about them, and it being transparently dishonest is what bugs me about it.
  • LexiAtel
    LexiAtel Posts: 228 Member
    I only have a problem with the tuna and hotdogs, which you can substitute out. I did that with the hotdogs during the first phase (they aren't healthy either...). This next week, I'ma change out the tuna for something else. Maybe for my protein drink.

    This diet works great because everything is listed already, where if someone set up their own meal plan, they could mess it up real bad (we're not fat because we made good choices with our lives).

    I'm having to 'control' another person's food too, and if I just wrote up something out of the blue, they would tell me to change things up (even though they gave me the power to do this in the first place). By giving them a pre-existing diet that they can look up themselves, they can't argue with me on what they're allowed to have.

    Another thing that people don't realize is that it's so easy to make this into your own. You're not as limited as you think. If you believe you need more of one thing, you can make adjustments (ice cream is pretty much just junk, so you can exchange it for a healthier choice). That's kinda why I got hooked on it.

    Other people have incorporated the style of foods to have at certain meal times into their own meal plans. For instance, having dinner with 2-3 vegetables and fruits-- that seems to help you through the night like you can't believe. It's a good jumpstart to dieting.

    As for the arguements who say it doesn't have enough 'this' or 'this', I find it real challenging to meet all nutrition levels when you're eating around 1200 cals anyway. Take a decent multi-vitamin, and try to meet the requirements on the 1500 days.
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