Help losing weight for military

kawa_j93

I'm currently training to join the military but before i can officially sign, I need to cut an initial 10lbs. I do weight training at the gym and atleast a 1/2hr cardio session afterwards. I don't eat red meat so i eat pretty clean when it come to protein and I drink a ton of water. The amount of of bathroom breaks is insane. I use a preworkout/dietary supplement just help with a boost of energy and focus for my early morning workouts. It sounds insane to lose these 10lbs by the end of this month, but Im hoping because I was at the weight not to long ago( took of time rest potential knee injury), that I can quickly get down back to it. I've been at it for about a week now, should I be seeing results soon?

Swiftdogs

First and foremost, I thank you for your willingness to serve.

Losing ten pounds in a month is an unrealistic goal unless you are very obese. "Clean" eating has nothing to do with weight loss; only a calorie deficit matters. Weigh and measure all your food and keep your diary here on MFP carefully. If you just have to "make weight" on a specific date, you can try cutting your sodium down as low as you can get it for the preceding week. That will make sure you're not holding extra water weight. Also make sure you're getting plenty of fiber and eating at least your minimum target of fat to aid elimination. Good luck!

_Zardoz_

You don't mention your calorie intake. You need to know that as no matter if you eat clean or not if you're not eating at a calorie deficit you wont loose weight. 10 pounds in a moth will be difficult and in normal circumstance unless you were morbidly obese un wise, There are ways people do use to shift water weight for situations like this but I personally wouldn't recommend them.

kawa_j93

I keep my calorie intake lower. According to the MFP advice, at the rate i'm going, I should be able to cut the 10lbs my June 11. Im currently 160 so I need to make 150. My weight fluctuates alot. 2 months ago I was at 150 but because I took time off, I unfortunately gained it back. So im hoping since I got to that weight, I can get back down quicker. I eat my more higher calorie foods in the morning and keep the rest of my meals at the lower spectrum, especially dinner. I tend to eat late so I dont want a full meal right before i go to bed.

JTick

I keep my calorie intake lower. According to the MFP advice, at the rate i'm going, I should be able to cut the 10lbs my June 11. Im currently 160 so I need to make 150. My weight fluctuates alot. 2 months ago I was at 150 but because I took time off, I unfortunately gained it back. So im hoping since I got to that weight, I can get back down quicker. I eat my more higher calorie foods in the morning and keep the rest of my meals at the lower spectrum, especially dinner. I tend to eat late so I dont want a full meal right before i go to bed.

How many calories are you eating?

PS Open your diary.

Swiftdogs

You probably didn't gain 10 pounds of fat in those two months unless you were really overeating. You may be carrying extra water in your muscles now that you're back to exercising. So you may make it. Meal timing also doesn't impact weight loss. Just eat at the frequency and timing that works best for you.

kawa_j93

I dont have an exact count for how many calories im eating. but heres a summary of my normal daily meal regiment:

morning: oatmeal and a fruit, usually banana
egg whites when available, and turkey bacon when available

lunch: lean meat, usually a small boneless chicken breast with a salad, usually a light dressing, no creamy type dressing

dinner: more lean meat, steamed veggies, usually done on a grill

lots and lots of water, and snacks in between meals usually consist of nuts and fiber rich bars, such as KIND bars
I also eat a lower cal protein within 30mins after my workout


This account was started today so I have nothing logged in my diary.

usmcmp

Come back and ask again when you've been logging for a few weeks. Make sure to be accurate. Weigh and measure everything. Also, if you are tall and barely over weight you should lose it in boot camp.

kawa_j93

Come back and ask again when you've been logging for a few weeks. Make sure to be accurate. Weigh and measure everything. Also, if you are tall and barely over weight you should lose it in boot camp.

i know i'll lose more in boot camp, but in order for me to get there i need to lose the 10lbs, im not allowed to sign yet until i do.

StaciMarie1974

Part of your weighin will depend on weighin conditions. Obviously your weight on your bathroom scale doesn't really matter. It will help of course if you can wear light weight clothing (take your shoes off?) and not eat or drink anything the morning of your weighin. That could help with 3-5 pounds easily.

StaciMarie1974

For the 7-10 days before your official weigh in watch sodium very carefully. Avoid processed meats/cheese as they are high. Avoid fast food, eating out. Sodium water weight can take a few days to wear off.

Other than that, weigh/measure everything you eat - aim for an appropriate calorie goal per day. You want a deficit but you want enough fuel for energy, etc. And be as active as possible. Since you have a month or so, temporary water gain from picking up your intensity now should wear off by then.

PaulVLJ

I would advise you to walk. Set alarms on your phone, I try to get 1/2 mile each hour. It only takes about 7 minutes. You can use MapMyFitness to keep track. Good Luck!

Azchange

To offer a bit more advice than people completely avoiding your question;

You can lose the 10lbs in a month. I did it for the same reason. I have been in for about two years now and know what you are going through. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions.

When you say you need to lose 10, is that for height/weight or are you estimating inches for tape? The Army (military) uses body fat as its legal standard. Height/Weight is technically just a screening tool. When I enlisted I just made tape, which means I was over weight (5'9" and 185lbs, so about 6 over) but I still was able to ship to BCT because I was within the body fat allowance. MEPS WILL sign you if you meet tape. There are calculators online, and an awesome app by 550Cord (Army Fitness Calculator) that will help you on this.

The easiest way to lose the 10 lbs prior to weigh-in is going to be (I hesitate to say) dehydrate yourself. As others have said, watch the sodium 2 days before your weigh-in, and then no water the night before/morning of your weigh in. You may want to bring a water bottle and a snack to meps so once you weigh in you can eat/drink. You will have a 12 hour day the day you swear in.

As for the more appropriate answer; Log your food, weigh it, ect ect. Make sure you work on your PT. If you do it now, it will hurt a lot less in bct. I learned that the hard way.

And again, you can always message me with more questions.

Thanks,
Andrew

kawa_j93

I would advise you to walk. Set alarms on your phone, I try to get 1/2 mile each hour. It only takes about 7 minutes. You can use MapMyFitness to keep track. Good Luck!

My job consists of me constantly moving around and lifting heavy automotive parts so its not like im just sitting at a desk for hours. I also go to the gym for atleast 2 hrs where i do the weight training and then a minimum of 30mins for cardio.

kawa_j93

To offer a bit more advice than people completely avoiding your question;

You can lose the 10lbs in a month. I did it for the same reason. I have been in for about two years now and know what you are going through. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions.

When you say you need to lose 10, is that for height/weight or are you estimating inches for tape? The Army (military) uses body fat as its legal standard. Height/Weight is technically just a screening tool. When I enlisted I just made tape, which means I was over weight (5'9" and 185lbs, so about 6 over) but I still was able to ship to BCT because I was within the body fat allowance. MEPS WILL sign you if you meet tape. There are calculators online, and an awesome app by 550Cord (Army Fitness Calculator) that will help you on this.

The easiest way to lose the 10 lbs prior to weigh-in is going to be (I hesitate to say) dehydrate yourself. As others have said, watch the sodium 2 days before your weigh-in, and then no water the night before/morning of your weigh in. You may want to bring a water bottle and a snack to meps so once you weigh in you can eat/drink. You will have a 12 hour day the day you swear in.

As for the more appropriate answer; Log your food, weigh it, ect ect. Make sure you work on your PT. If you do it now, it will hurt a lot less in bct. I learned that the hard way.

And again, you can always message me with more questions.

Thanks,
Andrew

Im trying to sign for the Air Force, but before I was trying for the Army so I know the requirements for that. Unfortunately the requirements are more favored towards men and womens requirements tend to not be as fair,especially with taping. Men tend to have a wider neck and waist, but small hips, when I personally have a very small neck and waist, and wider hips. At first i was told by my army recruiter that i was 6% over the requirement and if my neck was an inch bigger it'd drop to 2%. The max requirement for my height in the AF is 155, but I was told a recuiter wouldnt sign me until i was atleast 5lbs under the maximum

shadyj26

Have you ever thought about doing high intensity interval training? With this type of training you well continue to burn more calories when you are finished. With the steady state cardio your body pretty much stop burning calories when you stop.

kawa_j93

Have you ever thought about doing high intensity interval training? With this type of training you well continue to burn more calories when you are finished. With the steady state cardio your body pretty much stop burning calories when you stop.

I have done that before with a trainer, unfortunately trainers arent cheap.

Azchange

Im trying to sign for the Air Force, but before I was trying for the Army so I know the requirements for that. Unfortunately the requirements are more favored towards men and womens requirements tend to not be as fair,especially with taping. Men tend to have a wider neck and waist, but small hips, when I personally have a very small neck and waist, and wider hips. At first i was told by my army recruiter that i was 6% over the requirement and if my neck was an inch bigger it'd drop to 2%. The max requirement for my height in the AF is 155, but I was told a recuiter wouldnt sign me until i was atleast 5lbs under the maximum

Tell your recruiter to sign you or you will find a new one. Don't jump through their hoops, make them work for you. You ARE there mission, push them a little and you will be fine. It's how I got my desired MOS.

When you go to tape there are things you can do, suck it in a bit, but not enough to where its obvious. Raise your shoulders slightly, tuck in your chin. Those will decrease waist, and increase neck measurements. Getting to 155 should not be too hard. You should be able to lose at least 5 "Real" pounds in a month, and then the other 5 can be lost in temporary water weight. You shouldn't be doing 2 hours of weight lifting, that's crazyness (for me at least). I work out for about 45 minutes 4 days a week, then run for 30 minutes 3 days a week.

P.S.
Army > AF

kawa_j93

Im trying to sign for the Air Force, but before I was trying for the Army so I know the requirements for that. Unfortunately the requirements are more favored towards men and womens requirements tend to not be as fair,especially with taping. Men tend to have a wider neck and waist, but small hips, when I personally have a very small neck and waist, and wider hips. At first i was told by my army recruiter that i was 6% over the requirement and if my neck was an inch bigger it'd drop to 2%. The max requirement for my height in the AF is 155, but I was told a recuiter wouldnt sign me until i was atleast 5lbs under the maximum

Tell your recruiter to sign you or you will find a new one. Don't jump through their hoops, make them work for you. You ARE there mission, push them a little and you will be fine. It's how I got my desired MOS.

When you go to tape there are things you can do, suck it in a bit, but not enough to where its obvious. Raise your shoulders slightly, tuck in your chin. Those will decrease waist, and increase neck measurements. Getting to 155 should not be too hard. You should be able to lose at least 5 "Real" pounds in a month, and then the other 5 can be lost in temporary water weight. You shouldn't be doing 2 hours of weight lifting, that's crazyness (for me at least). I work out for about 45 minutes 4 days a week, then run for 30 minutes 3 days a week.

P.S.
Army > AF

its usually 2hrs total. i do several circuits designated to a certain area with a minute in between sets so it takes up some time. I also always do core and cardio

rsoice

Not sure about your motivation for joining but regardless, thank you! I retired from the Army four years ago and I know about struggling with weight. One thing you need to understand going in is that the weight standard at enlistment is quite different than the standard for staying in. You will lose weight in Basic Training (for the Army I can't speak for the Air Force) but you will also eat more than you ever imagined.
I would suggest simple efforts. Work on building up your run, push-ups and sit-ups (as well as pull-ups if you have a bar). All of these will help with your Physical Fitness Test. Work every day with 1 day of rest each week. Don't overexert to the point that you're so sore you don't or can't workout the next day. I'd also suggest upping your calorie intake. If you're starving you aren't going to put forth maximum effort because you can't and you're going to screw up form which will lead to injury.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

Holly_Roman_Empire

To offer a bit more advice than people completely avoiding your question;

You can lose the 10lbs in a month. I did it for the same reason. I have been in for about two years now and know what you are going through. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions.

When you say you need to lose 10, is that for height/weight or are you estimating inches for tape? The Army (military) uses body fat as its legal standard. Height/Weight is technically just a screening tool. When I enlisted I just made tape, which means I was over weight (5'9" and 185lbs, so about 6 over) but I still was able to ship to BCT because I was within the body fat allowance. MEPS WILL sign you if you meet tape. There are calculators online, and an awesome app by 550Cord (Army Fitness Calculator) that will help you on this.

The easiest way to lose the 10 lbs prior to weigh-in is going to be (I hesitate to say) dehydrate yourself. As others have said, watch the sodium 2 days before your weigh-in, and then no water the night before/morning of your weigh in. You may want to bring a water bottle and a snack to meps so once you weigh in you can eat/drink. You will have a 12 hour day the day you swear in.

As for the more appropriate answer; Log your food, weigh it, ect ect. Make sure you work on your PT. If you do it now, it will hurt a lot less in bct. I learned that the hard way.

And again, you can always message me with more questions.

Thanks,
Andrew

Im trying to sign for the Air Force, but before I was trying for the Army so I know the requirements for that. Unfortunately the requirements are more favored towards men and womens requirements tend to not be as fair,especially with taping. Men tend to have a wider neck and waist, but small hips, when I personally have a very small neck and waist, and wider hips. At first i was told by my army recruiter that i was 6% over the requirement and if my neck was an inch bigger it'd drop to 2%. The max requirement for my height in the AF is 155, but I was told a recuiter wouldnt sign me until i was atleast 5lbs under the maximum

First, your recruiter sucks. I went the AF route, and my recruiter couldn't wait to get me to sign on that line. So you haven't signed anything or gone to MEPS to commit? Threaten your recruiter that you will go through a different branch if he doesn't. Guaranteed, he will. They have numbers to meet. Why the one month deadline if you haven't signed?

Second, start logging calories eaten and calories burned here. If you hadn't done it yet, I guarantee you will lose at least some in a month.

Third, your recruiter should be helping you meet your goals. I had to meet with mine once a week to work out, work on drill-type stuff, and study BMT materials. I know that kind of goes back to the fact that he sucks, but he really should be doing more.

Holly_Roman_Empire

Im trying to sign for the Air Force, but before I was trying for the Army so I know the requirements for that. Unfortunately the requirements are more favored towards men and womens requirements tend to not be as fair,especially with taping. Men tend to have a wider neck and waist, but small hips, when I personally have a very small neck and waist, and wider hips. At first i was told by my army recruiter that i was 6% over the requirement and if my neck was an inch bigger it'd drop to 2%. The max requirement for my height in the AF is 155, but I was told a recuiter wouldnt sign me until i was atleast 5lbs under the maximum

Tell your recruiter to sign you or you will find a new one. Don't jump through their hoops, make them work for you. You ARE there mission, push them a little and you will be fine. It's how I got my desired MOS.

When you go to tape there are things you can do, suck it in a bit, but not enough to where its obvious. Raise your shoulders slightly, tuck in your chin. Those will decrease waist, and increase neck measurements. Getting to 155 should not be too hard. You should be able to lose at least 5 "Real" pounds in a month, and then the other 5 can be lost in temporary water weight. You shouldn't be doing 2 hours of weight lifting, that's crazyness (for me at least). I work out for about 45 minutes 4 days a week, then run for 30 minutes 3 days a week.

P.S.
Army > AF

its usually 2hrs total. i do several circuits designated to a certain area with a minute in between sets so it takes up some time. I also always do core and cardio

And circuit training is fine for the real world, but if you're just trying to get in shape for basic training, you should really be focused on doing bodyweight exercises and running. Lots of it. You can be good at pushups, but are you good at doing 50 pushups, with pauses on the way down? Are you good at pyramid pushups? There are far better ways of preparing for basic training.

And just as an aside (sort of unrelated), practice holding your arms straight out from your sides for minutes at a time. You'll thank me later.

alexisnvisser

To offer a bit more advice than people completely avoiding your question;

You can lose the 10lbs in a month. I did it for the same reason. I have been in for about two years now and know what you are going through. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions.

When you say you need to lose 10, is that for height/weight or are you estimating inches for tape? The Army (military) uses body fat as its legal standard. Height/Weight is technically just a screening tool. When I enlisted I just made tape, which means I was over weight (5'9" and 185lbs, so about 6 over) but I still was able to ship to BCT because I was within the body fat allowance. MEPS WILL sign you if you meet tape. There are calculators online, and an awesome app by 550Cord (Army Fitness Calculator) that will help you on this.

The easiest way to lose the 10 lbs prior to weigh-in is going to be (I hesitate to say) dehydrate yourself. As others have said, watch the sodium 2 days before your weigh-in, and then no water the night before/morning of your weigh in. You may want to bring a water bottle and a snack to meps so once you weigh in you can eat/drink. You will have a 12 hour day the day you swear in.

As for the more appropriate answer; Log your food, weigh it, ect ect. Make sure you work on your PT. If you do it now, it will hurt a lot less in bct. I learned that the hard way.

And again, you can always message me with more questions.

Thanks,
Andrew

Im trying to sign for the Air Force, but before I was trying for the Army so I know the requirements for that. Unfortunately the requirements are more favored towards men and womens requirements tend to not be as fair,especially with taping. Men tend to have a wider neck and waist, but small hips, when I personally have a very small neck and waist, and wider hips. At first i was told by my army recruiter that i was 6% over the requirement and if my neck was an inch bigger it'd drop to 2%. The max requirement for my height in the AF is 155, but I was told a recuiter wouldnt sign me until i was atleast 5lbs under the maximum

I just joined the Air Force in January, and when I signed my recruiter told me that I had to be at least 10 pounds under the max limit when I go to MEPS. That's just their way of making sure you are safely within the allowable weight. You can definitely lose 5 real pounds in a month. Careful not to cut your calories too low and cause a binge though. I'm 5'4", very active, and I find that 1400-1800 calories per day works best for me. (Lower end on rest days or low activity, high end on intense workout days). Good luck and fantastic decision to join the AF!

NavyGal1993

This is almost EXACTLY my situation. Im currently at 157-160 (weight goes up and down faster than an elevator) was at 153 and gained it back but long story short, I have to be down to about 149- 150 for themilitary too. So frustrating because Im in crazy good shape. I can run 3-6miles a daily., low carbs(or no carbs) and eat healthy. Blah blah...But Im considering changing branches. (Going from Navy to Air Force).
Anyway, hit me up if you found a way to lose the weight because with me it seems impossible!

Good luck!