Tips for my husband?

jmmtaylor

My hubby needs to lose weight. He is currently deployed and in Afghanistan. He works out every day, but he gets down to 208 and cant break past it. He said that the DEFAC mainly has fried foods and not many healthy options. I'm sending him "healthy" things that wont go bad (takes about 2 weeks for a box to get to him). He doesn't eat all the food they give him...what else can he do?

He does cardio and strength training. A friend of his was in the same boat and he is doing the same thing only he's eating 2 meals a day IF that. Which is wrong, and because of it he lost 35 pounds and has finally hit "army standards"...but as soon as he gets back home he will gain it all back. My husband wants to do it the right way.

Any advise at all will be very much appreciated. I'm not sure what kinds of things I can send him. I got those Hormel compleat meals...(low in calories and not fried in grease), granola bars....I just don't know what else to send him.

To add, it is not ME that thinks he needs to. The Army and all his SGT's are on him about it. I'm looking for ways to make it easier on him and give him better eating options or workout options to do to help him. I have loved him for 10 years just the way he is.

colonelangus

The one thing I wouldn't do is give him extra stress. He's got a totally f'd up job to do. He can **** around with his weight when he comes back.

jmmtaylor

I'm not the one giving him any grief about his weight, thank you. I love him the way he is. It's the ARMY and his 1st sgt that is on his *kitten* about it. I'm trying to HELP him.

colonelangus

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to come off that harsh. It's just that I've seen some friends come back recently and they are mentally ill from this conflict. Forget the weight stuff. Again, I apologize for my comment, I wish you guy the ultimate best.

jmmtaylor

It's ok. I wish he didn't have to worry about it. He can pass his pt test and everything i think that should be good enough. For them it's not and it's stopping him from being promoted.

colonelangus

I get it, again I apologize.

2hdesign

You could dehydrate fruits and veggies and send them to him. We just have a cheap dehydrator at home and I LOVE to do this - it makes a great, still healthy snack and will travel without perishing. You could also make beef jerky and send it to him the same way. Plus, you could get quite a bit in a flat rate box.

If he can control the volume he eats, nuts would be a good item.

Depending on his situation and what you can mail, there are some canned soups that are okay - lower in sodium and relatively healthy and definitely low in calories. You could also do beans this way.

HTH

Arynamber

My husband came back from Iraq this past year and had gained about 15 pounds. From what he told me is that they do have a salad bar and the dining hall. Not sure if they have that by your DH.. but if they do.. he could utilize that. Maybe more LEAN meats if possible. I think that they may offer chicken there (not sure if its skinless). Have him drink plenty of water.. and make sure that he is doing PT training everyday. Maybe get a partner as I heard you mention that many Sgt there need to get off weight restriction.

As far as sending him things.. Sometimes for my husband I would go in the healthfood section and make a healthy mix (dried fruits and nuts and cereal) to send him. I know nuts are kind of fatty but I guess they are better then fried crap at the dining hall or the calorie packed MREs. PLUS its homemade.

Sorry you are going through a deployment. Sending well wishes your way

ouryear002

Can he get a fat percent test (or something like that)? I had a friend that was over on the weight requirements, but was very fit and muscular. He was able to have a body composition test done to over ride the weight requirements. That was years ago, so I don't know if it is still an option.

iplayoutside19

I'm not the one giving him any grief about his weight, thank you. I love him the way he is. It's the ARMY and his 1st sgt that is on his *kitten* about it. I'm trying to HELP him.

I don't have any experience being deployed. If his 1st is the one giving him crap, maybe he should tactfully ask his chain of command if there are any weigth loss/nutrition resources availible where he is stationed.

Can't imagine with the problem this country is having with this issue that our armed forces haven't dropped some coin trying to fight it.

mkrafick

Let me start with saying I am not a doctor, trainer, or gymrat. I am passing on my experience from last year and information I learned from my personal trainer.

I did the same thing and it took a while to figure out - I had to do a few things. In the end, it all comes down to confusing the heck out of your body - never let it know how many calories are coming in or how much you will burn them.


1. The main culprit for me was processed sugar - I was eating under my calories, but I would treat myself with a coke every day. The sugar hit spikes insulin, the insulin spike signals your body to hold on and send things to fat stores. So a coke with that lunch sent it straight to my love handles. Now, I am not diabetic, but apparently sugar sensitive so this may not be his case.

2. Confuse his body and zig zag his calories some - If he is trying to eat 1700cal, eat 1500cal one day, 2000cal the next, and 1700 the day after.

3. Absolutely DO NOT cut out meals and eat 1-2 times a day. It actually causes your body to go into starvation mode and it will hold on to everything you give it when you do eat. You actually want to increase meals to 5-6x a day if he can do it - Carry a snack bar in his flack jacked and pounded it down between breakfast and lunch, same between lunch and dinner. If you eat smaller, more times a day, you end up bumping your metabolism. A chewy granola bar is around 100cal, a cliff bar could be 200-300.

4. Send him a jug of protien drink if you can (I use this: http://tinyurl.com/cv7lgl) - it can be mixed with milk or water and provides much needed protien to rebuild after his workouts, it also acts as a snack or meal replacement (depending on quantity). It doesn't taste bad at all and comes in all sorts of flavors. A $14.00 jug lasts me close to 2 weeks at 2 times a day.

5. Change his workout routine and do it often. If he is in the habit of the same 4 workouts when he does "back and chest " switch from heavy weight low rep to light weight high reps. Better yet, do completely different exercises. Bounce between freeweights, pushing bodyweight (like pushups), machines, and resistance bands. I don't do the same exact exercise but every 2 weeks or so if I can help it. If you need some idea's let me know and I will look through my routine to see what I can beg, borrow, and steal.

6. Switch his cardio and strength training. Do "Strength Training" first, then cardio - new studies show this actually helps your fat burning capability kick in more efficiently and you burn more when you switch to cardio. I do about 30m of weightlifting and then 30 minutes of cardio.

7. Lower the heart rate and go longer when you do cardio. When you go "pound it out" and run as fast as you can for a mile you burn fat AND you burn muscle. If you want to concentrate on fat only - lower your heart rate (mine stays in the mid 120's) and go longer (like 60 minutes). To confuse your body, throw a minute or two every 5-10 where you elevate your heart rate on a hill or something.

8. There is a law of diminishing returns if you lift weights after an hour. After an hour you do a lot more work and get a lot less results. After an hour, switch to cardio - which you can do to your hearts content, there is no law of deminishing returns.


Finally - Patience. When you do it the "right way" of building muscle, slow controlled weight loss (.5-1lb wk) it gets frustrating watching your friends who shred 10lbs in one week. But what I learned is it STAYS OFF - I have been inactive 2 months recovering from surgery and I am maintaining or dropping. I have friends that go off diet for 2 weeks and can easily put on 15lbs. It also comes off very slowly the first 90 days as your body goes into panic mode and holds on to everything - but at that 90 days it gets in a rythem and starts burning much faster. (I started dropping 4-6lbs a week at that point and bumped my calories because I lost weight too fast).

To give perspective - it took me a year to lose 40lbs, but I also put on an additional10lbs of muscle which means I burn more calories just sitting now. I also lost 6in off my waist, another 6 off my belly, and gained inches in my biceps, legs, and chest from muscle. I went into two plateaus that year like your husband where I didn't budge for 4 weeks each time as I figured out the advice above.

As for food suggestions - send over the jug of protien mix I suggested, some high protien or meal replacement bars. He also needs to get fruits and vegitibles in him - makes a difference - I wonder if something like canned peaches can be sent.

Sorry for the long letter - but I learned a lot the hard way last year. If I can spare someone else the frustration, I 'll gladly pass the info. Please relay my thanks for you husband for serving our country and to you for being married to him and living with seperation, thats a sacrifice of your own.

jmmtaylor

He said he gets salads until they run out. Same with fruits and veggies. They get a shipment in and that's it until another one comes in. I will see if he would eat the dried stuff if I made it to send him. We already talked about getting a dehydrator for making jerky.

He has a belly on him, so he is "overweight" The location he is at they don't have a lot of extra things on the FOB. Only thing they have is the gym when it comes to weight loss...they have a treadmill an elliptical and a bike for cardio (besides running outside in the sand and dusty air), they have weights and whatever for strength training too. That's as far as it goes on the "nutrition/fitness" options. When he first got flagged he had to go to nutrition classes (which I would have loved to go to) but he had 2 months to lose what he could before they deployed so he couldn't really use what they taught him for long. He tries to eat the best he can with what they have.

colonelangus

i'm sorry, but is this not totally depressing or what. I have grandpas and dads and uncles I have seen come back from wars. It is a mess.Can we please take care of these women and guys? Jesus, this is really depressing. I feel like a dork even having to make this point. But really, we need to take care of these guys and gals. Please, please, contribute. Thanx

jmmtaylor

Thank you mkrafick! I will pass all of that on to him and see what he says.

deandp371

How about a jump rope? You could send a plain old jump rope or a "modern" one with a counter.

Another thought is to see if he can find anyone in his unit that trains in karate or other martial arts. Those traditions developed pretty good workout routines requiring nothing at all except the body! I could see that being a good activity in a number of ways.

And please thank him for me too!

mkrafick

LOL at the jump rope.Scratch that, that should be "OMG, I hate the freaking jump rope".

After my strength routine with my trainer, he would make me jump rope to spike how my body burned energy before sending me home to drink a recovery drink. It was only 3 sets of 50 jumps but I thought I was going to crawl into the fetal position and die.

It worked though.

jmmtaylor

Jump rope is a good idea! (I hate the jump rope too...took Muy Thai from my Cousin in law that does MMA...omg he'd make us jump rope after the class...ICK)

beastlye

Deployments are rough, but I'm proud of you for being strong and supportive through it all! My husband has helped a lot of guys out both overseas and at home, so here's my advice:

If your husband doesn't have one already, maybe he can get a work-out partner or start a little group. I understand that he works out already (and I know that they have PT too, though my husband always complains that it's not challenging enough), but maybe a partner will add a little variety to the work out along with accountability

Drink lots of water!

Best wishes to your entire family

jmmtaylor

Thank you beastlye. He does have someone that he goes to the gym with, they are room mates. We've even been on Skype and he gets off to go to the gym with him.