Living in the B's

tlmarmymedic

I have a bit of an issue with the whole dieting thing, not completely because of cravings but living conditions. I am currently in the Army and live in the barracks. I have really no way to prepare any food that doesnt go in the mirowave and the dining facility doesnt always offer the healthiest meals (fried chicken baked chicken and bbq chicken mainly) and are only open certain hours. I've also tried the frozen healthy choice meals and wasnt impressed, they are kinda expensive and not satisfying.
Another issue is when I cant even eat at the defac due to missions. Because I am on a meal card, they give me an MRE(meal ready to eat), which is loaded with calories. Its meant for when you are in the field expending large amounts of calories. What is a girl to do? Any advice?

tlmarmymedic

I have a bit of an issue with the whole dieting thing, not completely because of cravings but living conditions. I am currently in the Army and live in the barracks. I have really no way to prepare any food that doesnt go in the mirowave and the dining facility doesnt always offer the healthiest meals (fried chicken baked chicken and bbq chicken mainly) and are only open certain hours. I've also tried the frozen healthy choice meals and wasnt impressed, they are kinda expensive and not satisfying.
Another issue is when I cant even eat at the defac due to missions. Because I am on a meal card, they give me an MRE(meal ready to eat), which is loaded with calories. Its meant for when you are in the field expending large amounts of calories. What is a girl to do? Any advice?

lilone83

i'm sorry but i really can't help but i did want to say thanks for your service

riveraphx

I feel your pain. I used to live in the barracks while I was in the Navy and it was very difficult. I used buy the Uncle Ben's microwavable brown rice, lots of fruit, oatmeal, soups, sometimes I would barbecue my own chicken on the grills outside if they were working. I also understand the chow hall situation, there's isn't a lot of healthy options available there either. The best you can do is is portion control. When you get the turkey, ask for no gravy, and when choosing between the mashed potatoes and the broccoli, go for the broccoli. Also if you're going to the salad bar, dip your salad in the dressing, instead of pouring it on top. If I think of anything else I will let you know. I know you can still lose weight, just keep at it and you'll learn different tricks for staying on track.

Good luck.

ngwife4life

First off, Thanks for your service!

My husband and I were just talking about how crappy his diet has been the other day. It was so bad when he was in Iraq that he had high blood pressure. Now, he's training up for Afghanistan and I'm afraid it's going to spike again. He was telling me they were given something called ARTs that he had never heard of before... didn't know what it stood for but he said he figured "ain't really tasty" :laugh: He figured out the sodium content in there had to have been nearly 2 times what your daily intake should be. Gee, wonder why he ended up with high blood pressure?! I agree with what river was saying. I told him to make the best possible choices he could and to eat well with fruits and veggies whenever possible. I wish you the best! :flowerforyou:

BxMom

Thanks for your service for starters. I'm a veteran, USAF 12.5 years, who once a very very very long time ago dealt with dorms but I know that USAF dorms and ARMY dorms are two different worlds :laugh: .

Anyway, do you have friends that are married and live on post or nearby? The reason I ask is that maybe you can work something out with them to use there kitchen to cook meals for the week.

Does your dorm provide a kitchen or do you just have a microwave?
Can you have other appliances in your room such as a small steamer, rice cooker or a toaster oven? How big is the fridge in your room if you have one?
Invest in a vaccum sealer because they are lifesavers; you can prepare full meals and freeze them for an extended period of time.

Hope this helps and stay safe.

mandyc1108

My husband is in the Air Force and before we got married, he lived in the dorms. He would get something from the chow hall like chicken for the main course. Then he kept fruit and stuff in his dorm room that he would finish the meal with. Like if they were serving chicken and potatoes for the day, he would just grab the chicken and then go back to his room and eat a little fruit, handful of nuts, plain dry cheerios (yeah he's weird...lol), stuff that has nutritonal value to it. I know it's hard and unfortunely your situation will not merit many great hot meals. Get yourself some healthy snacks the next time you are at the store and see how much of that junk the chow halls serve you can cut out.

On a side note, I still can't believe the military serves those MRE's when they are suppose to be promoting a healthy lifestyle. My husband hates them and what they do to your blood pressure is insane.

BxMom

MRE's :sick: :sick: :indifferent: :sick:

They were bad in the 80's & 90's. I can't imagine they are any better now but when there's nothing else and you are hungry bottoms up.

Can't believe they still use those unhealthy packs. You would think they would have learned something from NASA. :laugh: