3 day military diet- information and a rant

Hbazzell

When I was in bootcamp I was eating about 4,000 calories a day. I lost 15 lbs in 7 weeks.

Caveat- I was getting my *kitten* kicked, not sleeping, and running/swimming/doing exercise constantly.

Vailara

I suppose it's do-able if it's only for 3 days out of 7. At least there seems to be a good amount of high protein foods. It's too prescriptive for me, though.

sudowpa2

The truth to the matter is that the only way to loose weight is to exercise and eat right.

When I went through basic. I ate three times a day. Full Meals Too. Also Drank a lot of water cause of the excessive moving around. They also made sure I ate. I ate everything but junk food and soda. My drill sergeant would make sure of that. Besides if someone had something bad. Be assure that he wasn't the only one working the calories off. We all got punished.

I saw it this way. We were always moving.

Got up at 430 Cleaned the Bay
530 Doing PT for an hour (We alternated between running and muscle groups every other day) Sunday was day off. We stripped and rewaxed the Bay
630 We would go to Breakfast.
0730 We would go upstairs and get ready for the workday and we were down by 0900

At 1130 We were either at mess hall for lunch or had an MRE and had at least and hour
The rest of the day we were doing something.

AT 5pm is when we quit had dinner and did our laundry and shoes.

In 8 Weeks I went from 238lbs down to 185lbs.

I was also super healthy too.

In conclusion is that they can have all these crazy diets. Truth of the matter is that if you eat right and exercise. Calories in and Calories out method. You will loose your weight, keep it off and be healthy in the end.

RockaholicMama

Military diet? Doesn't look like a military diet to me, there isn't any tabasco sauce anywhere in there! Drop the bread and ice cream and youve got the start of a primal diet, however.

Can't have an MRE without the tabasco!

rduhlir

When I was in bootcamp I was eating about 4,000 calories a day. I lost 15 lbs in 7 weeks.

That is normal in Boot Camp though. When I went through navy I lost like 25 pounds, through Coast Guard 10 lbs. But I know of people who gained as well. All the foods they make in boot camp are super high in protein. They do that on purpose because you need it. I don't know how you guys did it, but in Coast Guard boot camp they made sure you ate. If you were done, you get up and go out side and stand at parade rest until EVERYONE finishes. Each company had 30 minutes to eat, the reason behind that is because people shoving food down their throats were learning really bad habits once they got out of boot camp.

But the food in Coast Guard boot camp was high calorie/high protein because of how much calories you burn.

Now...I was in PTSP (prior service)...so I had it a lot easier than recruits...but I was still losing weight, I only had to go through half of what recruits did.

spamantha57

Note to self: Don't join military.

Hbazzell

I am a coasty OMG Did you have to eat Scrapple?!?! WTF is that!?!?!

When I was in bootcamp I was eating about 4,000 calories a day. I lost 15 lbs in 7 weeks.

That is normal in Boot Camp though. When I went through navy I lost like 25 pounds, through Coast Guard 10 lbs. But I know of people who gained as well. All the foods they make in boot camp are super high in protein. They do that on purpose because you need it. I don't know how you guys did it, but in Coast Guard boot camp they made sure you ate. If you were done, you get up and go out side and stand at parade rest until EVERYONE finishes. Each company had 30 minutes to eat, the reason behind that is because people shoving food down their throats were learning really bad habits once they got out of boot camp.

But the food in Coast Guard boot camp was high calorie/high protein because of how much calories you burn.

Now...I was in PTSP (prior service)...so I had it a lot easier than recruits...but I was still losing weight, I only had to go through half of what recruits did.

the_texreb

Scrapple? Did someone say scrapple? I love that stuff. I guess it's a mountain people food. I grew up eating it in the Shenandoah Valley. Never once had it at Basic.

harmanac

I know this is an old thread but I did the diet awhile ago for my blog and lost 7 lbs with barely any exercise. I am currently doing it again with my friend and planning on continuing it (3 days on, 4 days off) until the summertime. I think it is incredibly effective. The only downside is I have very low energy to do my workouts, which since the first time I did the diet have become a daily, very vigorous event.

JossFit

When I was in bootcamp I was eating about 4,000 calories a day. I lost 15 lbs in 7 weeks.

Caveat- I was getting my *kitten* kicked, not sleeping, and running/swimming/doing exercise constantly.

QFT

I don't even think my body could process that amount of calories anymore... thinking back to what we ate in basic training sort of blows my mind;
Breakfast - French toast with ladels of butter and syrup, eggs, bacon, sausages, toast with butter and jam, juices, cereal and milk, oatmeal, granola, pastries
Lunch and Dinner - lasagne, corn, bread, potatoes, rice, milk, fried chicken, etc.

...and don't forget those 3 mandatory glasses of gatorade at each meal.

Lets not even talk about MREs eaten during field training... 3 of those a day... whoo!

And yeah, I lost a crazy amount of weight in only 6 weeks (Air Force)

PaleoPath4Lyfe

Actually, this is a military diet. I was given this diet when I was joining the Army. It is effective, but it is difficult. However, it does work!

As was I. I didn't even need to lose weight when I was in Basic Training and our Drill Sgt made everyone eat this way because we did have a few girls that needed to trim down a bit. He used it as team building making us all eat the same way.

When I left Basic training I was starting to look very, very muscular eating this way.

concordancia

My theory is that it was developed by the military to test tolerance for BS and willingness to obey orders.

My favorite bit of BS is how this combination of foods has some kind of chemical magic, so don't mess with it.

Caprica33

Note to self: Don't join military.

Exactly!!

erinsueburns

I was trying to lose weight so I could join the military, and this was the diet that a recruiter gave to me. He also told me about a vegetable and protein diet, that you do for a month. He said another person who was trying to enlist needed to lose weight and did that diet with exercise and lost 60lbs in a month. It was a cup of veggies and a cup of chicken for breakfast lunch and dinner. I did the 3 day diet in 2010 and I lost 8lbs but once I went off I never went back, I was real jittery and had the shakes while I was on it and didn't know how to control my hunger in-between the meals. I definitely wanna try it again now that I have better will power

The cup of veggies cup of chicken three times per day makes an insanely lot more sense than the other random crap diet. I mean at least it is veggies and actual food instead of processed hotdog crap.

belgerian

I was in the military and we were never told what to eat . We showed up at the mess hall and ate when it was time. And showed up for PT in the morning that was that. US ARMY 11th ACR Germany 86-90 I lost like 80lbs in 8 weeks.

onceuponariot

I'm trying this tomorrow in conjunction with tracking on MFP. I know my sedentary maintenance calories, so I don't think I'll have a problem overeating on the off days. I'm not expecting a miracle, if it works, cool, if not, whatever.

mindymolson

The diet is low cal, that's why it's limited to 3 days on, 4 days off. However, it works. My friend gave it a test drive & lost 6.7 lbs. That's not 10, but she also doesn't eat tuna. It wasn't water weight, because she lost size & it didnt come right back. It's not my favorite though. I usually drink Visalus shakes 2 times per day. I did this diet for 1 day, and felt sluggish.. I missed my proteins & nutrients. I'm down over 30 lbs w/my shakes. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I lost 1 lb on that day....

soussen

hhmmm, thinking of trying this one

CharityGC

I think it's called "military" because it's the type of diet military members do when they are close to having to weigh in and need to lose a few pounds. I had a friend who did something similar because she was overweight by a few pounds due to having a baby.

branwen319

I did it last month and lost 7lbs that week, kept it off, and lost an additional 3.5lbs during the month. It worked for me, and am just finishing it again today. It's challenging, but if you drink a lot of water you don't get hungry,

homefitnessextreme

I think this diet is ridiculous and you should just eat in slight caloric deficit with whole foods you all would be much better off.

onceuponariot

I did it for two days, and lost ~3 lbs, kept it off the 4 rest days by sticking to my maintenance calories. Tomorrow starts a full cycle (I started a day late this week, so I only did 2 of 3 days so I can keep the 4 rest days), hopefully I'll see some more results.

I did substitute, keeping in mind calories and macronutrients to make my subs as similar as possible. Two hot dogs turned into three veggie dogs, for example. I also had a snack of almonds on one of the days because I was on night shift and flippin hungry. I was pretty hungry after the lunches, compounded with the fact I had to work, I was so irritable. Hopefully I'll be back on days, so this will be easier and I can go to bed earlier.

LadyBirdGo

this is hilarious. I was at the gym the other day on the treadmill and I heard two girls next to me (I'm guessing they were of high school age) talking about this "military diet" and how someone they knew was on it and that it was totally nuts. I kept thinking to myself " ah, memories of high school yo-yo diets!"

josiereside

This diet has been around for probably close to 30 years... I knew it as the Hershey Medical Center 3 day diet...

hopestobelost

I really don't understand the passionate stance against this diet. Almost everyone that I have seen that goes on this program loses weight pretty fast. And it doesn't seem that unhealthy, its just 3 days of eating very light, and it includes protein, fruit, veggies, grains. And the next 4 days you can eat anyway you choose - and I will choose to eat healthy those days. What is so terrible about it?

hopestobelost

That's great!

onceuponariot

@hopestobelost, the diet really doesn't teach people how to eat healthy, and it's so important to eat properly (not just healthy but to make sure to eat enough calories) on the off-days, that when you don't already know how to eat for maintenance, it's easy to yo-yo, which has evidence that yo-yoing is worse for your health than being overweight and maintaining. The way the diet actually works can be really good, but the way it can be used (as an intro to severe restriction, or as a quick way to lose weight but without learning healthy behaviors) can be really bad.

josiereside

I think it is good for a quick fix say before an event, vacation, etc... if it works... been so many years since I did it, I don't remember if it worked or not..

dxtra30

Seems there is mixed opinions this however I say if your eating and exercising and your losing weight it's helping you achieve what you want to do.. All diet plans have thier ups and downs IMO..

innerbetty

I've just seen this on Pinterest as well and something seems off to me about it. I'm having a really hard time accepting that a hot dog is a good nutritional choice. Sounds like a really good way to trigger binges and cravings.

That said, I want to give it a try, because I'm the type to believe it when I see it, and it seems like a short little experiment. I know it says to not substitute but I eat little big bread which is only 55 cals/slice so I'm going to eat 2 slices so I'm not so low on calories. I'm a pretty routine person and I eat at certain times during the day so I think the most difficult part will be breaking out of my routine. Going to start on Tuesday. I think if anything it might give me the kick start I'm looking for.