3 Day Military Diet

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I just started this & the results are the best I have ever seen. I lost 4.6 pounds in 3 days. You do the diet for three days and eat what they say & then you eat what you would normally eat for 4 days. You will need to be smart & keep the calories where they need to be, or you will gain in all back. After the 4 days, you start the 3 day diet again. My husband and I are both doing this & I love it!
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Replies

  • jrutledge01
    jrutledge01 Posts: 213 Member
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    4.6 pounds in 3 days is (mostly) water weight - don't let that fool you

    calories in-calories out
  • SyntonicGarden
    SyntonicGarden Posts: 944 Member
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    Based on what I've read, this "diet" is based on "proven chemical breakdowns" and yet, somehow, hot dogs are involved in some versions. Unless I'm looking at the wrong "diet" this simply looks like planned meals that are low in caloric intake. And from what I've figured, (again, I'm not sure if I'm looking at the same thing) but you're hitting maybe 800 cals a day?

    The reason the svelt folks in the military are in amazing shape probably has more to do with the hours of PT they put in, not half a grapefruit for breakfast. I would say that a yellow reflective safety belt used when running, is a better, long term weight loss tool.

    I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but this doesn't sound the slightest bit healthy and might actually be harmful to someone who doesn't know where to begin a safe and healthy weight loss journey.
  • Fat2Fit145
    Fat2Fit145 Posts: 385 Member
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    Interesting!
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
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    What do you do when you aren't following this diet plan for life? After calorie cycling like that (and on such low numbers), a dramatic increase at eating maintenance calories will bring all the weight back on, plus more. Learn reasonable eating habits - along the way, if nothing else - or else you'll be sorry you did this.
  • 5stringjeff
    5stringjeff Posts: 790 Member
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    Having actually been in the military, I can tell you that not only did I never see or hear of this diet, I would never advise any of my soldiers to ever follow this diet. It's a surefire way to lose a bunch of water weight and put it right back on again.
  • neon7girl
    neon7girl Posts: 230 Member
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    gimick..this has been around for over 30 years..also known in other forms as the hot dog diet, the 3 day diet... meh.

    it's eat less, move more~ to last a lifetime.
  • markpmc
    markpmc Posts: 240 Member
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    Former Cav Scout here. If this is really used by military types it's being used by the 'big' guys who are close to being overweight by military standards.

    Enjoy cycling your crash diet, it may work for a while.
  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 905 Member
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    While you may have seen some short-term results, it appears to be a bunch of hocum. See http://www.livestrong.com/article/326193-three-day-military-diet/, wihch states as follows:

    "If you are trying to lose weight, there are endless diets to choose from, ranging from blood-type diets, to all-meat-eating plans, to low-carb, or color-coded, diets. The three-day military diet is an example of a diet that you can read about on the Internet, or may have heard by word of mouth, but that that has no scientific backing, nor any clear links to the military.

    Three-Day Diet
    Versions of the three-day diet have been passed by word of mouth since 1985, according to the Diet Science website. For example, on Weight Loss Forums, one member attributes the three-day diet to military recruiters. However, there is nothing called the "three-day military diet" on any of the official United States military websites.



    Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/326193-three-day-military-diet/#ixzz2GSTbmXoe
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    I think it's funny when they label these diets "military" or "marine commando"....I'm a former Marine and i can tell you emphatically that on average I probably ate closer to 4k calories per day and we physically trained almost constantly. When we were in the field practicing maneuvers it was probably more like 5k-6k calories per day. Heck, one little old MRE has over 2,500 calories.

    That said, i find that these sorts of diets rarely result in lasting success and sustained weight control....but i'm glad you're enjoying eating like a birdie 3 days a week.
  • itstimetoeat
    itstimetoeat Posts: 63 Member
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    I'm practicing this diet right now. It's a great way to portion control but probably need to add in 2 more small meals as this is too low for a full day's calorie intake. We all know it is not healthy in the long run but why the heck not!

    I say it doesn't hurt to check it out, try it, see what happens! I definitely think it is better than starvation which a lot of girls I know do because they want FAST RESULTS.

    More power to you, me, and whoever else who wants or is considering trying this!!
  • RMeDude
    RMeDude Posts: 37
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    19 years in the Army and still serving... I have never heard of this. I have to send our overweight folks to nutritional counseling, and it is always sensible choices, portion control and exercise.
  • dmizzy
    dmizzy Posts: 1
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    I 've done this diet before, and lost a believe 4lbs. I don't do it to the exact... I eat a whole banana instead of half, and whole can of tune and green beans, but it helps start you off on portion control. :) I started a another cycle I feel I need to get back my portion control since I've been eatings a bit over these days
  • Mizzhellpitt
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    Actually this diet is close to 1200 calories depending which site you use to track food. And "military diet" is a nickname for it with no association with the actual military. Yes its on the low side of calorie intake but it's considered a detox diet, created to clean your body of toxins that we choose to take in. Many people have had long term success on it. It does not affect metabolism due to the fact that you spend four days eating a regular diet. Yes, it seems scary because we are all so use to stuffing our faces but in reality the portions are fair. I am going to try this for one week, because I'd like to form my own opinion of it. hopefully it saves me from my birth control induced weight gain, which nothing seems to be helping. Thank you to everyone who stayed positive on this post.. Sharing our experiences is the only way to learn new things
  • MizTerry
    MizTerry Posts: 3,763 Member
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    I never saw it in the military, and I was a Corpsman.
  • Gusman14
    Gusman14 Posts: 94
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    My dad did 20 years, I did 20 years and my son has done 5 and never ever has this diet been used officially on the Air Force side. As others have said, it is the big boys in the military trying to lose some water weight quickly that are doing this before weigh-ins...
  • SpeSHul_SnoflEHk
    SpeSHul_SnoflEHk Posts: 6,256 Member
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    Having actually been in the military, I can tell you that not only did I never see or hear of this diet, I would never advise any of my soldiers to ever follow this diet. It's a surefire way to lose a bunch of water weight and put it right back on again.

    ^This. I was the "fat boy coordinator" in the Navy for my command. This would not have flown with me. This is not what is suggested by anybody in the Navy.
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
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    Actually this diet is close to 1200 calories depending which site you use to track food. And "military diet" is a nickname for it with no association with the actual military. Yes its on the low side of calorie intake but it's considered a detox diet, created to clean your body of toxins that we choose to take in. Many people have had long term success on it. It does not affect metabolism due to the fact that you spend four days eating a regular diet. Yes, it seems scary because we are all so use to stuffing our faces but in reality the portions are fair. I am going to try this for one week, because I'd like to form my own opinion of it. hopefully it saves me from my birth control induced weight gain, which nothing seems to be helping. Thank you to everyone who stayed positive on this post.. Sharing our experiences is the only way to learn new things

    "Staying positive" in this case means....sharing only positive things about the magical interaction between hot dogs and ice cream?
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Actually this diet is close to 1200 calories depending which site you use to track food. And "military diet" is a nickname for it with no association with the actual military. Yes its on the low side of calorie intake but it's considered a detox diet, created to clean your body of toxins that we choose to take in. Many people have had long term success on it. It does not affect metabolism due to the fact that you spend four days eating a regular diet. Yes, it seems scary because we are all so use to stuffing our faces but in reality the portions are fair. I am going to try this for one week, because I'd like to form my own opinion of it. hopefully it saves me from my birth control induced weight gain, which nothing seems to be helping. Thank you to everyone who stayed positive on this post.. Sharing our experiences is the only way to learn new things

    ^^THIS. I couldn't have done a better job breaking down the reasons why this diet is a terrible idea.














    wait, she meant for this post to be FOR the diet?
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    Having actually been in the military, I can tell you that not only did I never see or hear of this diet, I would never advise any of my soldiers to ever follow this diet. It's a surefire way to lose a bunch of water weight and put it right back on again.

    ^This. I was the "fat boy coordinator" in the Navy for my command. This would not have flown with me. This is not what is suggested by anybody in the Navy.

    I'm sure that it will shock you to know that the other reputable organizations that have been linked to this diet also deny any use of it. It goes under the name of the AHA (American Heart Association) diet, the Birmingham (as in Birmingham Hosptial) diet, Cleveland Clinic diet. It it typically billed as diet used for patients to drop weight fast before a surgery but none of these use or endorse the diet. AHA has said it is against this diet.

    For me, any diet that has to mislead you to trick you into using it is probably not a good one. I guess the Military diet or the Cardiac diet is much more appealing than the Hotdog diet.
  • Dresden14
    Dresden14 Posts: 11
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    As others have said here who served, this does not sound like a good idea and I never saw anything like this in the Army from basic on. Hell we ate so much food in basic, but we worked for at least 18 hours a day 6 days a week, so we had a lot of calories every day.

    They had the overweight program but they just always did more PT then the rest of us and they monitored their calories.

    And as for MREs, I really miss the chilimac one, that one was so damn good.