Military Diet vs Ketogenic Diet
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natalielazo
Posts: 1 Member
I've got 20kg to lose in total and want to lose as much of that as possible in a month for an important event. The two methods I'm considering are the Military Diet (avg 1300cal/day) and the Ketogenic diet (will try to eat ~1000cal/day). I've heard lots of good stuff about the Military diet but it's more calories and includes carbs (my TDEE is around 1400). Would like to know which of the two is best for short term AND long term weight loss?? After losing the 20kg I'd like to maintain a healthy diet and gradually alter my body composition by lifting weights. Thanks!
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Replies
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OP - the Military Diet is a fad/crash diet that is only going to get you short term results. If you search for "Military Diet" in the forums, you will see lots and lots of posts where the Military Diet was vehemently discouraged. I can not UNrecommend the Military Diet enough.
Some people have had success on Keto, since it focuses on high fat and low carbs. This helps some people feel satiated enough to stick to a calorie deficit. Other people find that a more moderate approach is easier to stick to.
Calories are the bottom line here. You should put your stats into MFP and eat the calories it tells you to eat. And don't be too aggressive with your calorie goal, because that can lead to being hungry, makes it harder to stick to, and may lead to failure/binging later on. You only have about 20 kg to lose, so I'd select the 1 lb/week option.
Then you can play around with foods within your goal that help you stick to your calories. You don't have to stick to a named diet with a ton of arbitrary rules. All you have to do is eat less calories than you burn each day. It is that simple.9 -
Both are a bad idea, and crash dieting isn't going to get you the results you want.
Before we go too further, what are your stats? I'm wondering how you got a TDEE of 1400 cals at age 21 with 20kg (40lbs) to lose.10 -
Let's see how many extremes we can swing to.14
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Any short term lose as much as you can diet are bad overall. I have no suggestion for you there. My suggestion overall is to get yourself in a modest 15-20% calorie deficit overall and eat lots of protein to save as much muscle as possible. I'm a fan of heavy lifting as well, it has done wonders for my body.4
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Both are a bad idea, and crash dieting isn't going to get you the results you want.
Before we go too further, what are your stats? I'm wondering how you got a TDEE of 1400 cals at age 21 with 20kg (40lbs) to lose.
This^
Take another look at your TDEE - that's maintnenance - not the same thing as BMR (basal metabolic rate). You want a cut from TDEE .......but unless you are 4'9"......it's higher than 1400
Both the "military diet" and keto are extremes. You don't need extremes, you just need to eat less than you are eating now.
It really is all about calories. Just eat food you like, learn portion control for food you like. Learn something while losing weight & you will have a much better chance at keeping the weight off.6 -
Crash dieting to try to lose 45 pounds in a month is a bad idea. Just don't go there.
The "military" diet is a crash/fad diet that has nothing to do with the military. The Day 2 dinner is half a cup of carrots and half a cup of broccoli, half a banana...two bunless hot dogs and half a cup of vanilla ice cream. Wow, really? High carb, low fat, low calorie, very restricted food choices. You'll be constantly hungry, and probably "hangry" as well.
Ketogenic diet isn't a bad idea. There's research backing it. You probably could achieve your goal on it. But you don't need to go that far. Eat real food--meat, fish, fowl, eggs, cheese, leafy green and non-starchy veggies, nuts, seeds, a little fruit--and lay off the grains, starchy veggies, and sweets until you've reached your goal. Then you can add some back, a little at a time, to find out how much you can tolerate without gaining weight.5 -
castlerobber wrote: »Crash dieting to try to lose 45 pounds in a month is a bad idea. Just don't go there.
The "military" diet is a crash/fad diet that has nothing to do with the military. The Day 2 dinner is half a cup of carrots and half a cup of broccoli, half a banana...two bunless hot dogs and half a cup of vanilla ice cream. Wow, really? High carb, low fat, low calorie, very restricted food choices. You'll be constantly hungry, and probably "hangry" as well.
Ketogenic diet isn't a bad idea. There's research backing it. You probably could achieve your goal on it. But you don't need to go that far. Eat real food--meat, fish, fowl, eggs, cheese, leafy green and non-starchy veggies, nuts, seeds, a little fruit--and lay off the grains, starchy veggies, and sweets until you've reached your goal. Then you can add some back, a little at a time, to find out how much you can tolerate without gaining weight.
Plenty of people eat grains & starchy veggies and lose weight. Some of us allow ourselves a sweet treat every day too. When I restrict too much, it backfires. Besides I want to know portion sizes for ALL foods (that I eat at maintenance) not just diet ones.
OP - it's calories in vs. calories out.5 -
Both are a bad idea, and crash dieting isn't going to get you the results you want.
Before we go too further, what are your stats? I'm wondering how you got a TDEE of 1400 cals at age 21 with 20kg (40lbs) to lose.
This^
Take another look at your TDEE - that's maintnenance - not the same thing as BMR (basal metabolic rate). You want a cut from TDEE .......but unless you are 4'9"......it's higher than 1400
Both the "military diet" and keto are extremes. You don't need extremes, you just need to eat less than you are eating now.
It really is all about calories. Just eat food you like, learn portion control for food you like. Learn something while losing weight & you will have a much better chance at keeping the weight off.
Pretty much all of this.
Also, losing 20kg (~40 lbs) in one month is not going to happen, no matter what diet you choose. Having realistic expectations is extremely important - with 20kg to lose, a goal of 0.5 kg/week is appropriate for you. You might be able to lose 2-4kg in the next month realistically.
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I've done the ketogenics for a long time, mostly in maintenance, and even to gain some weight. It is a way of eating, although if you lower calories you will lose weight on it. Thay said, 1000kcal/per day for a month is really low. Unless the ketogenic really dampens your appetite, which can happen to some, you're going to be hungry and unhappy. 1000kcal per day is not sustainable.
I lost 2-3 lbs per week using that diet at 1500kcal per day. I only has about 40 lbs to lose, and I am a midlle aged inactive woman. 1000kcal is extreme.
The keto diet may suit your needs for an event. When people drop carbs they also lose water. You would also lose a few pounds (1-4lbs?) of water. Just increase your sodium to make up for electrolytes lost. You'll need 3000-5000mg of sodium per day - about 2 teaspoons salt.1 -
Military Diet: Actually not a military diet, because the US military knows they need to actually FEED their people. I'm completely flabbergasted that they have gotten away with using this name. This is not a diet, it's a starvation plan that doesn't work and results in mostly water weight loss, which is pointless, cause it's fat you want to lose. Please stay the he#$ away from it
Keto: Can be good, isn't necessary. Just eat fewer calories than you burn, that's really all you need to lose weight. If you want to do Keto for health reasons, do ti for that, don't do it because you imagine it's somehow superior to just eating less. Health and weight loss are different categories here.2 -
castlerobber wrote: »Crash dieting to try to lose 45 pounds in a month is a bad idea. Just don't go there.
The "military" diet is a crash/fad diet that has nothing to do with the military. The Day 2 dinner is half a cup of carrots and half a cup of broccoli, half a banana...two bunless hot dogs and half a cup of vanilla ice cream. Wow, really? High carb, low fat, low calorie, very restricted food choices. You'll be constantly hungry, and probably "hangry" as well.
Ketogenic diet isn't a bad idea. There's research backing it. You probably could achieve your goal on it. But you don't need to go that far. Eat real food--meat, fish, fowl, eggs, cheese, leafy green and non-starchy veggies, nuts, seeds, a little fruit--and lay off the grains, starchy veggies, and sweets until you've reached your goal. Then you can add some back, a little at a time, to find out how much you can tolerate without gaining weight.
None of those things have *kitten* to do with weight management. I eat a lot of whole food carbohydrates...lots of lentils, legumes, potatoes and sweet potatoes, oats and other whole grains...I had zero issue dropping 40+ Lbs and have had zero issue maintaining that for going on 3.5 years.
I get so sick of this notion that carbs are somehow this bad thing and detrimental to weight loss...most of humanity has eaten a rather high carb diet for most of all time.11 -
I wouldn't even recommend it for health reasons (I think a balanced diet with lots of vegetables and whole food carbs, as well as protein and healthy fats) tends to be superior from a health perspective, or something like a Med diet. Keto can be done healthfully, of course. It is good for some people with insulin problems and also for some who struggle with satiety and some who just like eating that much fat.1
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Each person is different when it comes to diets and losing weight. I personally have found that a Keto diet (low carb, high fat) around 1200-1500 calories works for me, I can stick to the diet without feeling hungry or like I'm deprived of the things I want to eat and I've lost 20 pounds in 2 months with no exercise. This may not work for everyone but it has worked for me. Whatever path you take, consider lowering your sugar intake switch to some other sweeteners like Suclarose, it's a simple change that won't rock your world. Also tracking food helps, but at least in my opinion the most important thing is reading the nutritional facts, paying close attention to serving size. I didn't realize that I was severely over eating all these years.0
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I would recommend Keto to people who have PCOS, are insulin resistant, people prone to diabetes or pre-diabetic etc. We are the group where not just any diet will work, we HAVE to restrict our sugar. If you don't have any medical condition then you can choose whatever diet you want. Keto works fast but for some it can be tough to stick with, but on the plus side I'm certainly never hungry. Atkins is fairly similar, but with different stages to "graduate" to. Each stage you add different items, like fruit, higher amounts of carbs, stuff like that. If I could choose any of them I'd follow plant based/vegan because I'm so sick of the same proteins everyday I could spit (and I'm a bit of a hippie at heart).
I don't know anything about the Military diet to comment on it. Honestly just try one that interests you for a month or more and see if it works. If it doesn't work for you, tweak it until it does. This is a learning process and only you will know what works best for you
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Nope to both, because low calories..1
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ogmomma2012 wrote: »
Nothing necessarily wrong with keto, but OP mentioned doing it and only eating 1000 calories, which is not a great idea. I think that is what he meant. 4 -
What event is important enough to have you risk doing permanent damage for a temporary result?natalielazo wrote: »I've got 20kg to lose in total and want to lose as much of that as possible in a month for an important event.
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ogmomma2012 wrote: »
Maybe the 1000 calories for a 21 year old female part. IDK, that jumped out to me as a bad idea, not you?8 -
castlerobber wrote: »Crash dieting to try to lose 45 pounds in a month is a bad idea. Just don't go there.
The "military" diet is a crash/fad diet that has nothing to do with the military. The Day 2 dinner is half a cup of carrots and half a cup of broccoli, half a banana...two bunless hot dogs and half a cup of vanilla ice cream. Wow, really? High carb, low fat, low calorie, very restricted food choices. You'll be constantly hungry, and probably "hangry" as well.
Ketogenic diet isn't a bad idea. There's research backing it. You probably could achieve your goal on it. But you don't need to go that far. Eat real food--meat, fish, fowl, eggs, cheese, leafy green and non-starchy veggies, nuts, seeds, a little fruit--and lay off the grains, starchy veggies, and sweets until you've reached your goal. Then you can add some back, a little at a time, to find out how much you can tolerate without gaining weight.
Except she said keto with 1000 calories...no buenos.2
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