Military Diet??

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  • LexiAtel
    LexiAtel Posts: 228 Member
    edited May 2017
    meccanaje wrote: »
    Y'all to judgmental on this thread!!

    You can feed them or starve them. As a book writer with lots of 'critics', I have learned it's better to starve 'em. You aren't going to change their mind, and they ain't gonna change yours (not with the approach most of them take).

    I thoroughly researched this diet for a week before considering it. I obviously wasn't eating healthy before I started dieting weighing 40lb + overweight (I've been watching what I eat on and off since February and lost 11lb so far, so I'm losing at an okay rate, imo). I really don't see how 'starving' myself is any worse than my eating habits before. At least I'm eating more vitamins/minerals now, and less junk. At the same time, I'm learning to eat and enjoy more portion control.

  • LexiAtel
    LexiAtel Posts: 228 Member
    The whole chemistry of what it originally stated is debatable (I'm not a believer in it). The part that I was more referring to is those who say that it doesn't work and /or that it's starving you.

    I'm just going to say this now: it can't starve you-- well, at least not like they're implying. The problem is that people see 'three day' (both the dieters and the critics). It's not a three day diet though, it's a seven day. It clearly states to eat "normally" (scoffs...!) for four days afterward that equate to 1500 calories a day EACH.

    You don't starve yourself, not anymore than any harsh deficit plan. Infact, you are very likely to reach above the minimal amount of calories per day that is recommended by anyone on this site. On average, this diet will bring 1235-1300 a day (or possibly more, depending on the certain brands and sizes of the foods), if it is followed by the complete guide.

    Here's what I got according to my own choices of foods:
    DAY 1 (1,106 calories)
    Breakfast:
    1/2 Grapefruit (52)
    1 slice toast (70)
    2 TBsp peanut butter (190)

    Lunch:
    1/2 cup tuna (120)
    1 slice toast (70)

    Dinner:
    3 oz lean meat (cooked chicken breast: 84, give or take)
    1 cup greenbeans (34)
    1/2 banana (50, give or take)
    1 small apple (80, give or take)
    1 cup vanilla ice cream (300...? Highly depends on the type you get, I aim for 150 per serving).

    DAY 2 (961 calories)

    Breakfast:
    1 egg (70, give or take)
    1 slice toast (70)
    1/2 banana (50, give or take)

    Lunch:
    1 cup cottage cheese (200, give or take)
    1 egg (70, give or take)
    5 saltine crackers (65)


    Dinner:
    6.5 oz COOKED chicken (300, give or take)
    1 cup broccoli (31)
    1/2 cup carrots (25)
    1/2 banana (50, give or take)
    1/2 cup vanilla ice cream (150...? Highly depends on the type you get, I aim for 150 per serving).

    DAY 3 (975 calories)

    Breakfast:
    5 crackers (65)
    1 oz of cheddar cheese (100, give or take)
    1 small apple (80, give or take)

    Lunch:
    1 egg (70, give or take)
    1 slice toast (70)

    Dinner:
    5 oz chicken (240, give or take)
    1/2 banana (50, give or take)
    1 cup vanilla ice cream (300...? Highly depends on the type you get, I aim for 150 per serving).

    TOTAL: 3, 042 calories

    Plus the "normal" 4 (days)x 1500 (calories)= 6,000 calories

    3, 042+ 6000= 9,042 weekly calorie intake

    9,042 ÷ 7 = 1,292 daily calorie intake which is over the minimum that is suggested.

    I have noticed that when I start eating better foods, that it's hard to make the minimal limit(it fills me up well enough), so it's really hard making the 1500 calorie goal without eating a lot of junk. I'm trying to work on that.





  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    edited May 2017
    Weight loss is calories. You can eat the right amount of calories eating a balanced mix of foods you like, or you can do it eating some weird and arbitrary combo of random foods some faceless stranger gave a name. How this fake diet continues to multiply on the Web is beyond me. I guess some people need to believe it's more difficult than it really is.
  • Zipbsky
    Zipbsky Posts: 99 Member
    I did this diet in the nineties when I was in high school. I lost 30#s that summer, close to 10 the 1st week and slightly less each successive week. But i was 14 then and didnt know any better, I really believed that the food combinations somehow magically affected my metabolism. I did keep the weight off for several years, but the most lasting result is my prefence for black coffee
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    What do people think the combination of food achieves? It's completely arbitrary. You'd lose exactly the same amount of weight eating the same amount of calories in any combination of food.

    Right. If you want to do 3 super low cal days and 4 higher days, why not make your own plan or just do alternate day fasting or 5:2. (1500 is quite low for the high days on such a plan, though, although with IF the low days are lower.)

    The disgusting food choices and made-up claims that there's something special about them, and it being transparently dishonest is what bugs me about it.
  • LexiAtel
    LexiAtel Posts: 228 Member
    I only have a problem with the tuna and hotdogs, which you can substitute out. I did that with the hotdogs during the first phase (they aren't healthy either...). This next week, I'ma change out the tuna for something else. Maybe for my protein drink.

    This diet works great because everything is listed already, where if someone set up their own meal plan, they could mess it up real bad (we're not fat because we made good choices with our lives).

    I'm having to 'control' another person's food too, and if I just wrote up something out of the blue, they would tell me to change things up (even though they gave me the power to do this in the first place). By giving them a pre-existing diet that they can look up themselves, they can't argue with me on what they're allowed to have.

    Another thing that people don't realize is that it's so easy to make this into your own. You're not as limited as you think. If you believe you need more of one thing, you can make adjustments (ice cream is pretty much just junk, so you can exchange it for a healthier choice). That's kinda why I got hooked on it.

    Other people have incorporated the style of foods to have at certain meal times into their own meal plans. For instance, having dinner with 2-3 vegetables and fruits-- that seems to help you through the night like you can't believe. It's a good jumpstart to dieting.

    As for the arguements who say it doesn't have enough 'this' or 'this', I find it real challenging to meet all nutrition levels when you're eating around 1200 cals anyway. Take a decent multi-vitamin, and try to meet the requirements on the 1500 days.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    Looked incredibly stupid to me. If you want to try it go for it but choosing your own foods within the same calorie range will have the same effect. I think I would starve to death lol. I think it's like 1000-1100 calorie days.
  • k8brit
    k8brit Posts: 1 Member
    Tried it in advance of a vacation. I lost 4lbs the first week, can't remember what happened the second. I was starving by day two of round one, but day three and then the second round was easier. The ice cream on the diet was a treat, kept me sane through the rest of the day and gave me something to look forward to! The plain tuna was the worst!!

    Didn't keep the weight off but I went right back to bad habits... Don't think I would ever want or need to do it again - I lost 3.8lbs this past week just doing MFP
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    LexiAtel wrote: »
    I agree, the tuna is the worst. *shudders* I plan on exchanging that for chicken next time.

    I also thought the 2 TBsp of peanut butter was too much for one piece of toast.

    Lost 4lb though. I'll see what I weigh on Tuesday (that'll end the week, including the 4 'normal' 1500 calorie days that everyone seems to forget about).

    It's 3 very low calorie days back to back followed by 4 more days of less intense dieting. So it's calorie deficit.

    No one is knocking calorie deficit......that's how all diets work (including this one). The point most people are trying to make is the food list for the 3 days is totally random. If you want to zig-zag your calories fine, alternate day dieting and 5:2 are similar in that regard. But you could lose the very same weight by eating food you enjoy, not some 1980's random list of food someone made up.
  • Mary_Anastasia
    Mary_Anastasia Posts: 267 Member
    IDK what this military diet is, maybe it has nothing to do with it, but: being that I have a military background, I can tell you that people in the military eat a LOT. Make sure to get the nutrients and roughage in, but otherwise, they like to eat a lot and burn a lot. Eat a whole pizza, run 10 miles.
    MRE's are a bare minimum for being in the field, with a lot of science behind them to get in the maximum amount of calories/protein with as little prep or physical weight as possible. They are not ideal standards for day-to-day nutrition.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    LexiAtel wrote: »
    This diet works great because everything is listed already, where if someone set up their own meal plan, they could mess it up real bad (we're not fat because we made good choices with our lives).

    It's actually really easy to create your own food plan, and has the added bonus of being based on foods you enjoy and that are nutrient-dense. Most fat people aren't fat because they can't add calories or put together a meal plan, it's because they haven't or have issues sticking to something if they do (often because they take plans out of a magazine rather than working through what will be sustainable, IMO).
    By giving them a pre-existing diet that they can look up themselves, they can't argue with me on what they're allowed to have.

    How's that? I'd ask why those choices, why so low? There are millions of silly diets you can find under names or online or in women's mags, so being pre-existing doesn't make it good, at all.
    I find it real challenging to meet all nutrition levels when you're eating around 1200 cals anyway. Take a decent multi-vitamin, and try to meet the requirements on the 1500 days.

    I ate a lot better when I was doing 1250 than this diet, but there's also the possibility of not doing 1200 and averaging the days or figuring out what you actually need to lose at a reasonable rate.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    meccanaje wrote: »
    Y'all to judgmental on this thread!!

    Have you done this diet (which has no connection to the military, has many names, and is nutritionally unsound vlcd?)

    Just because we've been there and done that, ended up here, lost weight the proper way, and are trying to help the OP, we're judgmental? I don't get it? We're trying to assist OP in losing weight the healthy way without unnesesary ridiculous fad diets. Not many understand that they don't need a fad diet such as this to lose weight successfully, and this diet has a reputation for being quite unsuccessful as it does not teach anyone anything about nutrition, how weight loss works and how to maintain their weight.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    Honestly I don't think the diet is dangerous or that unhealthy as many are claiming. It's very low calorie but it's only for 3 days. So it's not like you're on this extremely low calorie diet for an extended period of time. The food choices are kinda random. Not the healthiest or unhealthiest. I think it's stupid though. It's not any kind of long term solution. Maybe it would help you drop a couple pounds real quick for an event or something??

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