Military Diet??
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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.3
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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.
To each their own, whatever I guess, but this just sounds miserable.10 -
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 MFP3 -
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.2 -
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.
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Mary_Anastasia wrote: »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.
There is nothing military about the "military diet"........it's just the latest rename. This diet has been around for decades and had several names. It was once called the Cleveland Clinic diet (pre-internet) and the real Cleveland Clinic fought to have their name removed. This is not called the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy diet....those would be too specific. It's called the military diet because the name is generic enough to not get sued for.9 -
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.4 -
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.3 -
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??3
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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.
So why is there any need to follow the rules of the diet at all, why not just eat 1300 kcals of any food you like?7 -
FreyasRebirth wrote: »I don't think you'd lose very much living on MREs.
Right, each MRE is at least 1200 calories: http://hprc-online.org/comrad/
As others have said, this diet has nothing to do with the military.2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »FreyasRebirth wrote: »I don't think you'd lose very much living on MREs.
Right, each MRE is at least 1200 calories: http://hprc-online.org/comrad/
As others have said, this diet has nothing to do with the military.
Especially if they are similar to the UK ones, and intentionally "bung you up"1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »FreyasRebirth wrote: »I don't think you'd lose very much living on MREs.
Right, each MRE is at least 1200 calories: http://hprc-online.org/comrad/
As others have said, this diet has nothing to do with the military.
If you're rucking 5 miles or more in the morning and evening with full gear, You can still lose weight eating MREs1 -
I'm having much better luck with choosing my own foods than I did with this diet. I am at 1k calories a day right now and don't feel a bit tired like I was on the military diet. I think for me it was the type of carbs and the cholesterol that made it not as successful to me. For the first time I am actually content with my meal plans and I don't feel I have to look at it as any restriction.0
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If there was a military that fed its soldiers like this, that would be a country ripe for the taking.13
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CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
Almost as good as Pizza!!!3 -
BurlzGettingFit wrote: »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.
To each their own, whatever I guess, but this just sounds miserable.
Mmmm...toast crusts for breakfast AND lunch...???>!!! I bet it is delicious when you season it with your tears instead of butter and jam.9 -
stanmann571 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »FreyasRebirth wrote: »I don't think you'd lose very much living on MREs.
Right, each MRE is at least 1200 calories: http://hprc-online.org/comrad/
As others have said, this diet has nothing to do with the military.
If you're rucking 5 miles or more in the morning and evening with full gear, You can still lose weight eating MREs
I lost weight off of a primarily MRE diet over about 3 months once . . . but that was mostly because it truly came down to the very basic idea of food = fuel. I couldn't force myself to eat anything that wasn't absolutely necessary and barely finished one a day.0 -
Military diet? Never heard of an official diet named that - but I can tell you I was so physically active when I was in the military I ate pretty much anything I could get my hands on because I burned it all off so quickly. That was part of my downfall - AFTER getting out
Anyone who names a low-cal diet "military" anything is full of it... and probably was never in the military.5 -
smotheredincheese wrote: »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.
So why is there any need to follow the rules of the diet at all, why not just eat 1300 kcals of any food you like?
Because you kinda need an idea of what foods to eat and in what order. This diet starts you up on it (carbs/protein for breakfast/lunch and plenty of 'roughage" and protein at dinner). With a little smarts, you can choose to exchange things for better food (a lot of it ARE decent food choices, people are just turned off by it because it's a considered fad).
Upon my research, I have read several people claiming to lose the weight, keep it off, and learn better eating than what they were doing before. But these are the determined people, those who admit to going back eating 'bad' always gained it back-- like they would on any diet.
It's clear that some people haven't even read the main diet page though (perhaps just looked at the pictures, or read a list of food, skimmed it, or something, idk). Some of the comments leave me scratching my head. The jokes are what get me (and no its not only at this specific thread that I'm referring to, it's on all of the military diet topics-- I know, I read them all before trying the diet for myself).
I have also read all of the 'studies' and 'analysises' on them, and just like most 'critics' of this diet, they leave out the 4 1500 calorie days, and then say that it will starve you in the long run-- well, yeah, if you're where you should be weight wise, than any calorie deficit will starve you, even if you did include the extra 6000/week calories they fail to acknowledge.
FYI, as I stated before, the only thing I didn't like about this diet was the tuna and hotdogs, which I'm exchanging out for more preferable proteins, so, for me, after thoroughly researching everything about it, it has helped me start a default guide to follow which allows me to edit to my liking.
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I'm surprised this thread made it to page 2 as this unhealthy diet is usually deleted when mentioned. I've ignored the forums for a while, so who knows. OP, don't freaking do it. MFP is here with calorie counts and a good database.4
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MissusMoon wrote: »I'm surprised this thread made it to page 2 as this unhealthy diet is usually deleted when mentioned. I've ignored the forums for a while, so who knows. OP, don't freaking do it. MFP is here with calorie counts and a good database.
It's not unhealthy. The guide I saw says eat 1100-1300 for three days then 1500 for four days. The food sounds boring but not unhealthy.1 -
Explain to me how it's anymore 'unhealthy' than any other 1200-1300 calorie deficit limitation?
It has plenty of fruit, carbs, and protein. It lacks dairy (other than sugar-loaded ice cream), but you can replace an egg or cheese or ice cream for yogurt or milk. Taking a multi-vitamin will help a lot to meet the vitimin requirements too.
I may replace an apple with a serving V8 Infusion juice.0 -
It doesn't matter what order you eat foods in. It all ends up in a mess of goo in your digestive system.
Feeding yourself does not have to be complicated. Plug your stats into mfp, get a reasonable amount of protein and fat, eat your veggies, fit in your fave treats, and hit your calorie goal. And heck, if you aren't too concerned about health, you can eat whatever you want as long as you hit your calorie goal.
Eventually you are going to have to learn how to eat for the rest of your life. If you want to postpone that until you get tired of following this fake diet, that's obviously your choice. But it is just a random list of foods with no logical or scientific basis. There's probably some old guy on a porch in Fort Lauderdale somewhere getting a giggle every day that this silly list of foods he put together in the 70s by picking scraps of paper out of a hat is still being passed around and followed.8 -
Military diet or any other crazy ones are a good kickstart if you are just starting. If you're close to your goal then it might be a waste of time. Good thing about this one is the icecream treats0
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Then all those studies based on how you should eat is incredibly useless.
Never mind that animals who eat slow and long all day (snacking on 'healthy' meals) always manage to stay lean.
Never mind that since as long as I could remember, breakfast has always been considered the most important meal of the day.
Or that you shouldn't eat so many hours before bed.
All these have no merit? I can't believe everyone of them is a myth.
You can lose weight by eating your calories all at once, but that doesn't make it the healthiest way-- and with the whole 'are you going to do this for the rest of your life' argument should have more grounds to my point then: are you really going to eat all your calories at once for the rest of your life? What are the chances of gaining it all back.
If all you had to do was eat a certain amount of calories to lose, gain, or survive, we'd all be eating junkfood, because that's yummeh. You can lose, yes, but your body still needs certain things to remain healthy, and just saying "eat the good stuff" is not really a good method to follow-- why diet at all then? You're supposed to be changing your eating habits, not JUST your intake amount.
It's been stated that this diet really poses no harm to your health (which some don't even seem to care about their health anyway) nor is there the arguement that you won't lose weight doing it, so really, the only reason people don't like it is because it's considered a fad-- most already agree that the 'chemistry' behind it is bull, take that out, and what do you have? A meal plan. Nothing more.
Like it or hate, that's just the gist of it.1 -
Lexi, just do it then! These replies are for the lurkers. Not sure why you have to dig your heels in.9
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For those that this works for congrats and good luck. Personally I have dieted my entire adult life and didn't finally lose weight permanently until I found what works for me. I have lost 100 pounds (including pre MFP) on a sensible low calorie diet. The trouble with set diets at least for me is that it's not something you can do forever. What made me successful this time was not just what I did but what I LEARNED. I have learned a new way of eating that I enjoy. It isn't just about losing weight but MAINTAINING the loss. I don't want to discourage anyone but unless you love this diet I would say find a plan you can live with for life. I have been on 1200 to 1350 calories for a year and a half and I am content. When I go to maintenance it will probably be around 1500 calories for the rest of my life. I can live with that (I know this seems low but I'm old, short and have a desk job). I know how to eat this way now and my health and happiness have greatly improved. Crash diets don't really work in the long run. You will lose but keeping it off can often be hard. Take your time and you will be successful. There are so many people on here that have lost and maintained. They know what they're talking about.7
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Then all those studies based on how you should eat is incredibly useless.
Never mind that animals who eat slow and long all day (snacking on 'healthy' meals) always manage to stay lean.
Never mind that since as long as I could remember, breakfast has always been considered the most important meal of the day.
Or that you shouldn't eat so many hours before bed.
All these have no merit? I can't believe everyone of them is a myth.
They are. Animals who graze all day stay lean because grass/tree leaves/etc have basically almost no calories. They're also usually big animals (cows and giraffes come to mind) so they need a lot of calories. Breakfast is not 'the most important meal of the day' because meal timing is personal and has no effect on weight loss. Eating early makes me feel sick, so I don't eat breakfast. And again, eat just before you sleep if you want, it makes no difference to weight loss (though it might give you indigestion).
You keep substituting things out, so are you really even doing the military diet at this point? If it's just about teaching you to eat protein, fat and carbs in the right amounts, why not just... pick a protein, a carb and a healthy fat and eat those, staying at the right calorie amounts? Why not pick a pre-made diet which is more backed by science and nutritionists? Those diets are out there by the hundreds. The military diet is really not a well thought out or well balanced diet plan. All the benefits you describe can be found in different pre-made diets which also have the plus of being designed by dietitians/nutritionists/scientists etc and being well balanced. I don't understand why you'd go for the military diet when there are others which don't have any of its drawbacks.11
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