Does the Military Diet work for Weight Loss?
The Military diet is a short term calorie restricted diet, that’s ‘militant’ in it’s approach because the diet plan is very specific. But since it’s only a 3 day diet plan, will it work for weight loss?
In short, it’s just a low calorie diet, so all but the most petite, elderly and inactive people would lose weight on it. It’s mostly whole foods; eggs tuna, wholemeal bread, bananas, cheese, beef, fruit and vegetables so fairly balanced and nutritious, but there’s not a large quantity of food which makes the over all energy intake very low.
And despite being only 3 days long, the remaining 4 days people are advised to stick to a maximum of 1500 calories, which is a weight loss plan for most people.
The Meal Plan
credit: themilitarydiet.com
Day 1 (1,400 calories)
Breakfast:
A slice of toast with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter.
Half a grapefruit.
A cup of coffee or tea (optional).
Lunch:
A slice of toast.
Half a cup of tuna.
A cup of coffee or tea (optional).
Dinner:
A 3-oz (85 grams) serving of meat with a cup of green beans.
A small apple.
Half a banana.
One cup vanilla ice cream.
Day 2 (1,200 calories)
Breakfast:
A slice of toast.
One hard-boiled egg.
Half a banana.
A cup of coffee or tea (optional).
Lunch:
One hard-boiled egg.
A cup of cottage cheese.
5 saltine crackers.
A cup of coffee or tea (optional).
Dinner:
Two hot dogs, with no bun.
Half a cup of carrots and half a cup of broccoli.
Half a banana.
Half a cup of vanilla ice cream.
Day 3 (1,100 calories)
Breakfast:
A 1-ounce slice of cheddar cheese.
5 saltine crackers.
A small apple.
A cup of coffee or tea (optional).
Lunch:
A slice of toast.
One egg, cooked however you like.
A cup of coffee or tea (optional).
Dinner:
A cup of tuna.
Half a banana.
1 cup of vanilla ice cream.
On all three days you can drink water, or black tea and coffee (no milk or sugar added).
Low calorie diet’s aren’t as damaging to health as we once thought, and short term won’t ‘damage’ a person’s metabolism. Losing weight fast at the start of a weight loss journey with a diet like this might actually help a person’s motivation as they see instant results. But it would be both unhealthy and difficult to stick to long term. Weight loss would start to come from muscle and bone instead of excess fat, which is what you want to lose when carrying extra weight.
I’ve never tried the diet personally and wouldn’t recommend it to any of my Mums for any longer than a week and as a kickstart to losing weight and boosting motivation, but helping someone reduce their calorie intake is necessary to lose weight, so any diet will be lower calories than the person is used to eating.