Military Diet
What is the Military Diet?
In the Military Diet (Military diet) is an American lightning diet that was developed to get American soldiers fit quickly.
The hard crash diet promises a weight loss of up to 4.5 kilos in one week. The diet allows only a few foods and in the first three days of the diet only less than 1000 calories are allowed with the food.
How does this diet work?
The Military Diet should be carried out for a week and consists of two phases. The first phase is the first three days of following a very strict diet plan. In the first three days, less than 1000 calories may be eaten per day. At first glance, the foods appear to be randomly arranged rather than coordinated.
First day
On the first day there is half a grapefruit for breakfast, a slice of toast with two teaspoons of peanut butter and a cup of coffee or tea. For lunch there is a slice of toast with half a can of tuna and a cup of coffee or tea. On the first day, lunch consists of around 100 grams of meat, 200 grams of green beans, half a banana, an apple and around 200 grams of vanilla ice cream.
Second day
The second day of the diet begins with an egg, a slice of toast and half a banana for breakfast. 200 grams of cottage cheese, a boiled egg and 5 salt crackers are allowed for lunch. Dinner includes two hot dogs without bread, 200 grams of broccoli, 100 grams of carrots, half a banana and 100 grams of vanilla ice cream.
third day
Day three of the Military Diet begins with 5 salted crackers, a slice of cheddar cheese and an apple for breakfast. Lunch includes a boiled egg and a slice of toast. On the third day of the diet, dinner consists of 200 grams of tuna, half a banana and 200 grams of vanilla ice cream.
More days
In addition to this combination of different foods, you should drink as much water and unsweetened teas as possible during the Military Diet.
The remaining days of the diet week are flexible. Toast, rice cakes, egg, banana, apple, cottage cheese, all types of meat, tuna, broccoli, green beans, carrots, vanilla ice cream, peanut butter and grapefruit are allowed.
The following topic could also be of interest to you. Read it below: Tips on how to best lose weight
How much can I lose weight with this form of diet?
The Military Diet promises a weight loss of 4.5 kilograms in one week. You have to stick to the diet plan strictly in order to drop the pounds accordingly.
However, one should be clear that no 4.5 kilos of fat will melt. As part of such a lightning diet, you lose fat, especially water and muscle tissue.
What is the cost of a Military Diet?
Basically, the Military Diet is a cheap diet. You don't have to buy expensive protein shakes or dietary supplements for this.
The permitted foods toast, banana, egg, cottage cheese, etc. can be bought cheaply and, due to the small amount of food, you will probably live with this diet cheaper than before and after.
How can I avoid the yo-yo effect with this diet?
Crash diets like the Military Diet are often followed by the unpleasant yo-yo effect.
In order to avoid the yo-yo effect, you have to change your diet slowly and systematically. This means that you gradually take in more calories and add more foods to the menu.
In addition, it helps effectively if you do sports during and after the diet. This gives the metabolism a better chance to adapt and is less prone to the dreaded yo-yo effect.
Would you like to stay fit after a diet? Then read more about this at: How can you stimulate the metabolism?
What are the side effects of the diet?
Due to the low energy supply, the metabolism switches to the back burner as part of the Military Diet. That means losing weight. However, in addition to fat tissue, muscles are also broken down and drained.
While dieting, many people suffer from poor concentration, poor performance and food cravings. In many cases, the low calorie intake is not filling and makes it difficult to persevere. In addition, a yo-yo effect often follows after the diet.
The following topic may be helpful to you: Best tips against cravings
What are the risks of this diet?
Due to the one-sided diet, the military diet carries the risk of typical side effects of a crash diet during the one-week diet change: headaches, poor performance, food cravings.
If you eat in this way over a longer period of time, the body lacks vital nutrients, vitamins, minerals and trace elements. If you follow the diet for a long time, there is a serious risk of deficiency symptoms such as hair loss, sluggishness and anemia.
Criticism of the diet
The Military Diet is a radical crash diet. Meals are limited to a few foods over a week. Due to the calorie deficit due to the low energy intake, the body switches its metabolism to the back burner.
This means that as soon as the body consumes more calories again, it tends to build up fat reserves in case “bad times” come again.
If you eat unhealthily with high-fat, high-calorie meals after the one-week Military Diet, the yo-yo effect usually follows. During the Military Diet, symptoms such as headaches and poor performance can occur and hinder everyday life. The diet is therefore very difficult to reconcile with a work rhythm.
Over a longer period of time, those affected would not be able to supply the body with all the necessary vitamins, minerals and trace elements. In the long term, the military diet would cause deficiency symptoms and anemia.
This topic may also be helpful to you: Losing weight without hunger - is that possible?
Medical evaluation of the diet by
A crash diet like the Military Diet leads to rapid weight loss. However, in addition to fat tissue, muscles are broken down and water is flushed out.
The one-sided food intake provides the body with an unbalanced amount of nutrients. Not enough vitamins and trace elements are absorbed.
The Military Diet is an unhealthy crash diet that provides the body with fewer than 1000 calories in the first three days. The body switches to the back burner due to the energy deficit.
If you eat "normal" or very unhealthy again after the diet, a yo-yo effect is almost inevitable. After a lightning diet, the body tends to store fat reserves to prepare for renewed periods of starvation.
In summary, the Military Diet is a radical crash diet with an almost random selection of different foods, so that the yo-yo effect is almost predetermined after the end of the diet.
This topic may be helpful to you: Losing weight without exercise and diet - is that possible?
What alternative diets are there to the Military Diet?
The Military Diet is mainly used when you want to lose as much weight as possible in the shortest possible time. Crash diets lead to faster weight loss than healthier diets.
Alternative crash diets that lead to rapid weight loss are mono diets with Almased or Yokebe. The pineapple diet and cabbage soup diet, for example, are similarly one-sided and radical.
Such zero diets are tough to follow and often produce a yo-yo effect. In order to lose weight and maintain the weight, diets that can be carried out longer and are suitable for work are suitable.
A popular example of this are low-carb diets. The Logi-Method, the Glyx-Diet and the Atkins-Diet are different low-carb diet forms that can be carried out over several weeks or months. The situation is similar with the food combining diet, in which food may only be consumed in certain combinations.
Such diets are more versatile than the Military Diet and significantly healthier. In order to lose weight in the long term and ultimately maintain the desired weight, you should exercise regularly. Sport effectively boosts the metabolism and brings the figure into shape.
Are you more interested in other alternative diets? Then read our next article below: Glyx Diet, Atkins Diet
Recommendations from the editorial team
Further general information may be of interest to you:
- Lose weight
- Lose weight on the stomach
- Lose weight with tea
- Mayo Diet - How Effective Is It Really?
- Metabolic diet