If you’re looking for one of the fastest ways to lose weight, you can try this one, The Military Diet.
Allegedly…. 🙂 😯
The Military Diet is an extreme 3-Day low-calorie diet designed to help you lose a lot of weight in a very short amount of time by claiming to:
- jump-starting your metabolism
- extreme caloric restriction
The claims are that it will help you lose 10 lbs (4.5 kg) in those 3 days on. You can repeat the diet over and over, however, taking a 4-day off approach to complete 1 cycle in 1 week (3 days of dieting, 4 days off). While you may supposedly eat anything you want during your days off, the diet prompts people to follow a less restricted but still a healthy meal plan during those days to continue losing weight.
My personal experience doesn’t match this, however, I did feel like I was on my way to potential weight loss if I did it longer. But I had much better success with the Keto diet.
However…. be warned.… the Military Diet what is considered a “crash diet”, or a “fad diet” where results are unlikely to be sustainable in the long term. Like other diets under these pretenses, they are shortly lived, most likely water weight loss and you will immediately regain any “loss” as soon as you go back to regular caloric count-based eating.
Here’s a brief review of what a week on this diet looks like.
The 3-day meal plan
The 3-day meal plan on the military diet consists of a limited selection of foods — 16 to be precise. They are meant to be divided between breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Breakfast foods include:
- toast or saltine crackers
- peanut butter
- grapefruit, apples, or bananas
- hard-boiled eggs or cheddar cheese
Lunch options include:
- toast or saltine crackers
- canned tuna, hard-boiled eggs, or cottage cheese
Dinner options include:
- any type of meat, hot dogs without a bun, or canned tuna
- green beans, carrots, or broccoli
- apples or bananas
- vanilla-flavored ice cream
As you can see, there isn’t much variety during the first 3 days of the diet.
Can you substitute on the Military Diet?
You can substitute every item on the Military Diet with something else in case you are vegan, vegetarian, lactose intolerant, gluten free or if you don’t like any of the menu items. Check out this list for Military Diet substitutions >
What to drink on the Military Diet:
Water, coffee and caffeine-free herbal tea are allowed on the Military Diet as long as you don’t add extra calories with creamer and sugar. The only artificial sweetener allowed on the Military Diet is Stevia (in your coffee).
Example 3-Day Military Plan:
Here is the full 3-day overview of what you can eat as a sample menu plan. Below you will be able to see each day in detail.
As you can see below, each day provides less than 1300 calories a day with day 3 only consisting of 843. That is incredibly low. But, in order to be “successful” on this diet, it is pertinent you stick to what is laid out. IF you need substitutions, we have a link below for you to view.
DAY 1 (1221 calories):
Breakfast (297 calories)-
- 1/2 Grapefruit
- 1 Slice of Toast
- 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter
- 1 cup coffee or Tea (with caffeine)
Lunch (157 calories)-
- 1/2 Cup of Tuna
- 1 Slice of Toast
- 1 cup coffee or Tea (with caffeine)
Dinner (767 calories)-
- 3 ounces of any type of meat
- 1 cup of green beans
- 1/2 banana
- 1 small apple
- 1 cup of vanilla ice cream
DAY 2 (1139 calories):
Breakfast (182 calories)-
- 1 egg
- 1 slice of toast
- 1/2 banana
Lunch (297 calories)-
- 1 cup of cottage cheese
- 1 hard-boiled egg
- 5 saltine crackers
Dinner (660 calories)-
- 2 hot dogs (without bun)
- 1/2 cup of carrots
- 1 cup of broccoli
- 1/2 banana
- 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream
DAY 3 (843 calories):
Breakfast (369 calories)-
- 5 saltine crackers
- 1 slice of cheddar cheese
- 1 small apple
Lunch (132 calories)-
- 1 hard-boiled egg (or cooked however you like)
- 1 slice of toast
Dinner (342 calories)-
- 1 cup of tuna
- 1/2 banana
- 1 cup of vanilla ice cream
Is the Military Diet Safe?
The short answer is Yes……
However, after seeing the limiting foods and extremely low caloric intake, you might be wondering just how safe, if safe at all, this diet is. Well, the Military Diet is safe for the average person but only for a very short period of time because it’s too short to do any long-lasting harm.
So, yes, it’s safe to do for 3 days… but be sure to go back to a more gut-healthy diet to really see ultimate changes in your body.
What Is The Healthiest Diet Plan (a healthy diet plan)?
The healthiest diet plan is a gut-health diet. There are many books and research that advocate for absoluteness and overall best results by having a diet based solely for gut health. One such advocate is Dr. Tim Spector. You can find some of his and other dietary colleagues’ books on gut health here:
Military Diet Shopping List
The following list is for you to use when you go grocery shopping for the 3-Day Military Diet:
• caffeinated coffee or tea
• 1 grapefruit
• 2 bananas
• 2 apples
• whole-wheat bread
• 1 jar peanut butter
• 3 eggs (a 6-pack is the smallest)
• 3 cans of tuna
• 1 package hot dogs
• 3 oz piece of meat (chicken, red-meat, etc)
• 1/4 lb green beans (fresh, frozen, or canned)
• small head of broccoli
• 1 bag of carrots
• 1 box saltine crackers
• 8 oz cottage cheese
• 3 oz cheddar cheese (block, wedge or slice)
• 1 pint vanilla ice cream
Related Questions:
Can I lose 10 pounds in 3 days?
Does the Military Diet Work?
Military Diet Review
Military Diet Debunked
Resources:
