I am yet to come across a person who states that weight loss is a cakewalk! We all know the deprivation and the heavy sweating we go through just to keep ourselves in shape. Moreover, in this jet age, we are looking for instantaneous results. Who looks forward to days of perseverance and self-control!
Today, various diet plans have become in vogue where you exercise control for a limited period of time and lose significant weight. One such plan that is grabbing eyeballs is the three-day military diet! The beauty of the diet is that it promises you ice-creams and hot dogs and still a weight loss of 10 pounds in just three days? Curious! Read on:
What is 3-day Military Diet?
There are many kinds of military diet circulating on the internet. It is not meant for military people but it is short-term diet designed to give you quick results. Supposedly you lose 10 pounds in 3 days military diet though it stretched to a week actually.
The first three days are very strict and you relax a bit in the last 4 days. Some of the popular names given to it are the fax diet, army diet, navy diet, Cleveland clinic diet, AHA diet, military diet, 3-day military diet plan etc. All these variations claim one thing i.e. you lose 10 pounds in about 3 days.
How does the 3-day Military Diet Work?
Basically, the diet plan inculcates a 3-day low-calorie meal plan followed by 4 military diet off days. The cycle is repeated week after week for sustained results. In the first three days, you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with no snacks in between.
Total calorie intake per day is 1000 to 1300 calories per day which is much less than the average calories required per day. The next four days, you eat a slightly more relaxed meal plan in which the daily intake does not exceed 1500 calories.
You keep repeating it till you attain the weight you have set your mind to.
The Science Behind the 3-day Military Diet
The 3-day military diet has a number of proven scientific concepts backing it. Few of them are:-
Taking in Fewer Calories than Required
Today, with a number of diet plans touted and raved about each day, it is difficult for anybody to differentiate between the genuinely effective ones and the fad diet plans. Nevertheless, science has proven that taking in fewer calories than required by the body is an effective way to lose weight.
The military diet has been programmed on this scientific theory. Stored fact is nothing but stored calories. By consuming fewer calories, you force your body to use those to meet body requirements and thus you end up losing the flab from your body.
Intermittent Fasting is Beneficial for Your Body
It is a proven fact that drastically cutting your calories intake suddenly or starving yourself is unhealthy for your body. This is because it gets your body into hibernation mode in a bid to save calories and energy. In contrast, intermittent fasting is actually beneficial for your health. Here you eat in certain periods of time and go without food in other slotted time. This type of fasting increases the body’s insulin sensitivity.
Thus, when you actually take in food, this increased sensitivity makes the body prioritize the nutrients to make them available to your essential muscles and organs like the liver instead of storing them as fat in your adipose tissues. But you should remember that the military diet has some inclusions if intermittent fasting and not its pure form.
Certain Foods Help to Boost Metabolism
Weight loss and metabolic rates are almost always talked about at the same time. Metabolic rate refers to the number of calories burnt by your body in its relaxed state without doing any exercise. These calories are used for the body’s involuntary functions. It is possible to boost this calorie burn out through the food eaten.
Military diet has specific food combinations in its three-day diet plan like high protein food which actually boosts your metabolism by increasing the thermal effect and helping you burn more calories. Likewise dietary fibers rich foods like apples, broccoli, green beans etc. also enhance the metabolic rate to increase daily calorie consumption.
Consuming Foods High in Calcium Boosts the Fat Burning Mechanism
Most of us believe that the body simply burns away the fat. However, it is not true. These body fat needs to be eliminated from the body through its waste processor it might get reabsorbed by the body.
Calcium has proved to be crucial here as it bonds with the fat and assists in its effective removal. Because of this scientific fact, you are pampered with a cup of ice-cream on each night of the military diet.
The Three-day Military Diet Menu
Now that you have got the basics of the three-day military diet, let’s check out its sample menu as to what you can eat.
Day 1 of Military Diet Menu
The menu planned out for the first day amounts to around 1,400 calories. Here, for breakfast, you have half a cup of grapefruit, a slice of toast on which is spread 2 tablespoons of peanut butter.
For lunch, you have a slice of toast and half a cup of tuna while for dinner you have about 85 gm of meat with a cup of green beans, a small apple, half banana and a cup of vanilla ice-cream.
If desired, you can have a cup of coffee or tea at breakfast as well as lunch.
Day 2 of Military Diet Menu
Things actually get interesting on the second day. Here the total calorie count is around 1200. For breakfast, you have a hard-boiled egg, a slice of toast, half a banana and if desired, a cup of tea or coffee.
For lunch, you again have a hard-boiled egg and optional tea/coffee along with a cup of cottage cheese and 5 saltine crackers.
For dinner, enjoy two hot dogs with no bun, half a cup of carrots or broccoli, half banana and half a cup of vanilla ice-cream.
Day 3 of Military Diet Menu
Technically, the last day of your diet plan, you again cut on calories to consume about 1,100 calories. In breakfast, you consume 5 saltine crackers, 1 slice or 1 oz. of cheddar cheese, one small apple and a cup of tea/coffee if required.
You can have a slice of toast and hardboiled egg with tea/coffee for lunch. If desired you can take other forms of egg here as well. For dinner, you eat a cup of tuna, half banana and a full cup of vanilla ice-cream.
Throughout the three days, you must drink plenty of water and can have more tea and coffee of required but they must not have any cream or sugar added for extra calories.
Rest 4 Days of Military Diet Menu
Even though the strict diet continues for just three days, it needs some continuation in the next four days as well. You are supposed to eat and exercise normally during these days but it is advised that males and females should restrict their calorie consumption to 1500 calories and 1100 calories per day.
Another thumb rule to follow is to avoid junk food and binge more on healthy food like fruits, vegetables, and proteins. By the end of the week, you would lose pounds significantly.
The Military Diet Substitutions
The meal plan sounds ok but vegetarians might be grieving over it or you simply might abhor certain food items listed. The great thing about this plan is that there are alternatives available for substitution. Let’s get to it on a daily basis:
Military Diet Substitutions ~ Day 1
You can always replace the grapefruit at breakfast with an orange. However, for the exact substitute of chemicals, it’s best to drink a glass of water in which half a teaspoon of baking soda has been mixed well.
- Toast can be replaced with cereals, sunflower seed or even a tortilla.
- Peanut causes allergies in many people. You can replace it with almond butter or just a handful of almonds.
- Replace tea/coffee with green tea or some energy drink.
- For lunch, you can get sushi-grade raw tuna instead of canned tuna. Vegetarians can opt for a tofu or cottage cheese.
- For dinner, meat can be replaced with Portobello mushrooms, a mixture of beans or tofu/cottage cheese.
- Instead of banana, you can have kiwi fruits, apricots or an applesauce.
- Instead of an apple, you can have pears, plums or zucchini.
- It is recommended not to change the flavor of ice-cream. However, it can be replaced with fruit-flavored frozen yogurt.
Military Diet Substitutions ~ Day 2
You need not consume egg in just hard-boiled for but prepare it in a form that you relish. Vegetarians can substitute it with half a cup of milk or a quarter cup of nuts.
- Those who do not fancy cottage cheese for lunch can opt for plain Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese or tofu in the same amount.
- Instead of saltine crackers, you can have rice cakes or gluten-free crackers of equivalent calories.
- The dinner hot dogs can be replaced with turkey dogs, most varieties of deli meat, soy dogs, tofu, lentils or Portobello mushrooms.
- Broccoli can be replaced with other green vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower or beetroot.
- Substitutes for the carrot are parsnips, beets, squash, celery or bell peppers.
Benefits of 3 Day Military Diet Plan
This diet is not exclusive to being based on scientific facts. Thus, arises the normal query as to why should you opt for it? The answer to all queries lies in its unique benefits. Let’s throw light on a few benefits that set the military diet a class apart from the rest:-
- Undoubtedly, the diet plan does restrict your calories intake in an extreme way but since this is just for three days, it becomes easier to follow and stick to its completion. You can eat just about anything for the rest four days as long as the total daily calories intake does not exceed 1500 calories.
- All other diet plans need to be followed for a month or a longer period of time before you can see visible results. This often kills the motivation to see to the completion of the diet plan. However, here you can see significant results in just three days which makes it worthwhile. Thus, you never lose your motivation.
- If you happen to browse various other diet plans, you would notice that more often, you need to buy specialized food products that are quite expensive. This is a deterrent to many. In the Military diet, every food item is easily available with a single visit to the grocery store and none can be classified as a specialized or expensive item.
- The diet plan is supremely easy to follow with no specialized or intricate recipe preparation required of you. You have your food items clearly spelled out and you just need to stick to it. You are also not required to do any exercise which is recommended in almost all other diet plans.
Military Diet
The Flip Side of the Military Diet
Nothing in the world can be absolutely perfect! Likewise, even the military diet has some disadvantages associated with it though they pale in comparison to its benefits. Let’s understand this in a judicious manner.
- The diet plan seriously restricts your calorie intake to just about 1000-1300 calories per day. This can leave you feeling seriously hungry and even feel nauseous and weak due to hunger. This holds truer for people who were normally overeating. To avoid this, one can gradually start cutting on their food intake bit by bit a week prior to starting it so that you can take the calorie hit in a much better manner.
- While the diet can benefit almost anybody, it is not meant for everybody. For instance, pregnant women or people with diseases like diabetes, hypertension, etc. should not generally opt for this plan. If they are opting, they must follow it strictly under the guidance of the doctor to adapt it a little to ensure optimal health condition.
- Snacking is something that is an integral part of almost every person’s life. This is totally absent in the plan. This can pose to be a big problem for many people, especially those who tend to snack at regular intervals.
Reviews about The Success of the Plan
The success or the failure of this diet plan can only be comprehended by the experience of the people who have actually tried it. Let look at some of the feedback and reviews that we came across.
- An individual who took up this diet plan herself wrote a blog about it on. In this Slimpickins Kitchen blog space, readers too can share their thoughts. One lady shared her experience of losing one and a half pounds on the very first day.
- At the Pinterest site, various people claimed of losing anything between 5 and 10 pounds in just 3 days with this plan. One can always browse through some of the comments.
Final Thoughts on the 3-day Military Diet Plan
Basically, the plan is a short-term plan that can give you a head start in your weight loss endeavors. However, you may not be to carry it for long. Nothing can replace exercise and a healthy lifestyle and well-balanced meal.
Initially, you might fail and feel starved. We advise you to not get ruffled about it and get going again. The plan is completely doable and gets you into the right positivity and enthusiasm to achieve his/her weight goals. Afterall, what are three days in exchange for a 10-pound weight loss!
