It’s believed the diet is used by soldiers who need to drop kilos quickly in order to get accepted into the forces. Similar eating plans have also been adopted by hospitals to help their patients lose weight before undergoing major surgery.
So what does The Military Diet entail? For the first three days, you have to eat very specific foods at specific times for breakfast, lunch and dinner - see eating plan below. The diet is very low in calories and should only be undertaken for the three days, as suggested.
And while it requires you eating some pretty boring foods on the whole, there is an allowance for you to eat ice cream! Yes!
After the three days is up, you can eat whatever you like for the next four days - as long as you don’t consume more than 1500 calories in a day.
It’s claimed that following the diet can see you lose just under 5kg in a week - and if you stick to the 1500-calorie-a-day food intake for a whole month, you could lose as much as 13kg.
The diet has attracted many followers who say it’s perfect for short-term weight loss. As for whether it’s good for you, health experts say that a short-term restrictive diet as such won’t do much harm over just a week. But for long-term weight loss, you’re better off speaking to your doctor or a trained professional to set some long-term eating and fitness goals.
But if the Military Diet sounds like what you need to kickstart your weight loss, then give it a go. And of course, it’s always wise to speak to your doctor before embarking on any weight loss plan.
THE MILITARY DIET
Here’s what you need to eat each day for the first three days.
Breakfast
- cup of black coffee
- half of a grapefruit
- a slice of dry toast
Lunch
- half a cup of tuna
- slice of dry toast
- black coffee
Dinner
- 85g of any type of meat
- cup of green beans
- half of a banana
- small apple
- cup of ice cream
