What is the military diet? Weight loss, perils, and limitations!

There are several fad diets on the internet and social media for weight loss. One of them is the military diet. What is this diet? Does it have any relationship with the military or the army?

What is a military diet?

The military diet is a fad diet for weight loss. It is popular on social media and the internet. But ironically though called military it does not correlate with the military.

This diet claims a rapid weight loss of around 4.5 kg in a week. In this, there are 3 days of calorie restrictions. The slimmer follows a set and low calories menu. This is followed by unrestricted eating.

This diet is a crash diet. It achieves the weight goal but is highly restrictive. Therefore, it can affect health and nutrition in the long run. It is also called a 3-day diet or a short-term diet.

It is a cycle of 3 days restrictions and 4 days off for a month. This diet is similar to intermittent fasting. There are periods of restricted diet followed by no restrictions.

But usually, even on the off days, there are some restrictions to achieving the desired weight loss.

Parts of the diet

This special but fad diet has 2 phases in a week. For phase 1, there is a set menu plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that lasts for 3 days. But snacks between meals are a no-no.

Calories per day in these 3 days are around 1100 to 1400 calories. And in phase 2 which lasts 4 days, there is only a well-balanced diet to follow. Calories in this phase may be normal or restricted.

Since the 3 days have very restricted food, it is best to do it under the supervision of an expert in the field. The set diet meal plan consists only of 16 food items. These are thus:

Breakfast: one can have bread toast or saltine crackers, peanut butter, fruits such as bananas, grapefruit, or apples, with hard-boiled eggs or cheddar cheese.

For lunch, it can be canned tuna, hard-boiled eggs, cottage cheese with bread toast, or saltine crackers. And for dinner, one can eat any kind of meat with hot dogs or canned tuna but no bun.

Additionally, dinner can have carrots, green beans, or broccoli with apples or bananas and vanilla-flavored ice cream. In fluids, only plain water or herbal tea is allowed.

Caffeinated coffee or tea can be had not more than 2 times a day. But these should be without sweeteners or creamers.

Later after 3 days, portion sizes of foods should be small and one can eat snacks in between meals. Calories should be 1500 per day or less.

Permitted and prohibited foods

One can substitute if he or she is allergic to peanut butter. The slimmer can also opt for gluten-free, lactose-free vegetarian, or vegan substitutes.

Orange is not allowed because of its acidic nature. Instead one should have in place of grapefruit, 1 glass of water with half a teaspoon of baking soda. No artificial sweeteners should be eaten.

Read more: Keto diet and its role in the therapy of major mental disorders!

This diet has no scientific backing. Moreover, it is not tailor-made to suit an individual. If dieting is done for long with this unbalanced diet, nutritional deficiencies might crop up.

It is likely to lead to eating disorders. Certain foods in this diet such as ice creams and crackers are not healthy and can cause chronic diseases.

There is a high likelihood of later weight gain with this diet. A balanced healthy diet with calorie restriction with lifestyle changes and exercise could help decrease weight and sustain it.