The Military Diet Plan Including Substitutions and Vegetarian Versions

Are you looking forward to losing excess weight? Have you already gone through numerous websites in search of the most suitable way of getting rid of extra fat? Then, you are sure to have come across the Military Diet plan. If you are wondering what is it, here is an article to help you out. Read along to find out all about the diet plan along with military diet substitutions.

What is the 3-day Military Diet?

The Military Diet is an extremely low-calorie diet that you need to strictly follow for 3 days after which you can return to your normal or regular eating habits  (albeit fewer calories) for 4 consecutive days (1500 calories max.). Throughout the initial 3 days, you need to restrict your calorie intake to approximately 1,400 calories on day 1; 1,200 calories on day 2; and 1,100 calories on day 3.

This weekly cycle goes on again and again till a person reaches his or her desired weight.

The diet is rich in protein but low in calories, carbohydrates, and fat. It features particular food combinations that are intended to burn more fat and boost metabolism. According to its proponents, by following the military diet strictly, a person can lose around 10 lbs. in 7 days and almost 30 lbs. in 30 days.

The advocates of this diet say that it was outlined by nutritionists who are in the US military. However, the diet has yet not been affiliated with any governmental or military institution.

The military diet is known by other names such as the army diet as well as the navy diet.

Does the 3-day military diet work? How?

When followed properly and sincerely, the military diet can work wonders for people who wish to lose weight effectively within a particular time frame. By consuming the items as mentioned in the military diet, you can surely shed a few pounds and attain the weight that you are comfortable with.

The initial military diet is spread across 3 days, divided into 2 separate phases for a period of 7 days. In the first 3 days, you need to follow a preset meal plan that is low in calories. You need to have only three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

No snacks are allowed between the prescribed meals. Followers of this diet believe that a person can repeat this diet many times till they reach their targeted goal.

Throughout the rest of the four days, you do not need to stick to the plan of the initial 3 days. However, you need to have healthy food so that you can continue keeping the calorie intake in check.

Throughout this entire phase, try and limit your total calorie consumption to 1,100 – 1,400 calories/day. This amount of daily calorie consumption is significantly lesser than what an average person normally consumes.

However, different individuals have different calorie requirements and therefore not everyone should follow the same diet plan.

What is on the menu of the military diet plan?

Here is the exact Military Diet Meal plan.

Day 1: On the first day, you should consume calories amounting to around 1,400. The following is the meal plan for the day:

Breakfast:

Toast – 1 slice

Peanut butter – 2 tbsp.

Grapefruit – 1/2

Tea/black coffee (optional) – 1 cup

Lunch:

Toast – 1 slice

Tuna – 1/2 cup

Tea/black coffee (optional) – 1 cup

Dinner:

Meat – 85 grams. (3 ounces)

Green beans: 1 cup

Apple (small) – 1

Banana –1/2

Ice cream (Vanilla) – 1 cup

Day 2: On the first day, you should consume calories amounting to around 1,200. The following is the meal plan for the day:

Breakfast

Toast – 1 slice

Egg (Hard-boiled) – 1

Banana – 1/2

Tea/black coffee (optional) – 1 cup

Lunch

Egg (Hard-boiled) – 1

Cottage cheese – 1 cup

Saltine crackers – 5

Tea/black coffee (optional) – 1 cup

Dinner

Hot dogs (without bun) – 2

Broccoli – 2 cup

Banana – 1/2

Carrots – 1/2 cup

Ice cream (Vanilla) – 1/2 cup

Day 3: On the third day, you should consume calories amounting to around 1,100. The following is the meal plan for the day:

Breakfast

Cheddar cheese (slice) – 1

Saltine crackers – 5

Apple (small) – 1

Tea/black coffee (optional) – 1 cup

Lunch

Toast – 1 slice

Egg (cooked as per your preference) – 1

Tea/black coffee (optional) – 1 cup

Dinner

Tuna – 1 cup

Banana – 1/2

Ice cream (Vanilla) – 1 cup

While you are on this diet, do not have any other food in between the meals. However, you can drink as much tea or coffee as you want throughout the day. But, make sure not to add cream or sugar.

Also, remember to consume a lot of water to keep yourself hydrated. Sugar-free and diet sodas are also permissible throughout the three days.

If you are a lover of seasoning, stick only to regular salt and pepper. Avoid adding anything else.

What to have on the rest of the four days?

Your diet plan does not end with the initial three days. For achieving the best results, you need to continue being on diet for at least a week.

Since there are no particular food group restrictions and no other specific rules to follow during the last four days, you can have light snacks but in limited amounts. Be careful of how much you eat and do not consume more than 1,500 calories per day.

There are several online websites that you can take help from to track your calorie consumption.

The best IMHO is www.myfitnesspal.com. You can use the app on your phone of use the website to log your foods consumed/ Again for the remaining 4 days if you’re doing the entire 7 days try and stay below or around 1500 calories

What is the vegetarian and vegan military diet plan?

If you are a vegetarian or a vegan, then, the above list might have worried you. However, there happens to be an exclusive vegetarian and vegan-friendly diet plan. Here is our version of the military diet for vegans and vegetarians

Day 1:

Breakfast

Grapefruit – 1/2

Toast – 1 slice

Peanut butter – 2 tbsp.

Tea/black coffee – 1 cup

Lunch

Avocado – 1/2

Hummus – 2 tbsp.

Toast (whole wheat) – 1 slice

Tea/black coffee – 1 cup

Dinner

Tofu (prepare as per your preference) – maximum 300 calories

Green beans – 1 cup

Banana – 1/2

Apple (small) – 1

Dairy-free ice cream – 1 cup

Day 2:

Breakfast

Baked beans – ? cup

Toast (whole wheat) – 1 slice

Banana – 1/2

Lunch

Soy/almond milk/hemp (unsweetened) – 1 cup

Avocado – 1/2

Hummus – 2 tbsp.

Saltine crackers – 5

Dinner

Vegetable hot dogs (without bun) – 2

Broccoli – 1 cup

Carrots – 1/2 cup

Banana – 1/2

Dairy-free ice cream – 1

Day 3:

Breakfast

Almonds – 15 – 20

Saltine crackers – 5

Or,

Quinoa/Couscous – 1 cup

Apple (small) – 1

Lunch

Avocado – 1/2

Hummus – 1 tbsp.

Bread (whole wheat) – 1 slice

Dinner

Canned chickpeas – 1/2 cup

Banana – 1/2

Dairy-free ice cream – 1

What is the shopping list for this diet plan?

To help you get better organized, here is a list of all the items that you need to buy for the first 3 days of this diet:

• caffeinated coffee or tea

• one grapefruit

• two bananas

• two apples

• whole-wheat bread

• peanut butter

• eggs

• three cans of tuna

• hot dogs

• a small piece of meat

• green beans (fresh, frozen, or canned)

• small head of broccoli

• carrots

• saltine crackers

• cottage cheese

• a small amount of cheddar cheese

• vanilla ice cream

Military diet substitutions?

For people who do not like some of the food items on the list, here is good news for you! You can incorporate some smart substitutions into the menu, even without increasing your calorie intake and hampering the effectiveness of the diet.

Though the diet lists out what you are allowed to eat very specifically, there is enough room for substitutions if you are allergic to some of the items on the list or are simply not fond of them.

For example, if you are sticking to a gluten-free diet, then you can replace the regular toast with a gluten-free toast. Again, if you are allergic to peanuts, you can opt for sunflower seed butter.

Always keep in mind that you can substitute a food only with another food of a similar kind. When you are following a vegetarian or vegan military diet, then, you can move from meat and choose more plant-based foods. Make sure that you replace foods having the same calorie value.

While making substitutions, adjust or keep your portion sizes similar so that your calorie consumption stays within the prescribed amount. The effectiveness of the military diet is hugely dependent on how much you can restrict your calorie intake.

So, if you wish to shift from the items stated in the diet and try out something different having more or less the same calorie value, then here are some military diet substitutions:

Grapefruit: Orange / any other fruit having the same calorie content

Meat / hot dog: Lentils, Portobello mushrooms

Tuna fish: Chicken / chickpeas / fish / poultry / almonds (if you are a vegetarian or vegan)

Green beans: Other green vegetables such as spinach/lettuce etc.

Vanilla ice cream: Non-dairy ice cream or fruit-flavored yogurt

Apple: Peaches / apricots / grapes / plums

Banana: Papaya / kiwi / grapes / plums / apricots

Cheddar or cottage cheese: Ricotta cheese / Greek yogurt / tofu / meat / eggs

Egg: Seeds / nuts / beans / bacon / milk

Saltine crackers / bread: Gluten-free bread / couscous / quinoa

Peanut butter: Almond butter

Supporters of this diet frequently recommend consuming hot water with lemon when you are following this diet. I would do a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar along with a squeeze of lemon every morning to curb cravings.

Is the Military Diet fact-based?

Through in-depth studies on the military diet are yet to take place, it can be said that an average-built person might shed a few pounds after being under strict calorie restrictions for 3 days or an entire week. You start to lose fat when the amount of calories entering your fat tissue is lesser than the amount you are losing.

Proponents of this diet assert that weight loss is possible by following this diet mainly for the combinations of food items in the plan. They claim that such combinations work in unison to increase metabolism and burn more fat. However, more researches are needed to validate such claims.

How safe and sustainable is the military diet plan?

In the case of an average person, a military diet, under most circumstances, is likely to work fine. Since the plan is only for 3 days a week, therefore, chances are rare that it will do any far-reaching physiological harm.

On the other hand, if you are thinking to abide by this diet for a long time, then you should also keep in mind that such a stringent limit on calorie consumption might make you vulnerable to illness since the diet can make your body nutritionally deficient.

This can very soon become an issue if you do not eat vegetables and other essential food items regularly and especially on the days when you are not following the diet.

Also, though crackers, hot dogs, and ice creams feature in the diet plan, it is not safe and healthy to consume them every week. These kinds of junk food can pose threat to your metabolic issues. So, make sure that you do not end up eating such foods regularly.

Speaking of sustainability, the diet can be followed quite easily. For this, you do not need to make long-term or permanent habit changes. Only a little bit of willpower, stamina, and determination will make you sail through the diet.

In all cases, it is better not to follow this diet for a long stretch of time. You can only do it for shorter periods. However, the diet does not promise lasting weight loss.

Though following the diet can be harmless and effective at first, it is not free from long-term risks. Once you lose weight due to the diet, the lost weight tends to be regained afterward when you stop following the diet.

The military diet plan along with the military diet substitutions is very restricted in terms of food combinations. It also involves few foods that are rich in salt, saturated fat, and sugar. Apart from this, it also encourages the consumption of processed meat and reduces the intake of fresh vegetables.

Instead, you can find out the diet that is suitable for your body and helps maintain a healthy weight. Also, whenever you get derailed from a restrictive plan, you are only to regain all the weight you have lost.

Therefore, choose your diet carefully. See to it that whatever you eat is keeping a check on your blood pressure as well as cholesterol levels.

Your questions about the Military Diet Answered

Is the Military Diet a Fad Diet?

Yes but so what. The Military Diet isn’t for everyone. But if you’re looking for a short-term solution, this diet is perfect! If by fad you mean something temporary that doesn’t have merit in the long term, then yes, the military diet is definitely one of these types of diets. There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of it when needed though; after all who wants to be on a restrictive and difficult program forever?

Isn’t weight loss on the Military Diet is just water weight loss?

“People who believe the myth of water weight loss get their facts confused,” said a nutritionist in an interview. Not only is it false that you can lose ‘water weight’ just from dieting or cutting calories: The idea might be harmful to your health! Myths like this are everywhere on social media and should not be taken as fact until proven otherwise.

When you eat carbs, your body stores whatever can’t be used in the form of glycogen. The glycogen is stored in the liver to be used at a later date when energy levels are low and sugar reserves need replenishing (i.e., after periods without eating). When you’re dieting and reducing calories, your glycogen levels drop because fat doesn’t have as much glucose storage capacity so it’s being “burned” for fuel instead. Glycogen carries water with it too–meaning if you lose glycogen while on this restrictive regimen then some weight will come off including some excess fluid from inside cells that were depleted through limited intake of fluids or other causes like exercise-induced dehydration.

Won’t A low-calorie diet like the Military Diet will put your body into starvation mode?

What’s the worst that could happen if you’re only on a three-day diet? Starvation mode! That would be so terrible. You’d have to starve yourself for weeks before your metabolism slows down significantly enough to actually gain weight rather than lose it during those first few days of not eating as much food and calories, according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman

The Military Diet is actually not an extreme diet because it only lasts for 3 days. Nevertheless, the body’s metabolic rate will start to decrease after a long time when you are cutting more calories than you eat. The drop in metabolism never offsets your deficit though; that’s why to say if you cut 100% of your daily caloric intake by 50%, there would be a 10% reduction in the metabolic rate (not exactly starvation mode). This doesn’t apply to the military diet as they have only lasted for three days and can help people lose weight faster from fat instead of muscle loss!

Will You Lose Weight on the Military Diet?

Absolutely you will lose weight and it won’t be all water weight. Lots of people lose 5 to 10 pounds a week on the Military Diet. Check out these youtube videos.

 

 

You can check out our various diet guides here.

And if you want to know what your ideal caloric intake is per day on various diets check out our Macro Calculator for Weight Loss Here.

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