The military diet is actually one of the most common “diets” in the world. It is said to help you lose weight steadily in a single week, up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg).
Even, the military diet is free. You don’t have to purchase books, expensive food, or supplements. But is this diet really working, and is it something you ought to try? What you need to know about the military diet is clarified in this report.

What Is the Military Diet?
A weight loss diet that will help you lose up to 10 pounds in a week is the military diet, sometimes called the 3-day diet.
The military diet schedule includes a 3-day meal plan followed by 4 days off, and once you hit your target weight, the weekly routine is repeated again and again. Diet advocates believe it was developed by nutritionists in the US military to easily bring soldiers into top shape.
The reality, however, is that no military or governmental agency is affiliated with the diet. The military diet frequently goes by many other names, including the diet of the navy, the diet of the military, and even the diet of ice cream.
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NOTE: A low-calorie weight loss diet that is said to encourage substantial weight loss in just one week is the military diet.
How Does The Military Diet Work?
For a 7-day cycle, the 3-day military diet is essentially divided into 2 stages. You must follow a fixed low-calorie meal schedule for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the first 3 days. Among meals, there are no snacks.
The average consumption of calories during this process is approximately 1,100-1,400 calories a day. This is far smaller than the diet of the typical human, although with this calculator you may verify your own calorie specifications.
You are advised to eat healthily for the remaining 4 days of the week and try to keep the calorie consumption down. Diet supporters say that once you hit your target weight, you will replicate the diet many times.
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NOTE: There is a fixed menu schedule for the first 3 days of the military diet and calorie limits are included. There are less limitations for the remaining 4 days.
The Meal Plan #1
DAY 1
Breakfast
- A piece of peanut butter toast and 2 teaspoons of toast.
- Half a Grapefruit/ Pomela
- A coffee or tea cup (optional).
Lunch
- A toast piece.
- Half the tuna cup.
- A coffee or tea cup (optional).
Dinner
- A 3-oz (85 grams) serving of a cup of green beans with beef.
- Small fruit.
- A banana in two.
One cup of ice cream with vanilla.
Day 2
This are the meals, amounting to about 1,200 calories for day 2.
Breakfast:
- A toasted piece.
- One egg, hard-boiled.
- A banana in two.
- A coffee or teacup (optional).
Lunchtime:
- One egg, hard-boiled.
- A cottage cheese cup.
- 5 crackers or a saltine.
- A coffee or teacup (optional).
Dinner:
- Two hot dogs, not a bun.
- Half a goblet of carrots and half a goblet of broccoli.
- A banana in two.
- Half a cup of ice cream with vanilla.
Day 3
Here is the menu, which amounts to about 1,100 calories for day 3.
Breakfast:
- A 1-ounce cheddar cheese sandwich.
- 5 crackers of saltine.
- Small fruit.
- A coffee or teacup (optional).
Lunchtime:
- A toasted piece.
- One egg, cooked as you wish.
- A coffee or teacup (optional).
Dinner:
- A tuna cup.
- A banana in two.
- 1 cup of ice cream with vanilla.
Feel free to drink as much coffee or tea as you want, as long as no sugar or cream calories are added. Also, drink lots of water.
Meal Plan #2
Day 1 with a diet for the military
Breakfast:
- 1/2 grapefruit
- 1 slice of bread
- 2 teaspoons of peanut butter and
- 1 cup of coffee/tea.
Lunch
- 1⁄2 cup of fish
- 1 slice of bread
- a cup of tea or coffee
Dinner:
- 2 meat slices of some sort
- 1 cup of green beans
- 1⁄2 banana
- 1 small apple
- 1 cup of vanilla ice cream
Day 2
- Breakfast: 1 egg, 1 toast slice, 1⁄2 pineapple,
- Lunch: 1 cottage cheese cup/ 1 cheddar cheese slice, 1 hard-boiled egg, 5 saltine crackers
- Dinner: 2 hot dogs, 1 cup of broccoli, 1⁄2 cup of cabbage, 1⁄2 banana, and 1⁄2 cup of ice cream vanilla
Day 3
- Breakfast-Five soda crackers, 1 cheddar cheese slice, 1 tiny apple
- Lunch-1 hard-boiled egg, 1 toast slice,
- Dinner-1 cup of fish, 1⁄2 pineapple, 1 cup of ice cream with vanilla
The 4 days left of the Diet also covers the rest of the week.
Snacks are allowed and no limits on the food category are present. You are, however, recommended to restrict portion sizes and keep the average consumption of calories below 1,500 a day.
In this post, you can find a list of websites and applications to track your calorie intake. For the remaining 4 days of the diet, there are no other guidelines.
Note: There is a fixed menu for the first 3 days of the diet, while the other 4 are less limited. For the remaining 4 days, you are always advised to eat well and to reduce calories.
Permissible additional foods
For those with dietary limitations, substitutions are permitted at the 3-day level, but servings should have the same amount of calories. For starters, you can substitute peanut butter for almond butter if you have an allergy to peanuts.
If you are a vegetarian, you can even exchange 1 cup of tuna for some almonds. All that matters is that the calories stay the same. When you change the meal plan in some way, you need calories to be counted.
Military diet advocates allow hot lemon water to be consumed, but caution against chemically sweetened drinks. There is no empirical explanation, though, that this will be a smart principle.
Note: If you have dietary limitations, you are entitled to add equal-calorie ingredients.
Is the Military Diet Reality-Based?
No experiments have been carried out on the military diet. However, because of the week-long calorie limit, the average person is more likely to lose a few pounds.
You lose weight as less calories enter the fat tissue than leave it. Word.
Diet supporters, however, argue that because of the “food combinations” in the meal plan, it has a certain weight loss advantage. These combinations are said to improve the metabolism and lose fat, but behind these statements, there is no evidence.
Coffee and green tea contain compounds that can boost the metabolism significantly, but there are no known food blends that can do this. And it simply doesn’t feel like a fat-burning diet if you look at the total items contained in the meal plan.
Protein-high diets increase metabolism better than other foods. Many of the meals in the military diet, though, are low in protein and high in calories, which is a poor weight loss combination. Some individuals also say that this diet has comparable health advantages to extended fasting. There is no fasting, though, included with the diet, so this is incorrect.
Note: As it is very low in calories, the military diet will help you lose weight. It does not, though, have a particular benefit that makes it more effective than most diets limited by calories.
Is Military Diet Safe And Sustainable?
For the normal citizen, the military diet is probably harmless because it’s too brief to do permanent harm. However, the tight limit on calories could put you at risk of nutritional shortages if you were to observe this diet for months at a time.
This is particularly true if, on your days off, you do not eat vegetables and other quality foods regularly. Furthermore, every week, eating hot dogs, crackers, and ice cream have the ability to cause metabolic problems. A normal part of your diet should not be fast food.
This diet is pretty simple to do in terms of sustainability. It does not depend on improvements in long-term behaviors and only needs willpower for a short period. That being said, while it does not make you change your habits, it certainly won’t help you hold the weight off for too long.
Note: For healthier people, the military diet is possibly effective, but it shouldn’t be practiced for long periods of time. It certainly would not lead to weight loss that lasts.
Can Military Diet Really Help Lose 10 Pounds In Week?
This diet is popular as it promises that in a week you will lose 10 pounds (4.5 kg).
Theoretically, for overweight persons who significantly limit calories, this amount of weight loss is conceivable. Most of the weight loss will, however, be due to water loss, not fat. When the body’s glycogen reserves decrease, the water weight decreases easily, which arises as you limit carbohydrates and calories. (Source)
This looks fantastic on the charts, but as you begin eating regularly again, the weight will be recovered.
Note: In a week, it is possible to lose 10 pounds. Much of this, though, would be water weight, which is recovered after you continue to eat normally.
It Will Work, But Not For Long.
If you want to easily shed a few pounds, then the military diet will help.
But you can definitely get the weight back really soon, too. For permanent weight loss, this is obviously not a healthy diet.
If you are adamant about weight loss and taking it off, so there are several ways of weight loss that are much healthier than the diet of the military.