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What Is The 3 Day Military Diet?
The 3 day military diet is is hot topic right now. It is a popular diet plan because it promises to help you lose weight fast, and is easy to follow. It has nothing to do with the military by the way, but it actually can help you lose weight. It works by restricting calories. The 7 day military diet plan involves 3 days on and 4 days off the diet. On the 3 days on, you eat from a set menu of around 1200 calories per day. On the 4 days off, you’re allowed to eat whatever you want, as long as it is below 1500 calories per day. It is an easy and inexpensive diet.
Does The Military Diet Work?
Some advocates of the 3 day military diet claim that you can lose up to 10 pounds in week. This claim is an exaggeration. You will most likely lose weight on this diet as you’re cutting back on calories for 3 days in the week. But, the amount of weight you lose depends on your ability to keep on a low-calorie regimen for the rest of the week too. Your chances of losing weight increase if you repeat the diet over a period of a few weeks.
Is The Military Diet Safe?
With foods like ice-cream and hot dogs on the menu, this diet is not exactly healthy. In the short term though for losing a few pounds it it is likely safe. It is not a sustainable long term solution for weight management. It is an easy diet to follow as it has a pre-planned menu of food that is easy to cook up. The downside is that there are no lasting health benefits. For that, you need to eat a balanced diet including lots of vegetables.
Military Diet Picture Guide
Here is an picture guide for a quick overview of the foods contained in the 3 day diet menu
Here is breakdown of what foods to eat at each meal on the 3 day diet:
| Day | Meal | Foods To Eat |
|---|---|---|
|
DAY 1 |
Breakfast |
A slice of toast with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. Half a grapefruit. A cup of coffee or tea (optional). |
|
DAY 1 |
Lunch |
A slice of toast. Half a cup of tuna. A cup of coffee or tea (optional). |
|
DAY 1 |
Dinner |
A 3-oz (85 grams) serving of meat with a cup of green beans. A small apple. Half a banana. One cup vanilla ice cream. |
|
DAY 2 |
Breakfast |
A slice of toast. One hard-boiled egg. Half a banana. A cup of coffee or tea (optional). |
|
DAY 2 |
Lunch |
One hard-boiled egg. A cup of cottage cheese. 5 saltine crackers. A cup of coffee or tea (optional). |
|
DAY 2 |
Dinner |
Two hot dogs, with no bun. Half a cup of carrots and half a cup of broccoli. Half a banana. Half a cup of vanilla ice cream. |
|
DAY 3 |
Breakfast |
A 1-ounce slice of cheddar cheese. 5 saltine crackers. A small apple. A cup of coffee or tea (optional). |
|
DAY 3 |
Lunch |
A slice of toast. One egg, cooked however you like. A cup of coffee or tea (optional). |
|
DAY 3 |
Dinner |
A cup of tuna. Half a banana. 1 cup of vanilla ice cream. |
Printable 3 Day Military Diet
For your convenience, here is a printable 3 day military diet PDF for the original 3 day military diet plan shown above. This printable military diet includes a 3 day diet grocery list of the foods included in the original diet plan. Substitutions for the military diet can be found below in our interactive military diet menu planner.
Military Diet Menu Substitutions
Any type of bread will work, though whole grain bread is more nutritious. You can also eat crackers or cereal in place of toast, as long as the calorie value is the same. Other alternative are high protein bars, yogurt and rice cakes.
Any type of nut butter can be substituted for peanut butter such as almond butter, soy butter, cashew butter or hummus.
As long as you don’t add sugar, or choose a sweetened beverage, you can replace this with an energy drink or other teas like green tea. Remember that calories must be the same.
Many people have fish allergies or simply don’t like tuna. If this is the case for you, swap out tuna with lean meat. You could also substitute with cottage cheese, nuts, hummus or avocado. Again the key is to keep calorie value the same as the original item.
Eggs can be replaced with milk, seeds, nuts or avocado. As long as calorie amount is the same.
You can substitute with any type of lean meat or poultry that you enjoy. If you are vegetarian than have lentils, beans or tofu instead, keeping calorie count the same.
You can substitute any of the vegetable items on the menu with the same calorie amount of any other vegetable that you enjoy such as spinach, kale, broccoli, squash, beets, celery or bell peppers.
Substitute bananas and apples with other fruits of the same calorie value. Examples are kiwi fruit, apricots, papaya, grapes, and plums.
You can substitute cheddar cheese with cottage cheese, or plain Greek yogurt. Vegetarians and vegans can have tofu or unsweetened almond milk instead. Again, be careful to no exceed calorie amounts.
Ice cream can be substituted with yogurt or sorbets, or a flavoured almond milk of the same calorie value.
Interactive Military Diet Menu Planner
To make it easy for you, we have created an interactive meal planner for the military diet which is also a printable military diet plan. For each day, select foods for each meal from the the options provided. The first item on each list is from the original 3 day military diet, and the other options are substitutions for the military diet foods. The military diet menu substitutions are foods with similar calorie values. You can view the total calories for each meal and also for each day. You can have a military diet print out of your daily selections. If you’re thinking of starting the military diet, dive right in!