This is a diet that lives up to its name. It even has a boot camp phase. If you’re looking to tone your body, lose weight, and reshape your figure, the Hardcore Military Diet is the best option we can find. We think this one originated from the Roman army diet, though we can’t be sure. In any case, the Hardcore Military Diet (sometimes called the Army Diet) is one of the most popular for rapid weight loss and muscle toning.
Warning: This diet is not for the casual dieter or for someone who needs to be skinny by the weekend. We have other strategies that you can read about here.
The Hardcore Military Diet is for those who need to get into the best shape of their lives and do it fast. It is a serious approach to a permanent, life-long steely body. If you’ve never been able to picture yourself that way, think again. You can do this. It’s completely possible. Thousands and thousands of people achieve it every day.
There is one caveat. You have to want it. That’s the only real warning. I mention this because most people who say they want to lose weight and get a fierce body don’t want it enough to do even the simplest things to get there. If you’re not up for it, you don’t even need to keep reading.
If you are up for it, what you’re reading right now is probably going to change your life.
What We Like About the Hardcore Military Diet
Most of the other diets you’ll come across in a simple Google search are based on some specific or convoluted premise. Things like depleting your body’s reserves until you’re in a ketogenic state (this can literally put you in the hospital). Or starving yourself on 1200 calories a day (you can never harden your body with muscle this way).
The Hardcore Military Diet is designed to turn your body into a fine-tuned machine. Even if you have no plans to join the army or participate in the military, you probably have 10 other reasons for wanting a military-grade body. Man or woman. Who doesn’t want to be that f*cking fierce?
We like that this diet is backed by scientific evidence and provides a platform you can live on the rest of your life without trying to survive on birdseed and flax or some nonsense. In other words, you get to eat real food. That’s actually the point of this diet, and we’ll get to that in a minute.
The Hardcore Military Diet does not rely on supplements pills or any other recurring costs. The idea is that you get all the nutrients you need from the actual food you’re eating. We don’t like setting people up to be dependent on pills to be healthy. The only exception is taking in some protein powder when you’re actively bodybuilding.
The Hardcore Military diet is not a crash diet. If you’re looking for the crash diet version, you can find it here.
The more weight you have to lose, the faster you’ll see results, but this diet is intended as a lifelong change for lifelong weight loss.
You can definitely use the Hardcore Military Diet temporarily, but why? The results are worth keeping.
Who is Best Suited for an Army Grade Diet?
· People who are dead serious about making a lasting life change. This diet isn’t meant for a short-term dieter or for someone who wants to drop a few pounds. It’s for that small minority of people who are looking for a way to be lean for life.
· It’s an ideal solution for people who don’t have a lot of money to spend on a weight loss plan. It requires no membership, no recurring supplements or pills you have to buy. Just the right food at the right time.
· Dieters who don’t have time to let their new “diet” dominate every aspect of their lives. Because there is so much flexibility in this Military Diet, it’s easy to stick to, even in social situations. A lifelong change isn’t going to work if the rules are too hard to remember or too hard to follow on a consistent basis.
How the Army Military Diet Causes Weight Loss
One of the biggest causes of weight gain, overeating, and hunger is nutritional deficiency. Sounds confusing at first but think about it. Your body begs you for nutrients with a hunger signal. When you give it food that lacks meaningful nutritional value like amino acids, vitamins and minerals, it soon asks for food again because the nutritional need has not been met. This cycle quickly leads to obesity because the hunger only gets worse over time.
The Hardcore Military Diet breaks the cycle of nutritional lack by replacing junk food with real food. You’ll be amazed at how fast your hunger dissipates when your body has all the nutrition it needs.
When Dr. David Katz of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center was asked to review all of the most popular diets and choose the best one, his final answer was real, whole food.
Here’s a link to an article written about this story in the Atlantic Science Compared Every Diet, and the Winner Is Real Food
The gist of the article is that after comparing the most popular diets and fads, the one with the best long-term outcomes for weight loss, health issues and lifespan was a whole-food diet.
It’s no coincidence that the Hardcore Military Diet is a strictly whole food. It doesn’t even allow for juicing because so much of the nutritional value is lost in the process. That’s how big this is. Nutrition equals a fit body. Lack of nutrition equals fat, hunger, and tiredness.
What Does This Diet Involve?
In short, real food burns fat and tones muscle. Avoidance of food that makes you flabby and soft.
The first three weeks of the diet is a period called boot camp. It’s tougher and way stricter on what you can and can’t eat during boot camp. This portion of the diet resets your metabolism and clears your body of any foods that can contribute to weight gain.
After boot camp, the Hardcore Military Diet is very similar to other whole-food diets with a list of permitted and restricted foods.
What people like the most is how easy it is to find the foods required for the diet. Most of them are in the produce, dairy, or meat and fish department of any grocery store. For the most part, you don’t even need to go into the other aisles. It makes shopping quick and easy.
There are meal plans you can follow that take any guessing out of the equation, or you can simply use the foods list to know which foods to eat or avoid.
The Military Diet combines the right combination of protein, good fats, and carbohydrates to create the most desirable outcomes for toning your body.
FOODS YOU CAN EAT
Fruit: Any fruit in its natural state (not dried, candied, or canned). It can be fresh from the produce section or found in the freezer section. Fruit can be used as a snack, a sweetener, or most commonly as dessert in the Hardcore Military Diet.
Vegetables: Any vegetable that is not fried or breaded can be consumed in any quantity. Sources can be the produce section, canned or frozen. Vegetables should be served straight up. No sauces, cheeses, or other decorations. Salt and pepper with a squeeze of lemon is perfect.
Nuts: Any nuts in moderation. They should not be salted or sweetened in any way. Again, served straight up, without complications.
Meat: The Army Military Diet encourages you to eat meat. It’s the most efficient way to tone your muscles and make your body hard (even if you’re not looking to bulk up). You can eat all the meat, even the hamburger. Purchase in the meat section only. No pre-prepared meat. It must be fresh and unadulterated (no bacon or processed meat like deli meats). Prepare in its simplest form with salt and pepper. No dressing it up with sauces.
Fish: You can eat as much fish as you want on the Hardcore Military Diet. It’s awesome for the kind of goals you’re trying to achieve. Fresh, frozen, or canned. It cannot be breaded or fried, just plain fish. We told you this diet was simple.
Dairy and Eggs: You’re getting the idea by now that you can eat pretty much any pure food in a simple state. Dairy and eggs can be consumed as you wish—go light with the cheese and heavy cream. No sweeteners were added and no non-fat. That’s right. Full-fat dairy and yogurt only. Eggs will be a superfood for this diet. You can eat them daily for breakfast and start seeing results right away. Again, they need to be prepared in a very simple state. No butter, no cheese.
FOODS YOU CAN NOT EAT
Processed: These foods are not real food and your body has to work extra hard to derive nutrients from them. This makes it impossible to lose fat or to gain muscle. Pretty much anything that comes out of a bag, a drive-through window, or a pre-packaged section of the grocery store.
Refined Grains: Anything made with white rice or flour. This includes bread, buns, crackers, pasta, cakes and cookies.
Juice: Even if you juice it yourself. Fruit juice spikes your blood sugar, creating a domino effect in your body that leads to fat gain.
Beverages: Soda, fruit juice, sweetened coffee drinks, shakes, and nearly all smoothies.
Crap Food: Nothing fried, no fast food, nothing you can buy at a gas station or mini-mart.
In addition to the foods list above, the Hardcore Military Diet requires very good hydration with water, especially in the early stages of weight loss. And definitely during boot camp.
You can find a link to a comprehensive list of foods on the do and do not eat list, as well as a 3-week meal plan to get you through the boot camp phase.
Vegan and Vegetarian Options
You can do the Hardcore Military Diet as a vegan or vegetarian, but it is not recommended because of the emphasis on protein for muscle toning and fat flushing. Muscles literally cannot grow without the complete body of proteins. If you are a very experienced vegan or vegetarian and educated on sources of plant-based protein, this diet will work for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
Pros and Cons of the Hardcore Military Diet
Pros:
· It’s the only diet we’ve found that results in a combination of rapid weight loss, increased energy and improved health all at once.
· It doesn’t rely on pills or supplements, which we appreciate. The Military Diet provides you with all the amino acids, vitamins and minerals you need to lose weight and tone your body without taking any artificial supplements.
· It’s less a diet and more a life choice. We like that a lot. You can maintain the Hardcore Military Diet all your life, in a less hardcore way and stay in kick ass shape without ever having to “go” on another diet. It’s a permanent answer to staying nice and lean.
· It’s easy to find the food you need at any grocery store and easy to prepare the food because the strategy is to keep it simple.
· The army Military Diet is not a calorie-counting diet. When you’re eating nothing but real food, you don’t have to count calories. Also a plus.
Cons:
· This is not a quick fix. It’s meant to be a broader life improvement, meaning the only way to get lasting results is to stay on it permanently.
· If you’re used to eating mostly crap, the diet is going to feel highly restrictive because of all the foods you will no longer be allowed to eat. Hence the name Hardcore Military.
· It requires a significant commitment that goes beyond a week or a few days. Many people who want results may not actually be ready to commit to such a lasting change. We recommend these folks commit to one-week chunks at a time and see how long they can make it last. You might surprise yourself.
· People with severely bad eating habits, may experience a few days of extreme fatigue, moodiness, and brain fog while the body adjusts.
· It doesn’t include an exercise program. It’s weight loss without exercise, which is fine. But if you want to build muscle, you have to find your own exercise routine.
Tips for Success with the Military Diet
1. Reach for water before food when you feel hungry. When we’ve limited our body’s access to nutrition, it can start to feel hungry all the time. Often times what you’re craving is water, not food. One cup of hot water will fill up your stomach like a bowl of soup. If you still feel hungry after downing 8 ounces, go ahead and eat.
2. Commit to at least the first three weeks, of the boot camp phase. Even if you don’t stay on it for life, you’ll get a taste of what it’s like to live really clean. Your body will have a chance to recover from what you’ve been putting it through. Your cells will receive some much-needed nutrients and you really will feel better than you have in years.
3. Pair the diet with an exercise program. If you’re not up for a big effort, just add simple walking every day. It will increase your circulation and help your body absorb all the nutrients you’re feeding it.
4. Find someone to do it with you. Our friends can be our worst enemies when it comes to breaking bad eating routines. If you have at least one buddy supporting you, you’re a lot less likely to cave—especially in social settings.
5. Lastly, take measurements and your weight before you start. Recheck it in at the end of the initial 3 weeks. After that, step on the scale every morning after you’ve gone to the bathroom but before you’ve eaten or drank anything. Watch the pounds glide away.