How to diet properly while in the Army....

[dom1983]

Hey guys,

So I've been reading and taking in a lot of information on diet and nutrition. I've been trying to apply this to my daily life but being in the Army and having my 3 main meals of the day cooked for me is becoming a problem.

Firstly the Army is cheap lol, no other way to put it. They'll never use brown carbs only white (rice, pasta, breads, etc), I have no choice when it comes to just egg whites I have to put up with the yoke aswell. If it can be cooked in a big tub of frying oil it will be, this isnt so much an issue at lunch or evening but in the morning the only meat options I have are fried bacon and the worlds cheapest sausges.

So my question, will this have a massively negative impact on my dieting? Currently I am doing the best I can, and trying to hit my macro targets but its hard when I never know what the next days meal will be.

I am currently at about 16% BF and trying to get down to about 11%, and being a Paratrooper my cardio is ****ing insane, I'm just worried that if the food isnt of a high quality that it will lead me to losing too much lean muscle....

Can I make up the lack of quality foods with supps?

[MajorPectorial]

id imagine the army would atleast 'try' to give u a balanced diet in some form. I can understand.this may not exactly be 'perfect' but u may be surprised to find you may only need to add in a couple of small meals in between, where possible of course.

Have you worked out your maintenance level yet?, u can download apps to atleast give you an idea of the nutritional breakdown of your meals. Are you simply looking to cut bf?, maintain mass AND cut bf?,

if youve been there for sometime and nothings changed bf percentile wise then id suggest quite simply extra hiit style cardio its a pretty good way to burn alot of calories in a short amount of time, that carries on working even after youve stopped.

[Times Roman]

all I can say is today's chow hall, uh, sorry.....

today's defac is infinitely better than 30 years ago during my time. AND I know that when I was over at Camp Eggers a little over a year ago, fuggers got BBQ Porterhouse steak every Friday night. Damn!

....when I was in the military, I did the best with what I had. I'd peel the skin off the chicken, avoid many of the carbs and focus on the salads and whole meats.

I believe with a little determination, you can do quite well in the chow hall. You just have to be creative.

[dom1983]

id imagine the army would atleast 'try' to give u a balanced diet in some form. I can understand.this may not exactly be 'perfect' but u may be surprised to find you may only need to add in a couple of small meals in between, where possible of course.

Have you worked out your maintenance level yet?, u can download apps to atleast give you an idea of the nutritional breakdown of your meals. Are you simply looking to cut bf?, maintain mass AND cut bf?,

if youve been there for sometime and nothings changed bf percentile wise then id suggest quite simply extra hiit style cardio its a pretty good way to burn alot of calories in a short amount of time, that carries on working even after youve stopped.

I'm looking to try and maintain what I have at the minute and cut down to about 11% BF. I'd rather not add anymore HIIT to my weekly cardio load out as I do 5 sessions of cardio a week in work lol I havent actively catalogued my weight and bf% before but I'm starting as I want to hit that 11% as qucik and as healthy as possible.

all I can say is today's chow hall, uh, sorry.....

today's defac is infinitely better than 30 years ago during my time. AND I know that when I was over at Camp Eggers a little over a year ago, fuggers got BBQ Porterhouse steak every Friday night. Damn!

....when I was in the military, I did the best with what I had. I'd peel the skin off the chicken, avoid many of the carbs and focus on the salads and whole meats.

I believe with a little determination, you can do quite well in the chow hall. You just have to be creative.

Yea I'm British Army lol, I don't think our kitchens have the money you Armericans have :P But your right I'll have to get creative with my mains in the cookhouse and then try and make up for it in my snacks and supplements

The Army arent interested in me cutting bf% they just wanna load me full of carbs and smash me on phys all day lol

[Times Roman]

I'm looking to try and maintain what I have at the minute and cut down to about 11% BF. I'd rather not add anymore HIIT to my weekly cardio load out as I do 5 sessions of cardio a week in work lol I havent actively catalogued my weight and bf% before but I'm starting as I want to hit that 11% as qucik and as healthy as possible.



Yea I'm British Army lol, I don't think our kitchens have the money you Armericans have :P But your right I'll have to get creative with my mains in the cookhouse and then try and make up for it in my snacks and supplements

The Army arent interested in me cutting bf% they just wanna load me full of carbs and smash me on phys all day lol

Interesting.

I lived in Germany for awhile, and ate at one of their chow halls. food kinda sucked. BUT I thought it was pretty cool they had a self serve beer dispenser. I usually floated out of the german chow hall, feeling no pain.........

....but I only ate there maybe three times.

[dom1983]

Yea, I'm sure it was the same in the American forces. They want you battle ready, and counting macros to cut bf% isnt really optimal for a soldier. I usually do my morning PT in a fasted state but my performance really suffers for it, especially on the 11 mile speed runs............

Horrible, but if I loaded up on carns for the run then after it I wouldnt be in a better place BF wise, sure I'd be getting fitter but I'm fit enough lol I wanna start cutting up :P

[Times Roman]

I was a competitive distance runner in the Army. was always worried about my weight. didn't know the science behind the training, but knew to avoid all the sugary shit, focus on whole foods, and eat lots of salad. I always ate my fill to keep my energy up.

and I knew to stay hydrated. well, I guess a knew a little about the science of training, but nothing compared to what we know today.

I'd suggest to always eat your fill, keep your clean protein intake up, and really load up on the salads with no salad dressing. And (this is important), only drink water.

[dom1983]

thanks for the advice, I have a post in the supplments thread where I list out my supps and and training in detail, but not so much my diet. I'm gonna edit it soon with a detailed break down of my diet and turn the post in a progress blog. SO hopefully the community can help me stay on track cause as we both know its far too easy to abandon everything for a night out on the town with the troops lol

[Times Roman]

thanks for the advice, I have a post in the supplments thread where I list out my supps and and training in detail, but not so much my diet. I'm gonna edit it soon with a detailed break down of my diet and turn the post in a progress blog. SO hopefully the community can help me stay on track cause as we both know its far too easy to abandon everything for a night out on the town with the troops lol

you are right. when you keep a diet log as you suggest, it helps keep you motivated, AND accountable to your goals.

and of course, the critics will chime in when they see you eating choco ice cream with whipped cream on top!! =)

[CHUDmac]

I don't know how British bases are set up, but in the USMC, we had mess halls and commissaries (on-base grocery stores). I would go to the mess hall if I didn't have a chance to get to the commissary, but normally I would go grocery shopping and stock up on chicken, steaks, shrimp, and salmon.

In the morning, I would plug in my single-burner "hot plate" and cook up an omelet with some mushrooms, peppers, onions, spinach, and steak.

When I'd get off of work, I'd use one of the grills outside the barracks and cook something. If you don't have barbeque grills outside the barracks, grab a hot plate or a George Foreman-type plug-in "grill" and use that.