The Military Diet is well-known for its promise to lose 10 pounds after three days. As an experiment to test the validity of the diet’s promise, for three consecutive day I strictly followed the food the diet assigned. I recorded my weight at the start of Day 1 and the foods I ate.

Truthfully, the diet was awful yet somewhat bearable. Yes, it did work in a way. I lost 5 pounds but, was the diet worth it?

Day 1 started off nicely with a satisfying breakfast. Before lunch, I did develop cravings for a snack and sweets. During the three days, you are not allowed to eat between meals or other foods than what is listed. When lunch came, the difficulty began when I saw everyone with their more pleasing food. Dinner wasn’t any different when I solely ate my dull meal.

Day 2 wasn’t any better. Breakfast didn’t fill me up as much as the day before. Lunch was good, but was as filling as bird food. Usually when I get home from school I get hungry. Instead I had to wait anxiously until dinner. From that moment on, the only thing I looked forward to was my next meal.

The hardest day had to be the third. It felt like I barely had anything to eat. I was optimistic and told myself that it was the last day.

Although substitutions are not recommended, I researched alternative foods you could eat since I am a vegetarian. Instead of eating 3 ounces of meat for dinner on Day 1, I ate 3 ounces of portobello mushrooms. For dinner on Day 2, I ate a veggie patty instead of the two hot dogs that were assigned. For all three days, I ate greek yogurt instead of the cup of vanilla ice cream it required.

My substitutions could have interfered with the end result of weight loss. However, results may vary for each person who take on this diet. The amount weight lost at the end of three days can depend on the commitment, age, gender, weight and body a person has. Personally, the diet did work even if I didn’t reach the 10 pound weight loss. There is no guarantee that you will lose 10 pounds, 5 pounds or any weight if you perform this diet.

Despite losing 5 pounds, I personally would not recommend this diet. You eat less than your recommended calorie consumption. You eat a decent amount of food, but you are hungry throughout the day. This diet is not the appropriate way to lose weight.

After the diet, I returned to my regular eating habits. I typically have a few snacks between my 3 meals. After the three dreadful days people will began to overeat. Some assume they can eat unhealthy foods since they’ve lost weight. This just contradicts the entire ideology of a diet.

Losing weight requires exercise and healthy eating. You also need to have the strength to decline the unhealthy foods. It’s also  okay to indulge in fried foods now and then.What I learned during the three days, was that the most important thing in a diet is commitment.