The Marine Corps made me fat!

[97Cobra]

Well not really but it made a good title. I went from 285lbs to 205lbs this June. I decided I lost all this weight there's no reason I couldn't become a US Marine. Well, I left for 13 weeks of boot camp and graduated on time then went onto Marine Combat raining for 4 weeks and now I'm at my duty station. I was so active and eating so well that when I went to boot camp and MCT I actually got in worse shape and put on 15lbs of pure fat. I put on alot at MCT where we were eating MRE's 3 times a day (about 5000 calories). So now I need to get back into my old regiment of working out and losing weight which has been very hard after spending the past 6 months outside of my routine. Now I have no kitchen to cook my meals and have to eat at the chow hall for every meal so it's hard to eat like I was. Anybody have any ideas on how to eat well to lose fat at a chow hall?

[SDC77]

I've never seen an overweight Marine before. Did you guys not do much PT at MCT? I know MREs aren't geard towards health..... just calories..... but still, I find it odd that you gained pure fat.

I'm sure the mess hall has chicken/beef/brown rice/veggies, etc. Just get back on the wagon with your working out and eat as well as you can in the chow hall and you'll drop the weight.

[darksix]

the chow hall should have plenty of things to choose from for you to make a healthy diet. and mre's....if you are worried about calorie intake. dont eat the "crap" fillers in them. ie: pound cake, snack bread etc. MRE's were designed to sustain a solder one per day, hence why they have a range of 2000-2500 cals per mre (if you eat everything in it)

[venegasra]

It's not the Marines that made you fat nor the MRE's. You should of not ate all that's inside the MRE. Use common sense, I'm a former Marine(5 years) and was never overweight because of the food they served at the chow hall. You need to do more research and make a meal plan. There is plenty of food at the chow hall that you can eat in a healthy way. And if you need to, buy canned tuna and eat that as a snack between meals. I'm currently in Iraq and believe me, I eat at the chow hall everyday. They got so much unhelathy ****, but they also have what it takes to survive a bodybuilders eating habits. My diet consists of chicken breast, tuna, white rice, boiled eggs, grapefruit, oatmeal and lots, and i mean lots of water. I do HIIT every other day and work out twice a day. Here is what I eat:

Meal 1 0630
5 boiled eggs
1 cup of oatmeal
1 skim milk
1/2 grapefruit

Meal 2 1000
5 boiled eggs
1/2 grapefruit

Meal 3 1230
2 chicken breasts
1 cup of white rice
1 cup of steamed broccoli
1 medium salad
Total
Meal 4 1500
Canned Tuna

Meal 5 1800
2 chicken breasts
Tuna
Total
Meal 6 8:00pm
Tuna Can

I've eating this everyday for the past month and a half. On saturdays, I eat whatever I want for one meal. This is your body and only you can make it change, you are in total control of yourself and no one else is. So stop making excuses and get to work. Semper Fidelis.....

[cominbak]

your problem could just be motivation, follow that devil dogs diet he gave you and make sure you burn more calories than u take in. one thing i would personally change is instead of the white rice eat a slice of whole grain/whole wheat tuna. this same thing happened to me and now im gettin in a lot better shape. i watch a lot of body building motivational videos on youtube right before a workout and that gets me pumped. oorah devil

[chaunce54]

Just make good food choices at the chow hall. One thing I found that might make it easier when in the military is intermittent fasting. I used to skip breakfast and lunch, and just ate a big meal at dinner time. You can also buy healthy food and snacks at the commisary, but I know you probably don't have a lot of room to store it if you live in the barracks, but keeping some bananas, apples and such around to snack on wouldn't be a bad idea.

[BlueMiles]

Well not really but it made a good title. I went from 285lbs to 205lbs this June. I decided I lost all this weight there's no reason I couldn't become a US Marine. Well, I left for 13 weeks of boot camp and graduated on time then went onto Marine Combat raining for 4 weeks and now I'm at my duty station. I was so active and eating so well that when I went to boot camp and MCT I actually got in worse shape and put on 15lbs of pure fat. I put on alot at MCT where we were eating MRE's 3 times a day (about 5000 calories). So now I need to get back into my old regiment of working out and losing weight which has been very hard after spending the past 6 months outside of my routine. Now I have no kitchen to cook my meals and have to eat at the chow hall for every meal so it's hard to eat like I was. Anybody have any ideas on how to eat well to lose fat at a chow hall?

Man, I had the same problem, out of boot camp I was a ripped, but the problem is that the feed you MRE like you said about 5000 calories a piece. Keep this in check or it WILL bite you in the butt. The chow hall has some VERY good food but try to stay away from the bad choice IE burgers, pizzas, fries, etc... they do have different options at least in Lejune the different chow halls they usually has a FAT option and a healthier option. Where are you stationed, if it's Lejune try going to the Navy show hall at the hospital you have to pay like 1.50 but they have better options and the food taste better IMO.

[pacificd]

I know Navy guys who gained at great lakes (apparently it is all you can eat buffet)

and same with ships, dudes I know got fatter.

[BlueMiles]

I know Navy guys who gained at great lakes (apparently it is all you can eat buffet)

and same with ships, dudes I know got fatter.

It all depends what you eat though. I was on the USS Shreveport and they had a fat pill option and a healthy option always.

[Verbalcody]

Umm what's an MRE I'm curious as to what 5000 calories in a meal looks like!

[BlueMiles]

Umm what's an MRE I'm curious as to what 5000 calories in a meal looks like!

It stands for Meal Ready to Eat... they come is small vacuum sealed bags with a meal like beef stew, pound cake, candy, coffee, some drink mix, gum, matches, a heating element, peanut butter, some cocoa powder (you mix the cocoa and peanut butter to make grunt pudding), cheese spread, some huge crackers. Just search for MRE in Google images.

PS. the 5000 calorie thing was an exaggeration they are like 1500 calories depending on the MRE though. But eat three of those and thats 4500 calories right there.