Posted on Aug 31, 2015
SSG Warren Swan
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For those that have been on the not-so-slim side of weight in the military have you seen or experienced this? Many have the problem of Yo-Yo dieting or "cutting" weight to make H/W requirements for their respective branch or risk being chaptered. Should this be something that leaders brief their troops on along with the inherent dangers of quickly loosing weight and not keeping it off?
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Responses: 17
CW2 Michael Berthiaume
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The problem with the military is no one ever taught or put together a Nutrition plan for people. They just had them do "Remedial " PT and then hardly went past that. Physical training without Nutrition plan is not going to yield great results. I may have done 27 years in the Military but I learned 10 Times more since I have been a Coach with Beachbody. Happy to help anyone I can with their Nutrition.
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TSgt Marco McDowell
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I had a guy get gastric bypass,another get male breast reduction and another starve himself to brain damage. Maybe the DoD should take some of this sex change money and develop a services wide physical fitness SOP that can help all. Especially those who just can't maintain no matter what is the current PT program. Those guys weren't out of shape just plump and couldn't pass taping or BMI...terrible that a 25 year old is getting GB just so he can continue doing what he loves and the best offered was run more and eat vegetables.
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
9 y
Those are extremes, and agreed there could be more done to help. Maybe if DoD did away with the F-35 program it could invest more into the troops? That would include better and timley medical treatment and counseling? I also see what you mean though. Seen those model troops that are pt studs get everything, yet can't do their jobs, yet the fat kid who can do his job is hated on being he's overweight and looks bad on the CDRs stats. It's a mixed bag and not always fair
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2d Lt Kimberly Twohig-Gaddie
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Sadly saw a lot of this while working for the defense counsel office on base with people failing PT tests. We would have airmen who would do body wraps (plastic wrap with icy/hot to dehydrate the skin/stomach and lose some inches), excessive time in saunas, and similar stories already commented on. The sad part was they were so focused on the waist/weight measurement that once they passed it they didn't realize the damage they were doing to their muscles and often would fail the sit-ups portion because their muscles were so fatigued. Too many people waiting until the last minute to get in shape essentially is what it boiled down to and they ended up paying for it with paperwork.
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
9 y
Very true. I never used the wrapping method, but just about every other one I did, and know a LOT of Soldiers who also did it. But none of us thought for a second that we were jeopardizing our lives over it; just trying to pass tape and get off Top's sh*t list for awhile longer.
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2d Lt Kimberly Twohig-Gaddie
2d Lt Kimberly Twohig-Gaddie
9 y
Very true. In all honesty it resulted in a number of failures and our office having to talk with some commanders to seriously review the culture in their units where they were pushing troops to ignore injury/illness and push on through tests where they relied on such extremes to pass or would ignore injuries because they were seen as "weaker" than their peers.
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