How to meet the weight requirements for US military enlistment.

It happens to the best of us. We get lazy and quit watching what we eat, or we become stressed and loose the time or motivation to exercise. However, if you have plans to join the United States Armed Forces, then those bad habits will only bring you grief.

I'm speaking from experience. I dropped thirty pounds in a few months for the Air Force, and I am still struggling to stay at weight while I'm in the delayed enlistment program.

If you are truly committed to joining a branch of the military, then from experience, I suggest that you loose the weight the right way. Other wise if you cheat you way (by dropping 5 pounds overnight of water weight), it will only cause you more headaches while you wait to ship out to basic training. I will talk about a few ways to job a few pounds too quickly, because chances are if you are going to do that, then you've already made you mind up about it. The least I can do is to help you do it the healthiest way possible so that you do not cause yourself long-term bodily harm.

The first step to forming healthy habits that will lead to a prosperous military career, is to identify the problems that have caused you to become overweight. This is no time to make excuses. You have to be honest with your self.

Some causes could be:

• You have been over weight all of you life.
• You have become lazy about your eating habits.
• You have become lazy about exercising.
• You have loss your motivation for exercising.
• Unhealthy weight-loss habits have slowed down your metabolism.
• You have over scheduled your life.

Any reason can be overcame. It will just take time, patience, and hard-work. All of which will be required once you join the military.

Each branch of military has different weight requirements. The weight requirement depend on your height and age. They also can do a body fat percentage.

Air Force Requirements:

A recruit must be 4'10" or taller to enlist, and at this height the minimum weight is 91 pounds and the max weight is 131 pounds. With each inch increase the minimum weight increases by 3-4 pounds and the maximum weight increases by 5 pounds.

Under 30:

• Males must have no more than 20% body fat composition.
• Females cna have no more than 28% body fat composition.

For the direct weight/height requirements for the Air Force click here.

Army and National Guard

Men must be five foot tall, while females can be 4'10". With each inch the min/max weight increases by about 4 pounds, and with each age bracket the weight requirements change more so than most other military branches. The female weight max at 4'8" is 109 for recruits with prior military servece, and the max is 112 for recruits who have not previously served with the Armed Forces that are between the ages of 17 and 20. For males the max weight

• Females must not be over 30% body fat composition. (For a non-prior service member age 17-20)
• Males must not excede a body fat compostion of 24%. (For a non-prior service member age 17-20)

For the direct weight/height requirements for the Army and Army National Guard click here.

Coast Guard

The Coast Guard has a measuring system, that to be honest, I have no idea about. The determine max weight by height and "frame size." The frame size is determined by measuring the circumfrence of the wrist where the two bones stick out like little "knobs." To be sure, just ask a recruiter or check out this website.

• Females under 30 years old can not have a body fat index of above 33%.
• Males under 30 years old cannot have a body fat index of above 23%.

Marines

For the weight requirements for themarins check here.

Navy

For the Naval weight requirements check here.

There are a ton of ways to quickly loose weight, however few of them are healthy or will keep the weight off long-term. Remember that you are commiting to a long term lifestyle change, however if you are convinced that you want to loose the weight quickly, sign those paper, and worry about the consequences later, there are a few things you can do.

Loosing weight is a fairly simple process. You have to intake less calories than you burn during the day. Most people burn roughly 2,000 calories a day, so to maintain weight a normal person would aim to consume about 1,850 calories a day. I generally aim for less calories than needed, simply because I know that I am bad about "secret calories" or calories that don't make themselves aware.

It's generally accepted that one pound is about 3,500 calories. So to loose a pound you would need a negative amount of 3,500 calories. To loose weight healthily, you should never consume less than 1,000 calories in a day.

To see the time that it would take you to loose the amount, multiple the number of pounds that you need to loose times 3,500. Then figure out your caloric goal. Are you aiming for 1,000 calories a day, 1,500 calories a day, or whatever other amount that you are looking to consume. Then factor in your amount of exercise that you plan to do daily (running 1 mile=100 calories).

Depending on your current metabolism, if you cut your calories down to 1,500 a day and run/walk/jog 5 miles a day, then you will loose about two pounds a week. At first you may loose slightly more, so as your body adjusts you may need to add more exercise or eat slightly less.

If you cut your daily intake to 1,000 and continue to run 5 miles a day, then you should be loosing about a pound every two days. I do not suggest eating less than 1,000 calories a day, especially if you plan to exercise vigorously.

Also, stay away from all soda, processed foods, and salt. Period. No arguing or moaning. These foods are only going to hinder your weight loss.

Do not take pills or supplements to loose the weight. They check your urine and you have to tell them ALL the medication that you have taken in the past week. I told them about a Midol that I had taken two days before, and I was disqualified for two weeks because the doctor said that it is causes water weight loss.

You could always take the pills and just not tell them, however this runs the risk of something funky coming up in the urine test, and you being disqualified for a lot longer. (I believe 180 days)

A simple way to loose weight is to sweat. This will not be a permenant loss, and the weight will return as soon as you rehydrate, so this is done the night before. Don't start to dehydrate yourself too soon, because it will cause you to become weak and not preform as well at the MEPS station. There are a few wrestlers/weight lifting techniques to loose this water weight.

The first is using plastic wrap. Any type of standard kitchen grade plastic wrap will work. You wrap the plastic wrap around your body, touching your skin, on as many places as possible, especsiall your stomach and thighs. Then dress in layers of clothing to begin to overheat yourself. You can try just sleeping like this, or if you are farther away from you goal for the next morning, work out with the wrap on. This can also be achieved wearing multiple layers of clothing and a trash bag.

There are two other ways to quickly loose weight through water weight loss: dry saunas and immersing your body in water that is as hot as possible, but not burning. These two work the same in that they force your body to sweat. DO NOT combine the plastic wrap with the sauna or hot water, it can fuse to your skin and cause major burns.

You can also try taking ex-lax or other diaretics starting a few days before and only eat liquids for a few days to help clear out your bowels. I can loose five pounds in two days with this.

Always remember that these will not actually get you to your weight. You may be at weight when the nurse asks you to step on the scale, but the moment you begin to rehydrate and eat solid foods you will gain the weight back (and normally plus some).