Junior in high school looking to enlist

[Jshrz]

You need to be eating breakfast!....something light. Maybe a few eggs and toast, a small portion of oatmeal and a banana, even a simple bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. You need something in the morning to spike insulin levels and you will actually burn more calories through out the day.

Yeah so ive been told haha. I dont think their has ever been a time where i have consistently eaten breakfast.

[Jshrz]

And 24 more pounds to go! From the research I have done, This is about where a good majority of people start off, weight loss wise.

If you want to be the best join the best.

[Tennessee Top]

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Your body needs fuel to get started. It does not have to be big or full of fat/carbs and you don't even need to sit down; eat it on the run if need be. Some fresh fruit and real fruit juice (with no added sugar) is better than nothing. Alternate that with hot cereal (oatmeal) or cold cereal (not the brands coated with sugar) and skim milk or 2% fat milk.

Keep up the good work and never take your eyes off the target!

[MOS4429]

Jshrz, you have received some good advice. I am going to offer a bit different perspective, though. Yes, breakfast is important, but the idea of eating a lot of carbohydrates for breakfast, i.e., fruits and grains (oatmeal, etc.) is a bit off kilter. It is based on the American pyramid diet (you can google it to see the structure), and the APD has at the bottom as the most we should eat grains, and then next most fruits and vegetables, and on up it goes with meat at the top. This is a good plan...if you are a cow and you want to pack it on for the slaughter!

Otherwise, the APD is upside down practically. Even the Mediterranean pyramid is better than the American. Chowing down on a bunch of carbs in the morning is not that great for you. You'd be better off going with the Paleo Diet in all honesty, but most people don't like it too much. Having coached runners and swimmers for 12 years now, I can say one of the most neglected foods consumed for recovery is protein. Everybody talks about carbo-loading, but if you are like most, you probably eat a lot of carbs anyway. I read one of your posts where you said you ate a can of tuna and a bottle of water for breakfast. That's better than a bowl of oatmeal!

A couple other good breakfast options are your own "diet" shake where you can make it as a shake or a smoothie. The Balanced Diet nutritional drink is one option. Another is make your own. Try mixing and blending something like one cup frozen, unsweetened blueberries; 1/2 banana; 1/4 cup wheat germ, two scoops protein powder and water. You can google "protein fruit smoothies breakfast" and come up with a bunch of recipes. Easy to make, drink a large glass, and put the rest in the frig for later.

I also read where you were running I believe 6 miles a week x 3 and josephd recommended reducing it to once a week x 2-3 miles and adding sprints. Your heart rate is reflective of the intensity of your aerobic workout. It is a little more complicated than what was indicated, but you need to know your heart rate max. There is a generic formula that some use which is 220 - your age. So if you are 17, that would be 203 as a maximum heart rate for your age. If you want to burn fat, you want to exercise where your heart rate is 60 to 70 percent of 203, which would be exercising around 120 to 140 beats per minute (BPM). That will generally be a sustained pace just a little bit faster than jog. Jog is a very slow warm-up or cool-down pace. The peak fat burn zone has been documented at 55 to 72% of max heart rate. 203 x .55 or .72 will get you there. To burn more calories, then you want to exercise more in the neighborhood of 70 to 80 percent or about 140 to 160 BPM. This is going to be a quicker pace, what we would call interval or fartlek or surge or progression pace, but not sprint. If you just do sprints, you will be exercising closer to 90 to 100% max heart rate. In lay terms, this is anaerobic exercise. Sustained heart rate for too long a period of time will cause your body to burn less, but mixing it up will burn more.

In other words, the best type of running you can do is a mix of steady state, tempo, farleks, surging, progression runs and sprints. Sprints are good for increasing your metabolism, coupled with equal rest periods and are good to do, say, at the end of a distance run, something like 4 miles steady pace, 5 minute cool down, 10 x 100m 80 to 90% max sprint or strides with equal distance walk back. Keep in mind in boot camp, unless it has greatly changed, you will need a strong aerobic system based on endurance in order to sustain the distance as opposed to sprints.

Keep up the good work, and feel free to fire a PM my way if you need ideas at developing a running plan. I personally like using an 8-week or 12-week running plan because you can set your goals and measure your success better.

[Jshrz]

Wow thank you for that informative post! I will definitely shoot a PM your way but it will be hard to find motivation to run since mother nature has found her new home up here in Ohio!

[willisra]

I served 4 years in the Marine Corps, 1964-68.
If you are serious about joining you should loose the weight and run. There's a lot of PT and running in boot camp.
Prior to enlisting I too lifted weights, but I did a lot of pull ups, sit ups and ran, ran, ran. I was so glad I did when I got to boot camp.
I would recommend you find out from your recruiter what the PT test in boot camp consist of and be very good at every aspect of the PT test prior to going to boot camp.
You will learn, there are 2 types of discipline; self discipline and discipline that is imposed upon you. You definitively want to be self disciplined. There is character developed when you discipline yourself. External discipline is not what you are striving for, but will be there when you lack self discipline.
So again, run, and several miles at a time, and practice the PT test and get good at it before boot camp and your experience will be a lot better.

[m14ed]

Wow thank you for that informative post!
I will definitely shoot a PM your way -

**((()))but it will be hard to find motivation to run ,
since mother nature has found her new home up here in Ohio!((()))**

Looks like you''re doing well on the weight loss and stamina/run gain..Keep it up..

NOW,, tell me please,,, when did "Mother Nature" move ???????
AND why on earth would she choose "COWPIE OHIO" for a new Location ?????

[Jshrz]

Looks like you''re doing well on the weight loss and stamina/run gain..Keep it up..

NOW,, tell me please,,, when did "Mother Nature" move ???????
AND why on earth would she choose "COWPIE OHIO" for a new Location ?????

She moved after I went to school with my windows down and the next day I was scraping ice off my car.

And willisra thanks. I have been a frequent visitor with my recruiter. In response to running, running surprisingly enough is my strongest area. I was at the naval academy this summer for summer leadership seminar and I quickly learned the only excuse you have to quit running is that you are dead. Actually now that I recall my detailed planned on going into the Marines!

[Jshrz]

Well an update, I gained 25 pounds.

No just kidding, Im actually down to losing the last 19 as of an hour ago according to the stations scale. I remember 60 pounds ago thinking how joyful i would be when i got to the last 20 pounds to lose.

Quite exciting, too bad the last stretch hit at the worst time of the year, food consumption wise. But I wont step away from my diet since most sweets make me want to puke now!

ANyways just thought id let everyone know. Now the hard part will be convincing the parents to let me do this, seeing as I dont turn 18 until July 31st and my parents would really like me to attend the University of Arizona, but I am willing to give that up since i remember looking at the weight scale in 8th grade for the Marines thinking ill never make that.

[m14ed]

JOSH

DIET , isn't a word that you use temporarily .
Diet , is pretty much a word that means LIFESTYLE.

No matter where you go, or what you do, it's called Diet.

Everything in Moderation, GRASSHOPPER...

Make trade-offs if you have to....Know what you're eating,
and what you have to trade/give-up one item for another...

Be consistant with your parents, and honest. Perhaps they'll see
that you are serious on enlisting one way or the other....

Make sure you stay in contact with your recruiter and what the
current policies are in reguards to enlistments from high school/
and high school age recruits...

Good Luck with it..
Just don't give up ....

Make yourself proud