question about being underweight

[CRR21]

I went to MEPS for the first time a little over a month ago. I was 8 lbs underweight and needed a waiver to enlist. I am working on gaining the weight before I leave but gaining weight has never been easy for me. I was told by someone in the medical field that if I did not meet the minimum weight a waiver to ship would be difficult to get and I would lose my advanced rank (will be going in as E-2 for college credits). Is this true?

[zx6rdr]

Go eat McDonalds three times a day.... You'll gain the weight....

[Supersquishy]

....that or take creatine a week before the next weigh-in and drink LOTS of water. Creatine makes the body water retentive.

[Phantom Blooper]

Drink Ensure & Milk....It does the body good!

[NCOPOWER]

This sounds odd to me maybe the rules have changed but I was underweight when I went in. To this day I am still under the average weight of someone that is 5' 8". I would say to listen to the others I know how to cut weight not gain it.

[Rocky C]

Fast Food Items With 1000+ Calories

1. White Castle Chocolate Shake - Large (Louisville region)
   Calories: 1680
2. Nathan's Fish N Chips
   Calories: 1537
3. Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger
   Calories: 1520
4. Hardee's Monster Thickburger
   Calories: 1420
5. Dairy Queen Large Choc. Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard
   Calories: 1320
6. Hardee's Double Bacon Cheese Thickburger
   Calories: 1300
7. Dairy Queen Large Chocolate Malt
   Calories: 1300
8. Nathan's Chicken Tender Platter
   Calories: 1300
9. Jack In The Box OREO Cookie Ice Cream Shake (24oz)
   Calories: 1290
10. Dairy Queen Chicken Strip Basket (6 piece)
    Calories: 1270
11. Hardee's Double Thickburger
    Calories: 1250
12. Burger King TRIPLE WHOPPER Sandwich With Cheese
    Calories: 1230
13. Jack In The Box Chocolate Ice Cream Shake (24oz)
    Calories: 1230
14. White Castle Chocolate Shake - Large (New Jersey region)
    Calories: 1230
15. Hardee's Big Country Breakfast Platter - Breaded Pork Chop
    Calories: 1220
16. Jack In The Box Strawberry Ice Cream Shake (24oz)
    Calories: 1220
17. Jack In The Box Egg Nog Shake (24oz)
    Calories: 1210
18. Nathan's FRENCH FRIES (SUPER SIZE)
    Calories: 1188
19. White Castle Vanilla Shake - Large (New Jersey region)
    Calories: 1180
20. Del Taco Macho Beef Burrito
    Calories: 1170
21. McDonald's Chocolate Triple Thick Shake (32oz)
    Calories: 1160
22. Hardee's Big Country Breakfast Platter - Country Steak
    Calories: 1150
23. McDonald's Deluxe Breakfast (Large Size Biscuit) w/o Syrup & Margarine
    Calories: 1140
24. Carl's Jr. Guacamole Bacon Six Dollar Burger
    Calories: 1140
25. Hardee's Big Country Breakfast Platter - Chicken
    Calories: 1140

[polizei]

I was a .5lb under, which I needed to gain to ship. It's hard to gain weight...just keep eating food. Nothing much more you can really do...now that said, it's been easy to gain weight. I went from 106 when I shipped, to 125 now, in a span of a year. Must of that I would like to think is muscle, the Corps will add the weight, don't worry. I had little flimsy legs before I left, now they're built up from all the running and hard as a rock!

[josephd]

eat a lot and drink a TON of water, you'd be surprised how dehydrated you body is and how much weight you can put on with water

Some of ya'll are small....I am not big by any means (6' 170lbs) but 5'8"?...5'6"?...low 100's?.....wow! (no disrespect intended, just surprised)

[polizei]

5'4" 109 lbs of mean, lean, fighting Marine! Now I'm 125 though. lol.

[TinDragon]

Horribly underweight here as well, so my advice on that would be horrible as well. However! Your weight should not affect you getting PFC from college credits, whether you need a waiver or not. Someone telling you that you'd lose it sounds kinda shady to me. If I were you I'd talk to a different recruiter about it, and if all else fails, talk to your SDI about it when at boot camp. There should be some point in time when he asks the platoon if anyone is supposed to have E2 and doesn't, and that would be when you could say "I have x credits, I should be contract PFC".

[CRR21]

Regarding weight I'm 5'6" and usually between 110 and 114. I gained some weight pretty easily since I went to MEPS it's just the last few I'm having trouble with. I've been doing a lot of lifting with the recruiters to gain some muscle.

TinDragon: It actually wasn't my recruiter that told me. They granted me a waiver to enlist in the DEP then I had to bring proof of the waiver back to medical. I think it was the Cheif Medical Officer who told me that.

[TinDragon]

I apologize, my mistake. Haha. Either way though, the waiver/weight thing should not affect your Contract PFC.

[usmcmsf]

I would love to be in the situation where I could eat junk all day.