Diet planning for a vegetarian Marine

[Leah_Rae]

My husband is a vegetarian, born and raised. He's a big guy, approximately 6'1'' and 240 lbs and has always been active (football and wrestling in high school and college and has coached wrestling ever since). I'm very proud to say that in May 2008 he took an incredibly brave step and enlisted in the Marine Corps. He's endured much harassment throughout boot camp and since about being a vegetarian (luckily, they do make veg MREs). The Corps has high physical standards, and recently my husband has been pushing himself even further by becoming interested in triathlons. He's amazing, but very hard to keep up with!

 

Here's the problem: For starters, he's overweight by MC standards, which wants his max weight at 219. Believe it not, certain weight and body fat percentages are expected to be met for officer candidacy. He has a hard time loosing weight and I suspect it's because he's not getting an optimal diet. He's stationed in a different state than where I live in a very small town where veg items aren't as easily found compared to our home city. I think that coupled with 'bachelor' style living make meal times difficult for him. Besides that, I know that at his level of physical training/activity/weight lifting, nutrition is usually a full time job, but I've been hard-pressed to find a lot of guidance for this with a veg diet. I'm a nurse, but specialize in intensive care where I deal with nutritional problems on the other extreme. I'm not sure where to go to find any guidance for his diet, but figured this was a good place to start.

[damdaman]

I think the most important items for him to find can be found in any small town. These would include fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh greens and fresh seeds and nuts. All are nutritionally packed, easily digested (so you can eat them constantly, rather than having to wait an hour to work out after eating), and readily available even in small towns. He may have to eat more often, but he can do it. If he's able to access fresh fruits and vegetables + trail mix at a local grocery store or farmer's market, that is a lot of power-packed nutrition to complement the (probably crappy) MREs.

 

It is actually amazing how much energy you have left to burn working out when you eat these kinds of fresh foods, which are also easier to lose weight on, rather than consuming massive amounts of calories for fuel, which also require lots of energy to digest and assimilate and can stress your body out, leading to fat retention.

 

A couple pieces of fruit in the morning gets your metabolism going, a salad + MRE for lunch perhaps, with trail mix snacked on throughout the afternoon before a dinner of vegetables + MRE doesn't sound half bad to me. You don't need expensive protein shakes or tofu to keep the activity level up if you eat plenty of fresh, whole food.

[shawnb222]

Sprouts are insanely high in nutrients per calorie they have. Grow your own sprouts organically and safely and you and your husband can thrive off of them.

[GaryDevine]

Im a veteran, I was in the Marine Corps from 2001-2005, I didnt make weight either, but I was still within regs. because I had a first class PFT, and my body fat percentage was at 5%. I was hitting the weights real hard all through my enlistment, so there was no way I was going to be under the 165 weight limit for my hight. I don't remember what the body fat % requirement was, I think 10%, but just tell your husband to get his SWOL ON! He should make regs. too. Let me know if this helps

 

 

Gary D