Gaining Weight at the Academy

Is it true that most cadets gain weight in their years at the cadet. If so, why is this and is there any way to avoid it?

I did, but then again, I came in underweight.

...still the local model for drawing stick men!

I have one kid who went in a Div I athlete and decided against staying on the team the second year; he's gained about 5 pounds in two years. Other guy weighs about the same as at I-Day, after a 13# loss and many weeks of Ensure.

I do believe it is MUCH more difficult for females to keep weight off than for the guys.

Depends. My weight fluctuated throughout BCT, and eventually I came out even.

Times when you are assured to lose weight:

CST, and when the viruses start going around.


It's really up to you. If you workout a lot, you can gain or lose weight depending on what you do. You can gain a lot of weight as well by not doing anything. It's just like normal college. Kinda.

Yeah, as long as you are conscious of what you're eating, there isn't really any problem. Mitch's doesn't serve the healthiest meals by any means, but for most of 4* year you'll have a lot of exercise that will keep you very hungry.

Vegetarians

Is it going to be difficult to be a vegetarian and eat at Mitch hall?

raimius said:

I did, but then again, I came in underweight.

...still the local model for drawing stick men!

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My son's the same way, but I always refer to him as looking like those commercials of the undernourished kids where it says "you can help this child for just $2 a month!" 6'4 and not much over 150 pounds so I'm hoping he puts on some weight (and muscle!).

Each person is different. Some will gain weight over the 4 years because their body is still changing. Some will lose weight. Some will stay the same. My son had been involved with athletics, heavily, since about the age of 8. He also came to the academy as a recruited D1 athlete. He spent as much time in the weight room as he did on the football field. More in the off season. When he entered BCT, he lost about 5 lbs in the 6 weeks. He wasn't building the muscle like he had done before in the gym. After getting back into football training and the gym, he gained back about 10 lbs. After he started his 2nd year, he wasn't playing football any longer, and he lost 5 lbs. He's pretty much held that weight going into his 3rd year.

The biggest issue for "SOME" cadets is eating habits and metabolism. Some cadets grew up eating just 3 times a day. For them, the academy won't be much different. Some, literally ate lighter, but ate about 6 times a day. (My son was like that). Not being able to eat 6 times a day, made him lose weight for the first year. Basically, each cadet is different.

daysi_cruse said:

Is it going to be difficult to be a vegetarian and eat at Mitch hall?

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Not really. Mitch's usually serves enough non-meat items to keep vegetarians happy. However, during basic eating a vegetarian diet will be challenging because there's not much choice and also you are not allowed to keep any food.