Military Personnel Take Drastic Diet Steps to Make Weight
By Carmen Staicer for DietsInReview.com
Soldiers in the past year have been taking drastic steps to meet the military's weight standards. Soldiers have confessed to taking diet pills and laxatives, starving themselves, and even having liposuction done in order to meet what some see as impossible weight standards.
"Liposuction saved my career - laxatives and starvation before a PFT sustains my career," an anonymous soldier said in Army Times. "I, for one, can attest that soldiers are using liposuction, laxatives and starvation to meet height and weight standards. I did, do and still do."
Almost half of all uniformed men and women in the US Army do not meet the weight standards, according to a 2009 military fitness report, and those officers are then made to use tape measurements to determine body fat percentage. If the percentages are too high, the soldiers cannot earn promotions or hold leadership roles. A further failure to lose weight is grounds for job loss. More than 24,000 soldiers were discharged between 1992 and 2007 for failure to meet weight standards.
These standards vary by military branch. The Air Force is the only branch that has shared standards for males and females. These weight standards are as follows, according to Military.com:
Air Force
For a 72" person, six-feet tall, the minimum weight is 140 pounds, the maximum is 202 pounds.
Army
"All measurements will be taken in the APFT uniform. Add 6 pounds per inch for males and 5 pounds per inch for females measuring over 80 inches tall."
For a 5'5" female, with no prior enlistment, the minimum weight is 140 pounds, the maximum is 153 pounds. These weights vary by age.
For a 6'0" male, with no prior enlistment, the minimum weight is 200 pounds, the maximum is 210 pounds. These weights vary by age.
Marines
For a 5'5" female the weight range is 114-150 pounds. The maximum body fat is 26 percent.
For a 6'0" male the weight range is 140-203 pounds. The maximum body fat is 18 percent.
Navy
For a 5'5" female the there is a 160-pound max. The maximum body fat is 34 percent.
For a 6'0" male there is a 201-pound max. The maximum body fat is 23 percent.
"I have been on a roller coaster of gains and losses for half my military career," one lieutenant colonel told the Army Times. "I have considered [liposuction], and I have certainly starved myself, dieted on only bread and water, or other similar extreme diets to make weight or tape … And it is no secret to any leader in the military what some soldiers will do to conform to standards that have been set."
Many soldiers have complained that the standards are based on the 1932 MetLife tables, which were scrapped more than a decade ago. The current waist size cut off is said to be 37.5 inches. The Air Force's weight standards page shows that these were updated in 2004.
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