Daily Dosage: Your military body makeover

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As if you didn’t have dozens of great reasons to consider enlisting already, here’s yet another impetus to join the military, courtesy of the American College of Sports Medicine.

A study published in this month’s issue of the ACSM journal suggests that – shockingly – a combination of crappy food and extra physical activity will lead to weight loss. As it did for a sample of 1,003 male Finnish draftees, at an average age of 19, for a period of twelve months. At the outset of the study, researchers categorized the military men according to BMI: 7.6 percent were obese, 23.4 percent were overweight, 65.3 percent were normal weight and 3.7 percent were underweight. And, correspondingly, obese draftees were the least physically active, while men of average size were the most sporty.

Now, for the good stuff: the study found that the military might be the best way to score your dream body, without ever hitting the gym:

Obese men lost 7.7 percent of their weight and 25 percent of their fatty mass. Underweight and normal-weight men, by contrast, gained weight, fatty mass and percentage body fat, which researchers attribute to increased calorie intake during military service (on average, 3,200 calories, 25 percent higher than the energy needs of an average population of the same age.)

Sure, the scrawny guys got some gut, but for most men, it came down to eating more, losing fat, and gaining muscle – with a sexy uniform to boot! Convinced yet? If not, consider that the recruits also lost significant portions of visceral fat, which is a causal factor for insulin resistance, increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Sounds pretty ideal. Other than that whole “being in the army” part. But really, given the lengths we’ll go to for hot bodies and longer lives these days, one year of service kinda seems like a viable option.