It is, but when you graduate from it your sense of accomplishment is enormous, as is your health and fitness, as is your self confidence.

The military doesn't make men but they do provide the environment in which men can make themselves.

I still am, at 37. I put it down to my service with the parachute regiment , boxing days, and still but not so often pound the streets, though my knees cannot carry the weight I used to tab with. ;)

If you are thinking of joining any branch you might want to prep yourself a little bit at least because even in the USAF now a days the PT is a lot harder than it was back in my day.We did lots at Basic and tech school and then for some time most commands had a "do it on your own" mentality which meant go to one of the base gyms or run or something on your own time.At my last command my squadron commander decided to start organized PT which we did in the mornings I thought that was a good idea as some of us where in pretty good shape others not so much.I think today the USAF has full time PT like the Army and Marines though.

At basic it depends on your own metabolism and how you react to the stress some guys lose weight others gain others stay about the same it just depends.

If you want to join the USAF or National Guard do you mean Army National Guard or Air National Guard? Because Air National is USAF basic Army is Army basic. You should focus on getting to the weight requirement for your age and height.Look it up or better yet talk to a USAF or Army recruiter if you are thinking Air National Guard because USAF Guard and Reserve units are much smaller and harder to get into than Army units are.You also do delayed entry where you sign now(and your parents if under 18) and go after you complete HS.The recruiter will put you in a program to get at least down to the max allowable weight to be allowed into basic.

@4Para I have a buddy that was an Airborne Ranger for 20 years he has the same problem with the knees I guess it is from all those jump landings hard on the knees I suppose.

True what August said you have to want to make it yourself some DIs or TIs in the USAF will give you some encouragement but they wont make you if you dont really want to quit they wont stop you.Same goes for active duty in the end you must push yourself to keep going.I got washed back in basic because I was burning out all my energy on the PT test I could do the run and push ups fine but the sit-ups I just ran out of steam so my next head TI asked me why I failed on the sit ups I told him I was running out of energy not being used to doing all this without eating breakfast.He told me to take fruit bars out of the chow hall and eat those in the morning before reveille of course dont dare let himself or any other TIs catch me with food outside the chow hall which is violation.

:DL. Ah I had thought some women was missing from the scene.

Exactly this.

I think you've all been had. :har: Includeing myself. :yep:..:DL

Meh, morning PT sucked, but working my ass off overseas was much tougher. This is me in 95. Best shape i was in my entire life.

http://www.ducimus.net/redhorse/mein95.jpg

EDIT: I just realized this is the first time i have ever put a photo of myself on the internet. lol

I went on a diet for 14 days and the only thing I lost was two weeks

A no carbs & suger diet works very well if you wanna lose weight fast - (Kind of like the Atkins) You can only eat nuts, veg, meat and dairy (but not milk because lactose is sugar).
Basically it fools your body in to fueling itself with the fat it has in storage - the weight flys off very fast, but its more of a trick than a diet.

BUT! this diet has many downsides.
-Its not a very healthy or natural way to lose weight.
-On the first few days you will feel like crap as your body deals with the sudden changes and is forced to re-tune itself.
-Drink as much water as you can or you WILL get the worst constipation ever!
-The effects only last as long as the diet, as soon as you come off the diet (and even if you continue to eat sensibly) most of the lost weight will start to return.
-You only get one shot!, it is very effective the first time you try it, however if you stop the diet and then try again, it will never work as well the second time around. It seems that our digestive systems can only be fooled once :)

Start with low carb beverages like gin or vodka.

Load up the table with your favorite foods, eat all you want but it's very important to make sure you chew your food 32 times, just don't swallow it.

As a back-up there's the taenia saginata cysticercus tape worm.

.

LOL :DL

To avoid the downsides that you dsecribed, compare to whjat I outlined. Its better to look at the difference between low- and high glycemic carbonhydrates, than to avoid carbonhydrates alltogether. Its less extreme, more effective and allows you more flexibility and diversity in what you eat.

I agree with you there the work tempo in Germany was pretty intense and in my job we had to push or pull heavy equipment by hand in order to hook it up to trucks the first week or so doing this alone was pretty rough I'd sit there and think "how the hell do those guys push these damn 5 ton 10 ton 20 ton jacks onto a trailer all by them selves?" brute strength that is how.

I used to train fresh tech airman how to work the flight line if I was training a woman I'd be brutally honest with them and show them how to jockey the jacks onto the trailer then I'd let them do it them selves because no one is going to have the time to come and help you do it later when you are alone.
They all managed it pretty well and there where some men that did it worse than the smallest woman could that taught me a lot about the sexes
and stereo types and alot about what hard work really you either have it in you or you dont.

1) Invent a time machine
2) Go back 3 months
3) Start dieting and exercising without killing yourself in the process.

But seriously:

1) Calculate your basal metabolic rate

2) Buy a calorie counter and a good pedometer

3) Buy an exercise bike

4) Keep your calorie intake 1,000 calories below your BMR. Use the calorie counter to follow your intake, the pedometer to measure how many calories you burn during the day, and the exercise bike to burn more off.

Don't immediately drop to this level, however; take a week or two to gradually get down to it, and then stay there.

I am doing this, and have lost 20 pounds in 2.5 months. I eat anything I want, I just count the calories, and when I go over my intake goal, I burn it off on the bike. I also exercise in the morning, as having a negative caloric balance gives me more options for lunch.

This doesn't take iron will - you won't feel like you're starving or anything. You just have to get through the false starts you will have until you're finally committed to losing the weight.

Weather has been crappy for a few days so I've been confined to 50 sit ups before bed.

However, it used to be 10, break, 10, break, 10, break, 10, break, 10

Now its 25, break, 35, break, 50

I don't sleep much at all - can that have an affect?

I'm going to Oshkosh at the end of July. I should be taking 20-50,000 steps (that is several miles, right?) per day while I'm there. If the hotel I'm staying in has a pool, I'll be hitting that a lot. What swimming strokes burn the most calories? I was thinking 100 laps per night.