Taking a bite of his bland chicken, senior Ankit Padwekar watched enviously as his family members delighted in more colorful, tastier food, wistfully reminiscing about the once calorie-rich diet he stopped in favor of losing weight.

Padwekar, who began a “military” diet in mid June, has lost a little over 70 pounds since then in an intensive effort to become healthier before heading to college.

“I wasn’t happy with what my body looked like before,” said Padwekar. “My metabolism is pretty high, so it’s easier for me to lose weight now rather than later.”

Padwekar was on the internet searching for ways to lose weight fast and accidently came across the military diet,  a “scheduled three-day set meal plan and four days of eating under 1,500 calories.”

With its minimum calorie intake, the military diet reaps immediate weight loss — but only at the expense of numerous risks. According to Healthy Eating, the average teenage boy between 14 and 18 requires about 2,400 to 2,800 calories a day. By eating about half of the required calories, Padwekar has essentially been starving his body.

Although the diet has been extremely effective, manageable, and inexpensive for Padwekar, it may cause serious health issues in the future as rapid weight loss causes more loss of water and lean tissue rather than fat.

“Throughout this diet I was always hungry, my energy levels were low and it was hard to focus,” Padwekar said.

Padwekar’s family was initially surprised at his decision to proceed with the diet and did not like how he was was eating so little.

Even so, his family helped him through the beginning of his diet, which he recalls as the toughest part since he had never been on a diet or a strict meal schedule. Padwekar’s family eventually approved of his diet because they knew it is what Padwekar wanted to do.

After a few months of eating under 1,500 calories daily, Padwekar learned to modify the diet to suit his personal needs. Padwekar’s diet now includes eating a lot of protein, fruits and vegetables instead of calorie-free foods such as carrots and seasonless chicken. Nevertheless, Padwekar still counts his calories and tries to keep it under 2,000 calories in addition to trying to work out for two hours a day.

“The military diet was a great way to start off my diet; however, it was only effective for a short amount of time,” said Padwekar. “Because of this, I created my own diet with similar aspects to the military diet and I am going to continue that for a couple more months.”