Basic Training for the United States Marine Corps, also called boot camp, is the initial 13 weeks of training all recruits must complete before they can go further in the Marine Corps. There are currently two locations for basic training: Parris Island in South Carolina, and San Diego in California. There is also an Officer Candidates School and a Reserve Officer Training Corps. Out of all of the United States military divisions, the Marine Corps has the strictest standards when it comes to height and weight, as well as the hardest physical fitness test.
Weight Loss
Weight loss is a result of burning calories than you consume. One way to increase the deficit is through physical activity. During basic training, you take physical training classes six days a week. This activity is more than some recruits are used to, and so increases the calories burned each day. Food rations are also quite different than most recruits are used to consuming. This plays a large part in weight loss at basic training.
Physical Training
Physical training classes at boot camp consist of a run and calisthenics -- pushups, situps and jumping jacks, for example -- every day except Sunday. If each class involves a 40-minute run at a pace of 6 mph, an 180-lb. recruit will burn 544 calories. Add in 20 minutes of intense calisthenics, and that same recruit burns another 218 calories. That's 762 calories being burned, six days a week. Plus recruits may also take martial arts classes, self-defense classes and other physically active classes that will burn even more calories every day.
Diet
Recruits get only three opportunities to eat each day during basic training. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are placed at set intervals and no snacks are offered. Recruits are not allowed to have food in barracks, or outside of mess hall. This is quite a challenge for some recruits that may be used to eating when and where they want. At the beginning of basic training, all recruits are weighed and measured. Recruits considered underweight by Marine Corps standards receive double rations for the remainder of the course. Overweight recruits receive reduced rations.
Expected Weight Changes
Most potential Marines enter basic training with average or overweight body mass indexes. According to a military forum, the average weight loss experienced by recruits during basic training is between 15 and 20 lbs. Underweight recruits with no extra fat to lose gain an average of 15 to 20 lbs. Each person is different and some recruits may lose more or less weight than the average.
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