Doctor-Approved Crash Diets

The Drill Instructor's Program

Retired marine Harvey E. Walden IV follows a regimen that's as pragmatic as he is: six small, 300- to 350-calorie meals a day, with lean protein at each sitting -- such as a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with a low-fat yogurt (yup, the man-of-war does yogurt!). Green apples serve as snacks. Dinner by seven. "You'd be surprised how much weight falls off just by cutting portions and adding exercise," he says.

Cardio: Two sessions three times a week. Mornings: Forty-five minutes on the elliptical machine. "Working out before eating breakfast shocks the body into burning maximum fat," he says. Research has shown that you'll torch more fat during your workout if you exercise in the morning before eating than if you perform the same exercise at night. In the evenings, Walden does interval training: one-minute sprints on a track or treadmill, followed by two minutes of fast walking, for a half hour. He finishes with running 30 flights of stairs.

Strength training: One session three days a week (on days when he's not doing cardio). Hit all the large muscle groups (back, chest, glutes, legs, core) doing three sets of 15 repetitions, using light to medium weights, with minute-long breaks between sets. "Bench presses, cable rows, biceps curls, triceps push-downs, calf raises, leg extensions, crunches -- the bigger the muscle you work, the more calories you'll burn," Walden explains. Take one day off to rest.

"I keep a workout diary so when I hit a wall, I can see what has worked in the past for my body and what I've achieved," Walden says.

-- Sgt. Harvey E. Walden IV, fitness instructor, Celebrity Fit Club, author of Harvey Walden's No Excuses! Fitness Workout