Man dies after losing weight to join Army

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Bill Glasheen
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Man dies after losing weight to join Army

Post by Bill Glasheen »

There's much to say about this. But for now, I'll just post the story.

I first heard this story on ABC News.

- Bill
Fox News wrote:
Mom Claims Son Died Losing Weight For Army
Mar 26, 2011 7:34 PM EDT

The U.S. Army is investigating whether recruiters from one of its Ohio recruiting stations made a 20-year-old man diet to death, Fox8.com reports.

Army recruit Glenni Wilsey, of Vermilion, Ohio, died due to acute cardiac dysrhythmia from an electrolyte imbalance brought on by dieting, according to Lorain County Coroner Dr. Paul Matus.

Wilsey's mother, Lora Bailey, said she's convinced that recruiters from a recruiting station in Sandusky caused her son's death.

"I looked at him in that hospital and I knew exactly why he died, nobody had to tell me," said Bailey, who has has vowed to fight for a change in the military's policies and procedures when counseling young people on weight loss.

"I'll be damned if this'll ever happen again," she told the station.

Wilsey was determined to enlist in the Army's EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) Unit. Bailey claims he was told he needed to lose 70 pounds in a matter of months in order to go active duty.

"Glenn had never failed at anything ... and he wasn't going to fail at this," she said.

Bailey said army recruiters pushed Wilsey to sweat weight off by wearing a wet suit under two sweat suits while wrapped in a waist band. She says they encouraged him to run for hours on 800 calories a day. Purging, she says, was encouraged.

"It was the vomiting on 800 calories a day diet,'" she said.

A senior class picture of Wilsey in his high school football uniform shows a healthy looking teenager about six-feet-tall and weighing roughly 270 pounds. The photo is a stark contrast to one taken earlier this month in which Wilsey's upper body appears emaciated, his skin clinging to his clavicle and shoulder bones. Bailey said her son was told he still had seven pounds to lose when the picture was taken, the station reports.

Wilsey collapsed in his Vermilion home shortly after the last picture was taken and died a short while later. The young man had reportedly lost 85 pounds in three and a half months, weighing 197 pounds the day he died.

Bailey, a 41-year-old mother of three, says she intends to fight for changes in the Army's recruiting process so that no one else will be put at risk by what she called irresponsible advice given to her son.

The Chief of Public Affairs for the Army's Cleveland Recruiting Battalion said in a statement to Fox 8 that: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of Glenni Wilsey. Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to his family and friends during this time of grief and pain. There is a pending investigation regarding the death of Glenni Wilsey. We are confident that all details pertaining to this unfortunate loss will be revealed and appropriate actions will be taken based upon those findings."
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Van Canna
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Post by Van Canna »

Bill,

Doesn't the Army or USMC require the passing of a fitness test before signing up new recruits?

Can grossly overweight people pass fitness testing without putting themselves at risk?
Van
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Van Canna
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Post by Van Canna »

Our Military should be recruiting here:

Image

~~~

Image

:lol:
Van
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Bill Glasheen
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

Those are some fine looking athletes, Van!
Van Canna wrote:
Bill,

Doesn't the Army or USMC require the passing of a fitness test before signing up new recruits?

Can grossly overweight people pass fitness testing without putting themselves at risk?
The ABC story fleshed the detail out a bit further. Apparently the kid was about 6 foot, and weighed 270 pounds. He was fine playing football, but he didn't fit the height-weight charts to be recruited into the military. They told him that he would be recruited if he could get down to 200, and deployed if he got down to 190. And so this kid who was determined to succeed at everything he did made a decision to crash diet and make the weight.

Too much, too fast, and not the right way. It's really a shame.

Image

Image

Image

- Bill
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Van Canna
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Post by Van Canna »

A shame indeed. The many ways destiny has in store for us all. :(
Van
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Stevie B
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This kid was from Cleveland..

Post by Stevie B »

I saw this on the local news yesterday... Nothing wrong with dropping some weight.. But you have to be patient.. When I was in the Corps, they had a body fat test for us that were not exactly in regular standards..As long as you were under 20 % (I think, it's been awhile) you were fine.
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Bill Glasheen
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Re: This kid was from Cleveland..

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Stevie B wrote:
Nothing wrong with dropping some weight.. But you have to be patient.
This is what the experts say.
Mayo Clinic wrote:
Over the long term, it's best to aim for losing 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week, although initially you might lose weight more quickly than that if you make significant changes — just be sure the changes are health supporting. To lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day, through a lower calorie diet and regular exercise.

When you're setting goals, think about both process and outcome goals. "Exercise regularly" is an example of a process goal, while "Lose 30 pounds" is an example of an outcome goal. It isn't essential that you have an outcome goal, but you should set process goals because changing your processes — your habits — is a key to weight loss. Also make sure that your goals are SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-limited. An example of a SMART goal is aiming to walk for 30 minutes a day, five days a week for the next three months, and logging your results.
More from Stevie...
Stevie B wrote:
When I was in the Corps, they had a body fat test for us that were not exactly in regular standards..As long as you were under 20 % (I think, it's been awhile) you were fine.
Bingo!!!

:multi: :multi: :multi:

This guy obviously had some useful mass on him. Sure he had a gut. But do you see the guns on that guy? What about the powerful thighs? Football is no pansy sport.

Image

It's all about the body fat. If you're built like a brick sh!thouse, then you don't necessarily need to be looking at the scale. What you need to pay attention to is percent body fat. The muscle mass will help you athletically; an emaciated body will not.

The Corp obviously was doing it right when, as Stevie states, they were measuring percent body fat. That's a very difficult thing to measure accurately (correct number) and precisely (right number of significant digits). But there's a much simpler way to monitor progress. All you need to do is measure around the waist, measure around the hips, and then take the waist to hip ratio. Looking at the picture of this fellow on the bike, we see muscle (arms, thighs) but we also see bad weight (his gut). Any fool can see and easily measure what it takes to get him up to top form.

A simple way to apply the waist to hip ratio test is to look at yourself in the mirror. Look at the gut, and look at the glutes. The eyes don't lie.

I found this fine example in the article on waist-to-hip ratio test in Wikipedia. Study carefully, gentlemen; there will be a quiz on this material tomorrow! 8)

Topless model in bikini
Wikipedia wrote:
The WHR has been used as an indicator or measure of the health of a person, and the risk of developing serious health conditions. Research shows that people with "apple-shaped" bodies (with more weight around the waist) face more health risks than those with "pear-shaped" bodies who carry more weight around the hips.

WHR is used as a measurement of obesity, which in turn is a possible indicator of other more serious health conditions.

A WHR of 0.7 for women and 0.9 for men have been shown to correlate strongly with general health and fertility. Women within the 0.7 range have optimal levels of estrogen and are less susceptible to major diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and ovarian cancers.[4] Men with WHRs around 0.9, similarly, have been shown to be more healthy and fertile with less prostate cancer and testicular cancer.[5]

Example

WHR has been found to be a more efficient predictor of mortality in older people than waist circumference or body mass index (BMI).[6]
- Bill
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Jason Rees
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Post by Jason Rees »

It's possible recruiters gave him bad advice. His mother should have told him to take anything they told him with a grain of salt. Or a bag of it.

IMO, if I were a recruiter, I'd tell them they need to be 'here' (requirements). If they're not 'here,' they need to talk to X, Y or Z to figure out how to get 'here.' Simple CYA.

But we don't know all the facts yet, and the press's sympathies usually lie with the grieving in cases like these.
Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.
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Panther
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Re: This kid was from Cleveland..

Post by Panther »

Bill Glasheen wrote:A simple way to apply the waist to hip ratio test is to look at yourself in the mirror. Look at the gut, and look at the glutes. The eyes don't lie.

I found this fine example in the article on waist-to-hip ratio test in Wikipedia. Study carefully, gentlemen; there will be a quiz on this material tomorrow! 8)

Topless model in bikini
Ya know... It's gonna be hard (pun intended) as hades to convince my wife that this is all just research to help me get in shape! 8)

But that's OK... I'll try... Besides, she'll be the beneficiary (no matter how you take that comment! :lol: )
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Stevie B
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LMAO!!!

Post by Stevie B »

That's why I like coming here so much!! This is the only sight my wife dosen't question when she's checking up on me!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
She can't even spell UECHI to begin with, and she just thinks we are all on here talking about how to beat each other up all the time... I feel sneaky :oops: :roll: :lol: :lol:
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Panther
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Post by Panther »

Guess I'm lucky... My wife doesn't check up on me and doesn't question me. She knows she's my "saint". Then again, she's a better shot than I am! :wink: :lol: 8O
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mhosea
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Post by mhosea »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that, aside from the obvious danger in it, the other problem with "crash" dieting is that the weight loss is invariably temporary (unless you die).
Mike
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Jason Rees
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Post by Jason Rees »

mhosea wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that, aside from the obvious danger in it, the other problem with "crash" dieting is that the weight loss is invariably temporary (unless you die).
Correct.
Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.
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Bill Glasheen
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

mhosea wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that, aside from the obvious danger in it, the other problem with "crash" dieting is that the weight loss is invariably temporary (unless you die).
"Invariably" is a strong word, Mike. "Usually" is more appropriate. The problem comes from two sources: 1) lifestyle, and 2) Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

The problem with "dieting" is that it implies the lifestyle will end when the goal is achieved. If that's the case and the person goes back to the mix of relative inactivity and bad eating, the pounds will come right back. For weight loss to be permanent, lifestyle change has to be permanent.

The BMR issue is related to the resting level that people burn calories. When I was a younger lad I literally could not eat enough food to keep weight on. I would eat myself sick, and still be skinny. With age the BMR naturally slows down. So if you were "normal" in youth, you'll need a major lifestyle change with age. If you were heavy in your youth, you have problems.

The problem with rapid weight loss has to do with the body's built-in survival mechanism. Our DNA is programmed to respond to feast and famine. We exist because up until recently, food didn't come in a steady supply. If we couldn't respond to a time of famine with an automatic readjustment of the BMR, then we didn't survive. Those who responded to famine with a lowering of the BMR passed their genes along. And so here we are today.

If you lose weight too quickly, you'll inadvertently trip this famine response of automatic lowering of the BMR. That's why it's important to lose weight no quicker than a pound or two per week. Otherwise when you get down to your desired weight, you'll practically have to starve to maintain it.

One way to jack up the BMR is to eat frequent small meals, and to increase muscle mass. Keeping the blood sugar constant will keep the body from thinking it needs to conserve. And muscle burns more calories at rest than any other type of tissue.

- Bill
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

There's one other element that comes into play here - the glycemic index.
glycemicindex.com wrote:
Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels.
In general simple sugars have a high glycemic index, and fruits and vegetables have lower glycemic index. Mixing in protein with carbohydrate can lower the glycemic index.

The rule of thumb is to consume carbs with as low a glycemic index as possible - except in a very narrow one hour interval of time after intense training. This will cause the body to store calories as more readily available glycogen as opposed to sending them straight to fat. It also over time will positively affect our insulin sensitivity - a factor which determines when and if we get Type II diabetes with age.

Avoiding the "goosing" of our sugar regulatory system can also help with "bonking" and the intense hunger that can follow a binge on sugary foods.

It's also worth mentioning that nature meant for us to get our sugars from complete foods (e.g. fruits and vegetables) which also contain vitamins, minerals, soluble and insoluble fiber, and myriad neutriceuticals not available in any health food store supplement.

- Bill
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