The diet you describe is one that sabotages your performance rather than enhancing it.  Such foods harden arteries limit blood flow, oxygen uptake, muscle strength and affect performance. You do well right now but imagine how much better you would do in events if you fueled your body with whole, unprocessed foods.  If you had a hot rod Corvette or some other fine high performance car, would you put junk gasoline and oil in it? Would you  change the filter and spark plugs regularly?  Why treat your car better than your body?

If you want to win, eat a winning diet!

If running hurts your knee, don’t run. However, it is important to exercise so don’t become sedentary!  The new knee replaced your bad knee with the best version of what medicine can provide. This should allow you to maintain normal daily functions. It may be uncomfortable at first, but doing exercises to strengthen your quadriceps after you've had knee replacement surgery is crucial to your recovery. In fact, it can boost the function of your new knee to nearly that of a normal knee in a healthy adult your age.

Strengthening the muscles that support the knee with knee and leg exercise is important in protecting your knees from injury and pain. Several muscle groups support the knee. The two main muscle groups that control knee movement and stability are commonly called the quadriceps and the hamstrings.

The quadriceps is a four-part powerful muscle that runs along the front of the thigh and attaches to the front of the shinbone, just below the knee. The quadriceps controls the straightening of the knees and movement of the kneecap. The quadriceps is used to extend the leg, and is essential for standing up, walking upstairs, walking uphill, and running.

The hamstrings are muscles that make up the back of the thigh, and attach to the back of the shinbone, just below the knee. The hamstrings are used to bend the knee and are also needed when you are pushing against something.

Perhaps you can cut down on your running or cross train with alternatives. Since running is a problem for you I would suggest cycling. I know a person who has a replaced knee and takes my cycle class and also cycles with me and my husband outside. He says cycling keeps it in shape and he is hard to keep up with! Other useful exercises would be any weight bearing exercise that strengthens the legs. You may wish to consult a personal trainer who can show you exactly what you need to do. After undergoing a $25,000 elective surgery, you want to do as much as you can to get the most out of your knee and hiring a personal trainer is well worth it.

Here is the short answer; you can’t.  You have waited too long to reduce your weight. I would suggest you try and postpone the test.

You could attempt to eat very little and drink lots of water – a crash diet.  You will lose some weight if you do this but the cost to your body will be high.  You will starve your body possibly to the point of cannibalizing muscle tissue for nutrition while locking up your fat stores.  Once you lose some weight or pass the fitness test and resume eating, you will likely put the weight back on.  However you have lost muscle mass, so your muscle to fat ratio will be different and not in a good way.  Your body replaces your lost muscle tissue with new fat tissue so once you regain your previous weight, you will be physically weaker.  The vicious cycle begins; being weaker, you will find moving more difficult and opt to stay sedentary.  As you continue to eat you gain more weight.  This is the vicious cycle that crash diets cause, how it occurs, and why it always backfires.

I sympathize with your predicament but would advise that you maintain a regular physical fitness program and sensible diet all year long.  You will benefit from regular, consistent training and proper nutrition.  By following a healthier lifestyle, you will always be ready for your yearly test.  Thank you for your service to our country!

You are both right in a way but your friend has a valid point and I would give your friend my vote here.  Even though the fiber content of certain carbohydrates slows down the insulin response you have still ingested the food AND also the calories, fiber notwithstanding.  Ignoring the net calories represented by fiber does not nullify those calories or make them disappear.  You are still consuming those calories and they may still go to your waist.  The bottom line is that eating fiber carbohydrate calories may help maintain your insulin levels, but you are still consuming calories and all calories count.

In general, perceived exertion is your best guide for what you are trying to do in the gym regardless of medications. Our base heart rate actually changes daily depending on many things. When you workout, you may feel extremely motivated (let’s say if you got a really good night’s sleep or something exciting happened) and thus you will go harder and have a higher average heart rate. If you are fatigued or depressed, you will feel less motivated and not achieve nearly as high an average heart rate.

It also depends on what the medication is. If the medication elevates your heart rate to the point of being very noticeable and uncomfortable, you should notify your physician. Many medications as well as common soft drinks, foods and supplements can elevate our heart rate. These typically elevate the heart rate only slightly and the effects are temporary. Therefore trying to work out at a higher heart rate to compensate for a slightly higher resting heart rate will not produce equitable results. That’s why using perceived exertion is a better guide of your exercise intensity. If you are concerned that your medication is having a negative side effect, the best thing to do is exercise as you normally do and keep a close watch for any overt changes.