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.

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!

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.

Type II diabetes can be easily controlled and your blood sugar levels are reasonable. I believe your physician will tell you to make slight modifications to your diet and then relax!

Eating fast food doesn’t take any more time than eating a whole grain slice of bread with peanut butter or other type of wholesome nut spread on it.  You can make hard boiled eggs, put them in the refrigerator and those are ready to eat and far more nutritious than junky fast food.  Sugary cereals are just as available as whole grain cereals with whole fruit garnish and much better for your body. You can make a protein shake. Making a protein shake takes no more time or even less time than preparing a bowl of cereal. It is worth the effort to get up 15minutes earlier to eat a nourishing wholesome breakfast that will give you the energy you need during the day.  Skipping meals only slows your metabolism down and gives you that sluggish feeling in the middle of the day.  Then by dinner time, you are so ravenous you are ready to eat anything and will do so! You will eat too much, too quickly thus packing on extra pounds before your body has a chance to let you know you are full.  Whole, unprocessed foods are the best foods to eat and if you are too busy to eat, than you need to reprioritize your life so you can take care of yourself. You are worth it.

You need to reassess your priorities.  There is no other way to get the body or fitness you desire except to earn it in the gym. It is one of the best things you can do for yourself and is a strategy that pays in every way that a strategy can pay. It is one of the few investments you can make that is 100% guaranteed. You need to look at your schedule and see what you can either defer or eliminate. If you want to do something, you will find a way and if you don’t want to do something you will find an excuse.

To improve performance, it is important that you workout with intensity and that you become fairly uncomfortable at times. You need to get hot, sweaty and really feel like you are overextended. For cycle classes that means making sure you have enough resistance on the wheel of the spin bike. If you can bike sitting up and can carry on a conversation with the person next to you, you are not working out with enough intensity and will not make progress. When in a fitness class, you will also need to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Make sure and try to use heavier weights and find your limits. Try to get to a place where you can’t quite complete the set that the instructor is doing. If you push your limits and get uncomfortable, you will make progress. If you give yourself a pass and take it easy, you will continue to be frustrated. Working it without enough intensity is one of the most common mistakes that many of us make when we work out.