When following this meal plan, you eat no more than 1,200 calories a day, including snacks. How many calories should you be eating a day? The average woman needs between 1,600 and 2,400 calories a day ...

Practically every weight loss website out there has at least one (or one dozen) 1,200-calorie-a-day diet option. Even the National Institutes of Health has published a 1,200-calorie-a-day meal plan.

Editor's note: an earlier version of the video featured a soundbite from a West Point dietician that said that the cadets are provided with 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day from the mess hall.