“Some were resorting to liposuction, diet pills and other measures to save their careers.”
perhaps they should try running, lifting and eating fewer doughnuts....
The navy doesn't give sailors time to exercise and navy chow isn't exactly healthy (but it's cheap).
If you think we get up at 0400 to PT, well, that's the old navy. Today we have to get up at 0400 to work on our qualifications; 100 item PQSs with triple observed skill repetitions just to operate an overhead crane or turn on a power cart. And when we're done with that, we have to go to our mandatory quarterly GMT where we spend 4 hours being told not to rape our shipmates or commit suicide. After that, it's time to go volunteer at a food bank because volunteer hours on our evals is the only way we'll make rank.
Little wonder we're all getting fat.
Not complaining here, just demonstrating how difficult, if not impossible, it is to get any meaningful exercise underway. I actually think the Navy is doing the right thing in this instance.