Weight loss and perseverance

I have seen sailors combine that diet with exercise and lose 64 pounds in a three month deployment. Meat and vegetables, no bread, no sugar, nearly two gallons of water a day, 3000-5000 calories burned on stationary bike/elliptical/treadmill (we were on a submarine, deployed) his friend lost 50, I lost 26 pounds.

If they were burning 3,000-5,000 calories per day exercising, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the diet that made them lose weight. Calories in < calories burned = weight loss. The equation holds true no matter what the calories are from.