Eating five times a day, and losing weight

The Fittest Loser competitors were ready - though apprehensive - for the workouts. They were ready for the weigh-ins and the examinations and the exhaustion.

They were not ready for the diet plan.

The trainers at Push Fitness, sponsor of the Fittest Loser competition, have created a "modified Mediterranean" diet that calls for eating five times a day, and the food is separated into five groups - fruit, vegetables, starch, fat and protein.

The meals are breakfast, first snack, lunch, second snack and dinner.

Josh Steckler, co-owner of Push Fitness with his partner Mark Trapp, said all five Fittest Losers are on the same type of diet, with modifications.

"It varies based on how many calories they need," Steckler said. "Based on how many calories they need during the day, we choose how many servings they get from each of the food groups."

The competitors were measured for body fat versus lean tissue, and the caloric intake was based on how much lean tissue they had. The goal is to gain muscle while losing body fat.

"The main meals are going to have a protein, a fat and either a starch or vegetable," Steckler said. "Meals two and four are more like a snack, which will contain a protein, a fat and a fruit."

(The exact menu for the diet is on this page).

The goal of the diet is to control and maintain blood sugar levels, which allows the body to be more efficient at burning fat as a fuel source.

"When you wake up, your blood sugar is low, so we are trying to control that by eating more consistently," Steckler said. "If you were to chart your blood sugar on a graph, you won't see the variance you will see when you only eat every five or six hours."

While anyone who likes to eat would probably enjoy being told to eat five times a day, the logistics of preparing a healthy and nutritious breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks is a challenge.

"When you are gone from home all day, you have to pack your lunch and make sure you have everything," competitor Deb Mirabelli said. "But I have been able to follow the diet to a T."

"In the beginning, I was eating too much food," Mike Anderson said. "I was having eight ounces of meat every three hours, so we got it down to four and six ounces of meat and it is a lot easier. Josh has been very good with that."