Fittest Losers eat more often - and better - on a diet

Posted March 01, 2009 10:00 pm

By Robert McCoppin Daily Herald Staff

Christine Reiss' brother returned safely from Iraq last week, and her family went out to eat to celebrate.

Christine missed part of the get-together to exercise. Then she watched while her family ate pizza and drank beer.

She was thrilled to have her brother back, but Christine is on an important mission of her own: Trying to regain her health. As a contestant in the Fittest Loser weight loss challenge, she's on a strict workout schedule and 1,300-calorie diet.

As hard as the contestants work out at Push Fitness in Schaumburg, which is sponsoring the contest, eating right can be even more important than exercise.

The key to their diet is not only what they eat, and how much, but when and in what combination. The contestants were surprised to find that under the Push diet, they get plenty to eat - the problem is finding the time to eat it.

Interval eating

Push workouts incorporate a lot of interval training - bursts of speed in between a slower endurance pace - to push up the heart rate and burn more calories.

Trainers also encourage a form of interval eating - making sure to eat controlled amounts at regular periods. Skipping meals, such as breakfast, often leads to overeating at the next meal.

Push trainers suggest spacing out three smaller meals and at least two snacks throughout the day, to keep the body burning its fuel.

To set the amount of calories clients need each day, Push co-owner Joshua Steckler explained how to start with a base metabolic rate.

A 200-pound person with 20 percent body fat would need about 1,947 calories a day to maintain body weight with no exercise. After adding calories to match activity, they cut the total by 15 percent to 20 percent for safe weight loss.

Push has clients keep diet journals to track every bite they swallow. Rather than cutting out carbs or fat, the diet emphasizes eating good carbs with a low glycemic index - foods that don't cause a sudden spike in blood sugar levels - and high-quality fats.

Examples of low glycemic foods include vegetables, lentils, beans, berries and nuts. High glycemic foods to avoid include sugar, bagels, white potatoes, rice, fruit juice, soft drinks, candy and cookies.

Foods that contain healthy fat include salmon, avocados, tuna and nuts. Bad fats are found in fried foods like doughnuts and snack foods like potato chips.

Hungry for time

For the most part, the Fittest Loser contestants say the workouts are murder, but they actually like their new diets.

Christine, a single mom, says she sometimes feels overwhelmed by the workouts and lack of time with her 5-year-old daughter.

She has to prepare each day's food the night before. The diet doesn't leave her hungry, but it's hard to eat five times a day. Sometimes she's so full from her last meal, she doesn't want her scheduled snack.

"I feel like I'm eating all day long," she said. "But I want the best results I can get."

Ex-jock Eric Ronzio says the diet schedule keeps him from overeating late in the day. He misses his pizza and pasta but doesn't miss fast food and is enjoying new foods like lettuce wraps with ground turkey.

And Liesl Ignoffo, a corporate executive who sometimes travels for work, says she eats what she likes within the guidelines.

"If you eat exactly what you are allowed, then you are full and energized," she said. "I feel better, have more energy and sleep better too!"

At the end of each workout, Push trainers go over their clients' food journals to make sure they stick with the plan.

"If you're not doing the nutrition, it's not going to work," co-owner Steckler said. "So we put a huge emphasis on that."

Weighing in

Here are the latest weight loss figures for the Fittest Loser contestants after three weeks:

Rob Bohanek: weight 270; lost 18 pounds

Liesl Ignoffo: weight 174; lost 4 pounds

Lisa Notarnicola: weight 176; lost 9 pounds

Eric Ronzio: weight 259; lost 17 pounds

Christine Reiss: weight 183; lost 3 pounds

Here's what 1,300 calories will get you Fittest Loser contestant and single mom Christine Reiss keeps a blog of her progress at christiesweightlossjourney.blogspot.com. Here is a sample one-day meal plan for her 1,300-calorie daily diet: Breakfast: 8:30 a.m. 2 egg whites 2 slices turkey bacon ½ grapefruit Snack: 10:30 a.m. Handful of almonds Lunch: 1 p.m. Salad with turkey, green peppers, onion and cucumber Olive oil and flaxseed dressing 1 orange Snack: 3:30 p.m. 1 apple with organic peanut butter Dinner: 6 p.m. Chicken breast Broccoli Brown rice Also: Protein shakes after workouts; 64 ounces to 96 ounces of water daily.

Article Comments

Article Categories
Health Health and Fitness Lifestyle

Article Comments

Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.