"People stress about [the calorie content of protein], but they should be stressing about sugar," Bennett says." Sugar has a high-calorie count but it's metabolized quickly. And if you're not burning the sugars while working out, you're going to put on weight."

4. Eat frequently, with a mixture of protein and carbohydrates at every meal.

Your body needs a steady supply of fuel if it's going to function at maximum efficiency. Eating frequently also increases your body's metabolism, which means it will burn more calories.

Olympic athletes eat five to six meals a day, with protein at each, to increase lean muscle mass and maintain maximum efficiency. So plan to eat smaller meals, ideally two and one-half to three hours between each.

"You want to keep your body running so efficiently that everything you're using is converted to energy and your body doesn't store anything," Bennett explains.

Star shot-putter and two-time Olympic silver medalist Adam Nelson, who is competing in Beijing, follows this advice religiously. In order to maintain his muscled physique, Nelson eats protein every three hours -- a total of 300 grams per day.

A typical day for him begins at 6:30 a.m. with six to eight eggs, a cup or two of berries, and coffee. At 9:30 a.m., he'll have an apple and protein shake. For lunch, he'll eat a turkey sandwich packed with spinach and green and red peppers, along with a glass of milk.

For his afternoon snack, Nelson will grab leftovers from the night before. Then, for dinner, he often consumes up to 2 pounds of salmon, along with grilled vegetables and a cup of rice. Just before bed, he downs yet another protein shake.

Of course, unless you are a world-class athlete in training, you should not follow Nelson's diet. But the idea of eating every few hours -- with a mixture of protein and carbs at every meal -- is an important one.

5. Watch the mirror, not the scale.

Bennett says that even if your goal is weight loss, the healthiest of regimens focus on decreasing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass, not a particular number on the scale.

When she swam her record-setting race in Sydney, the 5-foot-6-inch swimmer weighed between 120 and 125 pounds, with 18% body fat. Now, she weighs between 135 and 138 pounds, but her body fat is down to 12%.

"If your clothes fit great and you like the way you look in the mirror, does it matter what the scale says?" she asks. "It's like age. You could be 45 but feel 30. Age and weight are just numbers that we get obsessed with, but they don't mean we're healthy."

Instead of weighing, Bennett recommends having someone measure you every two weeks and check your body fat once a month, which will provide a yardstick for how much fat you're actually losing.

6. Drink plenty of water.

The body is made up of 60% water, which means it needs a regular supply to survive. According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), a fluid loss of even 2% body weight will affect circulatory functions and decrease performance. liuxuepaper.com