Eat nothing but pizza, and lose weight?

ST. PETERSBURG - Pizza is a quick-fix junk food, easily served at kids’ parties and is a staple of college dorm life. So you might say losing weight and staying fit just eating pizza sounds insane, but a pizza maker is on a mission to prove the doubters wrong.

His name is Matt McClellan. He wasn't exactly an overweight "dough boy," despite twirling, slicing, and serving-up pizza for a living in St. Petersburg. But a fire burned inside him hotter than his pizza shop oven.

"I'm gonna prove to America that pizza is healthy," Matt insisted.

So Matt started to eat nothing but pizza. He was motivated after getting scorned at the gym for offering free samples to promote his pizza shop.

“They were mad," he recalled. "They couldn't believe I would bring pizza to a gym. They thought I was the most evil thing that they've seen."

That inspired Matt's “pizza diet” plan. It’s his 30-day pizza-only meal plan to stay healthy and fit.

He eats eight slices total for a full day of nutrition. That’s 2,500 calories.

Matt assembled a diet and nutrition team to watch over him for safety. He routinely had his blood checked.

Matt says he boosted his good cholesterol and lowered the bad and dropped 25 pounds.

"I lowered my cholesterol 86 points, lowered blood pressure, lost 10 percent body fat."

He also boosted his workouts to 60 minutes a day, every day. One day, Matt does cardio; the next he works with weights.

Matt says he has an almost Zen-like focus.

"It's mind control. It's commitment to yourself, and it's execution, following through with your plans."

As for the pizza meal plan, Matt says he worked-up his blueprint with the precision of an architect, carefully choosing the toppings and timing of his eating.

His first slice is about 9 a.m. and his last is at 9 p.m.

He starts with plain cheese. Then it's two slices of chicken and meat at mid-day, follwed by broccoli-chicken at 2 p.m. He has BBQ chicken at 6 p.m., a veggie slice at 7 p.m., and he wraps up with tomato-mozzarella at 9.

The American Dietetic Association's Good Food and Nutrition Guide dismisses eating "one-food-only diets." It states they flat out don't work in keeping weight off.

Even so, Matt's goal is to deliver a strong message from atop the pizza pulpit.

"And I preached and I preached about balance and nutrition, portion control."

Matt’s diligent approach and attitude just may have won him some converts. He says he is no longer shooed away at the gym.

In the future, Matt says he’ll publish a book on his pizza diet plan and wants to tour the country in an RV to promote it. Matt hopes to challenge Subway’s Jared to prove pizza can be the healthiest fast food on the planet.