“It’s a very delicate balance we have,” she said. “If one of the kids is sick, the plan is out.” She has office hours in Millville Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and on Monday and Friday she’s at Heart Line until noon. The rest of those days is for her children.

The children are in bed by 8:30, so she and Andrew have an hour and a half for themselves. By 10 p.m., she’s in bed.

On Sunday, after attending church, the family often goes for a 2-mile walk, and Bieber will sometimes work out at home with a set of dumbbells.

When she’s in peak competition mode, her diet consists of three things: asparagus, tilapia and salt-free rice cakes.

“It’s virtually fat-free,” she notes.

At other times, her diet expands a bit. She eats turkey breast, egg whites, brown rice, sweet potatoes and oatmeal.

“It’s all high protein and very low in carbohydrates and sugars,” she said.

To save time, she often grills 30 pieces of fish at once and makes egg-white omelets in advance. That way, she can heat meals in the microwave quickly and easily.

She eats at least six times a day to keep her energy level up, weighing everything she eats.

It’s not all bland salt-free, sugar-free all the time, though.

“The day after a competition, I eat what I want,” she admitted. “I’ll eat an entire half gallon of fat-free, sugar-free frozen yogurt and pumpernickel pretzels.”

Keeping it clean

Bieber doesn’t use any diuretics, steroids or human growth hormone. In fact, she said, competitors are required to take a polygraph test prior to each competition, and the winners must submit to urinalysis.

“It’s all hard work and sweat,” she said.

To look at her today, it’s hard to imagine she weighed almost 180 pounds at one time. When she realized the next pair of jeans she would buy would be a plus size, she decided to go to a gym.