Dateline Challenge from the local newspaper...

This is from today's Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA)...the word from the
Atkins guy is a little discouraging but be forewarned...yes, if you
stop the WOE, you'll start gaining. Simple enough. Kalish

QUINCY - Too heavy on the competition between the classmates to lose
weight; too light on the camaraderie.

That is the reaction one member of Quincy High/Vocational Technical
Class of 1978 had after watching the final segment of ‘‘Dateline
NBC's'' ‘‘Losing It: An Ultimate Diet Challenge,'' which aired last
night.

‘‘I was totally shocked,'' said Lynn Passalacqua Frank, 43, who said
she thought the show inaccurately portrayed the diet challenge as a
competition between the Quincy alumni.

‘‘I never thought this was a competition with each other,'' said
Frank, who lost 35 pounds. ‘‘I thought this was a competition with
ourselves to overcome our own weakness.''

In January 2003, three men and three women who are 1978 graduates of
Quincy High/Vocational Technical agreed to the weight-loss challenge
presented to them by ‘‘Dateline NBC.'' Each chose a diet plan that fit
their individual lifestyle, with a goal of losing a significant amount
of weight before their 25th class reunion, in October.

Overall, the six members lost a total of 310 pounds on the weight-loss
plans that ranged from marathon running to low-carbohydrate diets.

Frank, the former class secretary and the mother of seven, followed an
intense exercise program and kept a close watch on her diet. In
September, she completed the challenge of running and finishing the
Maui marathon in Hawaii.

After the October reunion, one of the six, former high school athlete
Richard Burnes Jr., continued the Atkins diet for a while until he
‘‘leveled off.''

‘‘I continued right away, but then the holiday season started,'' said
Burnes, who lost 120 pounds. ‘‘I worked real hard this past nine
months. You just don't lose that amount of weight. It just didn't fall
off. I needed a break.''

Burnes has gained about 10 pounds since the final weigh-in, on Oct.
10, and has been gravitating away from his strict low-carbohydrate
diet.

‘‘Tomorrow I'm going back on the diet,'' said Burnes, who was
motivated after watching last night's final segment of the show.

‘‘Wow'' was the way 43-year-old Eleanor Vallier-Talbot described the
final segment of the three-part show. ‘‘It was an amazing nine
months.''

Vallier-Talbot lost 60 pounds during the challenge. She followed the
‘‘8 Minutes a Day'' strength training program of Jorge Cruise.
‘‘Dateline'' sent her to San Diego twice to see him and work on
emotional issues that led to overeating.

A recent foot injury kept Vallier-Talbot off the treadmill for a
month, but she stuck to the Cruise program after the reunion, losing
eight more pounds.

The three said they believe that ‘‘Dateline'' will produce a follow-up
show later this year, and they all plan to stick with their
weight-loss programs.

‘‘I'm not turning back now,'' Vallier-Talbot said. ‘‘I've lost too
much weight, and I've also learned so much about myself and where all
these deep-seated emotional problems came from.''

The other members of the Class of 1978 who participated in the
challenge a

—Kathy Walsh-Wynters, who lost 40 pounds by joining a Weight Watchers
program and exercising.

—Mark Giordani, who lost 20 pounds by curbing his eating with a
Slim-Fast diet and walking.

—Marc Merlis, who lost 35 pounds with the help of motivational tapes
from a hypnotist and doing workouts at a health club.