'Dateline' diet challenge: Reunion time

Carrie's weight loss story
Former band member Carrie Newman wanted to lose 60 pounds with the South Beach Diet. The idea behind South Beach is to eat good fats, like olive oil and canola oil and the good carbs, such as ones with fiber. To give her support, Carrie's family was doing South Beach with her. And for the first time in nearly 20 years, Carrie started to exercise. Early on it all felt like torture. Yet after two weeks she was starting to see results. She'd lost six pounds.

But a month into the diet challenge, exercise had stopped and she was obsessing on the weight of her clothes.

Wearing her lightest outfit, after two months on South Beach, she'd lost just 12 pounds. She confessed that her law school finals had taken over and soon, Carrie and her daughter gave up.

CARRIE'S DIET DIARY Breakfast Egg bake (see recipe) Lunch Salad with chicken or tuna or other form of seafood Dinner Lean meat (chicken, pork or beef) with two vegetables (cooked onions, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini or canned beans) Dessert 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, Splenda, Cool Whip, almond extract, peanut butter, vanilla or other extract Favorite recipes Breakfast egg bake: Eight days of servings Ingredients: 8 eggs 1 bag Mozzarella or Cheddar low fat cheese 1 carton low fat Cottage cheese 1 16 oz bag spinach or broccoli 2 cups chopped onions 2 small cans of mushrooms 1 can chicken or chopped up Canadian bacon Can add zucchini, yellow squash (or leftover vegetables) Preparation/ Cooking: Mix all ingredients together Spray cake pan w/ PAM Pour mixture into cake pan Bake for at least one hour at 350 degrees (until golden brown) Desert Snack:  Place no sugar fudecicle in heated pan for 15 seconds, mix in Cool Whip, put in freezer and eat as chocolate ice cream/mousse Exercise Yoga once a week Walking whenever possible Gym Aerobics whenever possible

After a three day binge she said she got it out of her system. She started all over again. Now six weeks into the diet challenge, with law school behind her, she was back on track. And one other thing. She stopped weighing her clothes.

By June, after three months on South Beach, incredibly, Carrie’s diet alone had brought her diabetes under control. She was no longer on her medication. It's a major benefit of the South Beach diet. But a month later, Carrie had not lost any more weight. It turns out that the summer was full of temptation for Carrie, wearing down her resistance until finally she gave herself a sugar fix. But there were still three months to go until their 25th high school reunion, and still time for a breakthrough.

This September, Carrie, who'd been struggling on South Beach, revealed something about herself. She hadn't given up. Feeling renewed, she even shed her glasses after 30 years, and though she was back in law school, unlike before, now she found time to exercise. In October we found our South Beach girl giddy. She had lost 30 pounds and was somehow holding her sugar demon at bay. And she'd reaped the rewards of her renewed disciple. In her front hall, she piled bags of old clothes.

In the end, band girl Carrie Newman, who hoped to lose 60 pounds on South Beach, started at 314 and finished at 283 pounds. She didn’t reach her goal but it's the least Carrie's weighed in 18 years.

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