GMA: Lose the Weight

Oct. 30, 2000 -- If you could leave your crazy lifestyle behind, do you think you could lose the extra pounds you've been carrying around?

Good Morning America has challenged seven people to check out of their lives and check in to our month-long series “Lock the Door, Lose the Weight.”

On Friday, they’ll move into a house in the Chicago suburbs where they’ll stay for one week. It’s been outfitted it with everything from plates to weights. And there will be experts on hand who plan to revolutionize our recruits’ diets, bodies and minds so that they’ll never think about food the same way again.

The group will have diet consultations with Dr. Howard Shapiro and exercise sessions with fitness expert Jim Karas. They will also have private and group sessions with a psychotherapist and a dietitian.

We’ll have updates on their progress every day on Good Morning America and on our Web site GMA.abcnews.com. You can check in on them beginning this Friday via our live Web cam between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. eastern time on the weekdays.

After the first week we’ll watch our recruits take what they’ve learned back into their everyday lives.

Meet Our Recruits

They’ve tried everything to lose weight but something always gets in the way.

Tia and Jim Chisholm have been married for more than one year and they both want to lose weight.

Tia works full time job in the housing office DePaul University and is a part-time student. Jim is a full time graduate student in physics and has a part-time job in a factory.

Both were heavy as kids, but were athletic in their teens. Now, they get very little exercise. Tia struggles with a sweet tooth, while Jim tends to eat very big meals.

Debbie Davis, mother of two, is a busy make-up artist for television. She has lost weight before but she put it back on after reaching her goal. She wants to learn how to eat better with her busy, erratic schedule.

Dick Johnson is a reporter and weekend anchor for the ABC affiliate in Chicago. Dick says his weight gain came when he quit smoking. Dick is married with three kids but he still finds time to work out with a trainer. So far that has helped him only to maintain his current weight.

With three kids, Heidi McInerney can’t even find a moment to think about dieting. She used to go to the gym regularly, but now she doesn’t get enough exercise and finds that she eats late at night. She wants to learn how to cook more healthily for her family.

Joanne Rusch has a 7-month-old baby girl, and she is in financial planning.. She gained more than 50 pounds during her pregnancy. She hasn’t been able to maintain any weight loss. She’s looking to change her lifestyle.

David Taylor works late nights in media sales. He eats take-out most nights and he tries to exercise, but his hectic schedule makes getting to the gym difficult. He believes losing weight would give him more self-confidence.