Press Release Source: Discovery Health Channel

How Fit Can You Get in Sixteen Weeks?; Six Contestants Hungry for Victory Take Up the Challenge in New Season of TV's Discovery Health Body Challenge 2
Tuesday October 29, 1:00 pm ET
- Popular, Six-Part Reality Series Makes its Second Season Premiere on Thursday, January 16, 2003 at 8:00PM (ET) -

BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Discovery Health Channel starts the New Year with a dare, challenging six overweight and out-of-shape Southern Californians to switch from fat to fit in Discovery Health Body Challenge 2. The popular, six-part reality series returns for its second season, following six men and women for 16 weeks as they slim down, adopt healthy eating habits, sculpt their muscles and transform their lives. A couple of contestants vow to stop smoking as well. Each challenger learns how to adopt a healthier lifestyle, but only one of them will win a luxury spa vacation on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

The first two episodes of Discovery Health Body Challenge 2 premiere Thursday, January 16, 2003 from 8:00-10:00 PM (ET/PT) with additional episodes airing in the same time slot on Thursday, January 23 and Thursday, January 30.

Collectively, this season's contestants are 250 pounds overweight, but with the help of a personal trainer, access to the best nutritional advice and tips from top experts, each challenger has the opportunity to get on the fast track to fitness. Each has his or her own challenges, including all-too- familiar struggles with food choices, exercise, cultural expectations, and genetic inheritance. In each hour-long episode, viewers experience the contestants' bright beginnings, poignant setbacks and inspiring triumphs.

Contestants begin with a trip to nutrition expert Michael Hirt, M.D. at the Center for Integrative Medicine in Los Angeles, for a full physical and weigh-in to determine their body fat-to-muscle ratio. Dr. Hirt sets each contestant's target weight and body fat goal and then hands him or her guidelines for a low fat diet. Next, the challengers meet the personal trainers who will be their partners in the 16-week challenge.

Every week, viewers are drawn into a fun and uplifting competition that pits six determined contestants against themselves and each other, facing off in tests that challenge their fitness, physical skills and nutritional knowledge. Every episode ends with "The Moment of Truth" -- the time to step on the scale. Each contestant's progress is tallied in the "fitness file" -- a detailed dossier of his or her achievements, setbacks and weight loss statistics. Some serious issues are addressed throughout the series, including the use of diet pills. Challengers were encouraged not take short cuts but to draw on the resources of sound nutrition and the motivation of their trainers

At the end of 16 weeks, a panel of experts picks the challenger they think has made the most positive lifestyle change. This season's challengers are:

* Kia, a social worker by day and a professional wrestler in her
daydreams, whose addiction to fast food and emotional eating has her on
the ropes, weighing in at 239 pounds. Can she grapple with a fierce
nicotine habit and her family's predisposition to obesity to fight her
way down to 170 pounds and become a wrestler for real?

* Dave, a high school coach and father of five, whose years of eating
fatty foods have landed him on the sidelines at 202 pounds. Can
healthier food choices and a hard-driving exercise program help him
reach his target weight of 168 pounds and put him back in the game?

* Kelley, a part-time student and full-time working mom, whose study-time
binges on chips, cookies and chocolate have her cramming into her
clothes at 172 pounds. Can Kelley cut the string on her yo-yo dieting
and reach her target weight of 140 pounds?

* Courtney, a hard-charging sales rep and marathon runner, whose habit of
finishing runs with ice cream rewards has turned into a dieting dilemma.
At 145 pounds, with a target weight of 120 pounds, can Courtney sell
herself on success to win the challenge -- without the help the
chemicals she's relied on in the past.

* Doug, a video editor and big man behind the scenes in broadcasting,
whose love for beer bashes and take out dinners have pushed him into the
category of clinically obese. Can Doug say 'no' to beer and nacho-
noshing to reach his target weight of 190 pounds and reach his goal of
looking better naked.

* Matthew, a hotshot in the high-pressure world of advertising, whose
addiction to junk food and everything cheese-y has turned his washboard
abs into a washtub paunch. Can he quit smoking and still go from chunky
(223 pounds) to hunky (191 pounds) to reach his goal of hiking the Grand
Canyon with his partner?


This year's challengers represent all walks of life, yet each has a specific set of obstacles they will have to overcome to reach their fitness goals. Viewers can learn more about the challengers and their tips on how to achieve real weight loss and fitness by logging onto http://www.discoveryhealth.com .

Discovery Health Body Challenge 2 is sponsored in part by Slim Fast. Film Garden Entertainment produced the series for Discovery Health Channel. Nancy Jacobs Miller and Tracy Verna Soiseth are the executive producers; Gary Benthin is supervising producer. Claire Vande Polder is executive producer for Discovery Health Channel.

Discovery Health Channel takes you inside the world of health, medicine and wellness -- through medical breakthroughs, inspiring real life stories of individual and medical triumphs and events brought to life in a unique and captivating style. From the people who bring you the Discovery Channel, the most trusted brand on television. Discovery Health Channel, LLC and Discoveryhealth.com, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Discovery.com, Inc., and the internet's most comprehensive vertical health portal, are part of a major, multi-media business designed to help consumers lead healthier, more vigorous lives. Together, discoveryhealth.com and the Discovery Health Channel are dedicated to being the recognized leaders in the growing field of health, medical and nutrition information.

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Source: Discovery Health Channel

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021029/dctu011_1.html

I liked this one when it was first on..
Of course my sisters frustration..and I admit mine.. were that ..
Sometimes the turtles get run over in what seems to be someones subjective idea's on improvements..
but perhaps I am completely wrong!
Poofie!

That sounds more like a show on *a* diet. Do the other five episodes use different diets?

this show would REALLY be interesting if at least one of them used the Low-carb approach. We could all watch our hero shed the pounds and kick butt whilst enjoying thick juicy steaks, eggs, cheese, etc. etc.... and sadly watch the others struggle with sad little low fat meals of tofu and beans and rice and whatever, and constant hunger... and stilll not lose as much weight!

THAT would be a fun show to watch.

It would blow people away to see someone get fitter WITHOUT exercising while eating heartily.

"Sponsored by SlimFast." Missed that.

Diaries from Discovery's Online Body Challenge 1, on the other hand, used high-protein, SlimFast, 1200 calories (70-80 grams of protein, 150-200 grams of carbohydrates, and less than 25 grams of fat), low-carb (100g per day), just eating less, and perhaps another SlimFast diet.

Online Body Challenge 2, currently underway, also got lamer. Everyone is on the in2nutrition, whatever that might be.

I agree. It really would be interesting if one of the contestants went on a 1200 - 1800 calorie Atkins induction diet. With exercise. And if they tried resistance training as per suggestions from Drs Eades, things could get even more interesting.

Oh well, we can dream.

That would be a blast! As they were standing on stage receiving their tickets to their exotic vacation, the host would ask "so, is there anyone you'd like to thank?" and the winner would proclaim "ATKINS!". And all us little LC'ers would just be cheering like crazy in our living rooms, while the referees of the "challenge" would be having heart attacks froms shock (and from their high sugar diets!)!!

Carianne