The on-air diet

By David Connolly, Enterprise staff writer

http://enterprise.southofboston.com...news/news05.txt

BRIDGEWATER — Tonight, the entire country will know that Tom Herrington cheated on his diet.

Herrington and his wife, Kathy, and their children, Patrick, 17, and Kimberly, 15, participated in a PBS documentary that followed dieters for eight months, and tonight "Losing It," an episode of Scientific American Frontiers, airs on Channel 2 at 9 p.m.

"He hid potato chips in the trash," Kim told program host Alan Alda. "You could hear them unraveling in the trash barrel." But despite the occasional lapse, both Tom and Kathy lost about 20 pounds by following e-Diets, an Internet-based diet and exercise regimen.

Kimberly and Patrick participated somewhat unwillingly.

"They forced me to do it," said Patrick, who lost about 10 pounds, during the taping, and Kimberly admitted to Alda that she begged her friends for junk food because "there was no food in the house."

But this week, several months after finishing the program, everyone in the family said they enjoyed the experience and learned the successful way to lose weight: eat smart and exercise.

The hour-long show follows 10 volunteer dieters for eight months as they try to lose weight through several different methods, including the popular Atkins and Zone diets, as well as two people who opted for gastric-bypass surgery.

All the participants, who live in the Boston area, got together at the beginning of the program and at its end.

Others tried Weight Watchers' point-based system or calorie counting.

For eight months beginning last year, the participants recorded themselves in a weekly video diary.

"Last night we went out to eat, and Dad had some clam chowder and fries," Kim said in one diary entry.

Tom and Patrick even stopped at McDonald's once last summer between archery lessons Tom offered through various town recreation programs, but that was not revealed on the television show.

Kathy, a physical therapist at the Life Care Center in Raynham, said she was embarrassed by one of her entries when she showed viewers that she could fit into her size 10 jeans once again.

"That was the one stupid thing that I did," she said this week.

Kathy, who had some success with Weight Watchers, which allows dieters to eat so many points worth of food and rewards bonus points for exercise, heard about the PBS program through the e-Diets Web site.

She and her husband signed up for the Internet program and expressed an interest in joining the documentary.

"We called, they interviewed us and selected us," she said.

E-Diets provides participants with detailed meal plans for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a snack, along with a shopping list.

"The entire second shelf in the refrigerator was always filled with yogurt," quipped Patrick.

Also, the kids complained that their parents woke them up every morning at 5 a.m. by making a racket on the treadmill.

Kathy, who is still wearing size 10 jeans, and Tom, who can still fit into his 36-inch waist pants, said, however, they would recommend e-Diets. The success of other documentary participants varied. The gastric-bypass patients lost 100 pounds or more, Alda lost 20 pounds, but some even gained a few pounds.

One person, a man from Burlington who opted for the no-carbohydrates Atkins diet, quit after eating pasta and then pizza.

Kim and Patrick, both students at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, have concerns with their friends seeing the show tonight.

Kimberly said her health and physical education teacher may show the program in classes on nutrition.

"All my friends are watching it to make fun of me," said Patrick.

Great program. Shows that you have to change your behavior as well as dietary intake.

Atkins did not fare well-the only one on it dropped out early but the women on the Zone diet did very well.