Wednesday March 7, 2001

Men's Diet War: The Final Weigh-In

Determined to beat his rival on the West Coast, Dr. Paul Knoepflmacher has stepped up his workouts. He says, "As I lose weight I want to put on more muscle."

Paul's been following Dr. Howard Shapiro's "Picture Perfect Diet" which encourages lo-cal alternatives. Nothing's forbidden but … "I haven't had cheese, I haven't had pizza, I haven't had bagels."

After losing an incredible 11 pounds the first week, Paul plateaued at 220 pounds midway through. But on his final weigh-in: 214.5 pounds. Paul says, "I set out to lose 10-15 pounds now I'm down 16 and a half."

And Paul now fits into his "thin" pants. Dr Shapiro, who's been meeting with Paul each week, is confident Paul will keep it all off. He says, "First of all he doesn't feel like he's deprived. Secondly, he's not eating less food. He's just eating differently. Third of all he's excited the way he feels. He has more energy."

Jerry Meduri's playing catch up after vacationing in "the big easy." He says, "I didn't follow the diet at all while I was there."

But he did work out every day and midway through his Weight Watchers diet, Jerry had lost four pounds. But on his final weigh-in a week later, we found Jerry had regained a few. After starting his diet at 209 pounds, Jerry went down to 205 but ended up at 206.9 four weeks later. Jerry's Weight Watchers leader, Linda Defoe, says his case is typical.

She says, "If you really want to change your eating habits and the way you live your life, the weight's not going to come off fast but the weight you do lose will be a permanent loss."

The score after four weeks? Paul: minus 16.5. Jerry: minus 2.1. Thanks for playing guys.