THERESA: OK, here's an update on my experience with the South Beach diet. I've been giving it a try for several days now, hoping to lose the few pounds I gained over my summer of undisciplined eating. Yeah, I lost weight, right away. Too much too soon, in fact. I've decided Phase One (two week of only lean meats, low-fat cheese and vegetables, no fruit, no bad fat, no pasta, no bread) is too severe for me. I see the logic in drastically cutting carbs long enough to lose one's cravings for sugar, but I was just sitting at my desk this minute feeling I might pass out for lack of energy. So I raced to the vending machine for two oatmeal raisin cookies and after inhaling those I feel like a new person.

Also, on Saturday, when Dave and I went for a very slow 3-mile run, I felt frightfully fatigued. So that's the end of at least this Phase One business for me. I've looked the South Beach Diet book over carefully, and it looks like a very sensible, balanced lifetime gameplan once you get past the first couple weeks. Dr. Arthur Agatson, who developed the diet, has lots of good advice about good carbs, good fats, and his book features lots of healthy recipes. So, now that my cravings for bad carbs have abated some after these few experimental days, I'm confident I can be disciplined again about eating whole grains, fruit and veggies, lean meats, not taking in more calories than I burn off, while still taking in enough calories to avoid feeling physically wiped out.

Any of you want to yell at me "I told you so!" ?

KIMBERLY: Yes, I'm YELLING! STOP DIETING! In the long run, low-calorie diets fail you because you will burn mostly muscle and water. The fat is the last thing you lose this way because your body protects itself from low calorie diets by lowering your energy and metabolic rate.

DIANE: Lessons are so much better learned through personal experience!!

JENICE: I found it too restrictive for me, too. Plus, the idea of all that meat and cheese didn't seem right. Besides, I still don't buy into that carbs as the devil thing. I still remember all the years when I practically lived on pasta and pizza. I don't any more, but at the time, it didn't seem to be an issue.

LAURIE: You are making me hungry!

WENDY: You know, Theresa, I think it's very possible that you are too healthy for this diet. Could it be better for people who really, really need a kick-start -- or who are less active than you are?

JILL: I think any diet that excludes fruit for any length of time is suspicious and not worth trying. Still, in a panic over my tight clothes, I tried this diet for six days, gained two pounds, and quit.

YVONNE W: I completed Phase I of the diet yesterday. I didn't have any of the symptoms Theresa experienced. Today I started Phase II, but decided to cheat just a little. Got that out of my system, now I'm forging ahead. I do think the weight loss in Phase I is a little faster than I'm comfortable with. It does feel good to fit comfortably in outfits that were too tight. I don't know if I can keep the weight off and continue to follow the diet. Time will tell.