BAY AREA (KRON) -- The KRON 4 Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge group is now complete. We've had a tremendous response to this challenge. More than 1,300 viewers sent us e-mails and shared their stories.

Just like Dr. Phil, we tried to select a group of six people who are facing a variety of issues with their weight. And just like Dr. Phil, we couldn't keep it to six. We have a total of seven in our group.

It's time to meet the seven members of the KRON 4 Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge and the experts who are going to help them reach their goal.

Psychologist, Dr. Brenda Wade will help them tackle the emotional and psychological factors of weight control. "We learn by the time we are four, most of the habits that we have as adults," Dr. Wade says.

Registered dietician Jane Tien will give the group the tools they need to understand what foods are best for healthy living. "It's not the pounds, it is how you feel about yourself. You want to feel happy, you want to feel good, and you want to have enough strength to do the things you want to do," she says.

Fitness expert Eric Harr will show them how to get the most out of their workouts and even make them fun. "And that is my goal," he says, "to see Harry Denton finish an Iron Man triathlon... "

Now let's meet the folks.

Kathleen Petrides is a mother of four who has tried it all and is ready for a different approach. "I started out with Weight Watchers, I've done Atkins, I've done Curves, I've done Zone Diet and I've done Carbohydrate Addicts. You name it, I have done it," she says.

Andy Richman hopes to regain some of the intimacy he's lost with his wife. "I've been married almost 26 years this October, it'll bring a lot more of the romance back into the marriage. So, I've nothing to lose and a lot to gain here: health concerns, my personal happiness, my emotional well being and my relationship with my wife."

Twenty-five year-old Vera Devera got a wakeup call when her mother had a heart attack at age fifty. "I don't want to have to wait til I get diabetes or a heart attack or a stroke even to change my life, I want to do it now, when I'm 25."

"This is a 42 long and obviously, and this is supposed to be buttoned," Harry Denton says of his blazer. For him, losing weight means more than getting back into all those clothes, it means changing some bad habits. "I don't get to drink or smoke, the hell with it, I'm eating what I want. Well now my diabetes has gotten serious, real serious, if I don't do something."

Diabetes is also an issue for Valerie Kennedy. She started struggling with her weight after turning 50. Now she wants to avoid the problems other family members face. "My sister, who has been diabetic for 25 years, and seeing how she is neglecting what she should be doing and she's getting larger and gaining more weight and feeling more tired, and I just don't want to be that way," she says.

For Gary Tognetti you might say food is an occupational hazard. Gary's a chef and so is his wife. "Yes, this is going to work, I'm going to be healthy and fit," he says. "I want to dance at my daughters' weddings, both of them."

Rose Quinones says she's the consumate caregiver. The eldest daughter, the big sister, the trusted friend and confidant. But somewhere along the way she forgot to take care of herself. "Because it's the only area of my life that I've not been completely successful and the area that causes me the most emotional pain," she says. "Oh my God, after all these years can I, you know, can I really do this? And I just had a feeling that it was my turn, that it was my time and here I am, here I am."

Taking only seven people means there are many, many more who are committed to finding weight loss freedom. We hope you'll follow along with us, with our group, with our experts. We think you'll see some of yourself in at least one of these seven people.

So, accept the challenge with us and commit to spending the next ten months solving this problem once and forever.

(Copyright 2003, KRON 4. All rights reserved.)