Stephanie Caviness wanted to slim down. But the 33-year-old Jersey City, New Jersey, woman had a hard time sticking with an exercise routine. So she turned to her computer for help, and she ended up losing 23 pounds.

For Stephanie, exercise was nothing new. She had tried it several times in the past as a way of getting in shape. “I had been gaining weight ever since I was in college,” she recalls. “I wanted to look better and feel better. But every time I started an exercise program, I’d lose interest. Eventually, I’d abandon my workouts.”

By 1998, Stephanie weighed 173 pounds. “I’m 5 foot 9, so I wasn’t really obese,” she says. “But I was having problems with my heart—it raced and sometimes skipped beats. My doctor attributed those irregularities to the fact that I was in such poor condition aer-obically.”

At last, Stephanie found her motivation to lose weight and get fit. She pursued a variety of activities—step aerobics, aqua-aerobics, running, even salsa dancing. She made some dietary changes, too, eating more fruits and vegetables, watching her fat intake, measuring portions, and drinking lots of water.

Her efforts paid off: Her heart health improved, and as a bonus, her body looked trimmed and toned. She marveled at how the pounds disappeared so quickly, but worried about whether she could continue losing. More and more, exercise seemed like a chore. “Even though I was doing a lot of different things, I felt myself losing interest,” she says. “But I didn’t want to sabotage the progress that I had made.”

Convinced that others must be facing the same problem, Stephanie pondered the idea of forming an exercise support group.

“There’s strength in numbers,” she says. “Staying motivated is a lot i “* easier when you’re working with a group rather than on your own.”

Stephanie decided to post a message on Diet Talk, a Web site that she had been frequenting for information and support since starting her weight-loss program. “I had gotten to know a number of people through the message boards and chat rooms, and I suspected that some of them were struggling with exercise, as I was,” she explains. She was right: About-15 people responded to her message.

In January 1999, Stephanie and her online buddies kicked off their Exercise Challenge. Each person has a goal of exercising at least five times a week. “Everyone’s workout is a little different, based on individual abilities and objectives,” Stephanie explains. “But that doesn’t matter, as long as we’re doing something.” The group members e-mail Stephanie at least every 3 days, and often daily, to report on their activities. Stephanie posts the results online on a monthly basis.

“Every month, 80 to 90 percent of us meet the challenge,” she says. “That’s been really encouraging.”

Even more encouraging is the support that participants give one another. “The group changes in size from month to month, from the core membership of 15 to as many as 40,” Stephanie says. “We’ve become almost like a family. We talk about our weight struggles, but we talk about other areas of our lives as well. And when one of us succeeds, all of us succeed.”

*102\89\8*