WASHINGTON -- Over the next eight months, four Washington-area women have pledged to take part in the new "Weigh To Lose" challenge.

The campaign is a new effort to help viewers Get Healthy 4 Life. The women are finalists and have agreed to try their best to lose at least 50 pounds by the end of the program.

Meet The Finalists

One of the finalists, Angela Miller, said experiencing a 9-pound weight loss in the past two weeks represents a milestone for her.

"I cannot believe that I did this. That I have a chance to finally do this -- to get rid of this weight," she said.

Miller, 41, is a government contract administrator with a family history of hypertension. She is also the mother of a 5-year-old who recently survived brain cancer.

"We beat death one time with her because it was pretty serious, and if I don't lose this weight, we won't be getting a second chance," she said.

Another finalist, Sandy Laird, 47, is a substitute teacher with diabetes, high triglycerides and a 6-year-old son who loves to swim and ski.

"My husband's really good about taking him to swimming and skiing but I just sit on the sidelines and watch," she said.

Mary Ann Dalzell, a 44-year-old library clerk, said she decided to take the challenge because within her immediate family is diabetes, a recent triple bypass and a few knee replacements. Maintaining her weight has been a struggle, Dalzell said, but lately her weight's been steadily creeping upward.

"I'm a yo-yo dieter, and I've weighed as much as 35 pounds more and 35 pounds less than where I am now," she said.

Although Andrea Barbarin, 31, said that although she is healthy, diabetes has affected generations of her family. The attorney said she wants a body to match her mind.

"I feel very confident about my intellectual capacity and, socially, how I can interact with people, but just in teerms of the way I look, I'd like to be even better that way," she said.

Over the next eight months, the four women will sweat it out, get personalized menus, checkups, and encouragement and help to change their lifestyles.

Dietician Demetre Whitmore said the women will get to eat the foods they love while slowly learning to maximize nutrition.

"We're starting out with what's familiar with them," Whitmore said. "The whole thing is a process. It's not cold turkey boom at the beginning. It's a gradual process, and they'll be able to see growth as they go along."

The challenge began with 60 applicants. Now the four women finalists will work out at least three times a week and post written and video blogs of their progress every two weeks.

Although they are competing, the group said it has quickly bonded as they find a way to lose together and a way to gain more from their lives.

"I think that's what's going to really do it for me is all the help," said Laird.

The Weigh To Lose challenge is sponsored by NBC4, Curves and Wash Hospital Center.