WONDERLAND • The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

	"I didn't have many dates in high school," Lynda Carter confessed. "Boys didn't think of me as glamorous. No wonder-when I was 14, 1 grew two and a half inches and gained 25 pounds within three months."

	Today Lynda Carter, star of CBS-TV's Wonder Woman, is a stunning 5' 8" and a well-distributed 122 pounds. She talked to Weight Watchers Magazine about her past and current figure problems, all happily solved, during a break in production on the Los Angeles docks.

	"When I was small, people said I was pretty. Then I went through a stage in grade school that was terrible. I was tall, lanky and wore size ten shoes. The other children called me Olive Oyl because I looked like Popeye's girlfriend. After that, I did what they used to call 'develop.' I had a woman's body."

	Dirndl skirts made popular by Connie Stevens on Hawaiian Eye were the rage, and Lynda, like most of her peers, yearned to wear one but couldn't because of her figure. "I can remember," Lynda said with a grin, "wanting to be a tiny flat-chested blonde." Part Mexican, Lynda grew up in Tempe, Arizona. She inherited from her maternal grandmother a love for, and an ability to cook, Mexican dishes.

	"I don't think grandmother's cooking was the major factor in my weight gain , although Mexican food is something I have to be cautious of now. Actually, I had pretty good eating habits as a
child. My mother never had to beg me to eat vegetables because I've always liked them. I'm sort of vegetarian. I've never liked most fried things, and I'd rather eat a raw potato than a creamed one. But, at 14, 1 went to stay with an aunt in California, and I ate considerably differently. In a very short time, I shot up and out. I was not really 'fat,' but I was heavier than I wanted to be."

When she returned home to sundrenched Arizona, it was hard to ignore the added weight. Everybody wore bathing suits year-round. And she now admits that she was a bit jealous of slimmer girls.

"I never did date much in high school. I was a late bloomer. I had a crush on the 'high school football hero-who didn't?, but he never asked me out. In fact, practically nobody did. The boys were my friends, but they didn't ask me for dates."

Though she wanted to be thinner in high school, Lynda didn't find the will to lose the excess weight until after she'd graduated. "I had started to sing with a group and somehow became less interested in food. Even now, I eat less when I keep busy."

By 1973 the 25 pounds were off. How did she do it? "I just ate less and cut out all the unnecessary foods, like calorieladen desserts."

Lynda also filled up with acting ambitions and entered the Miss World beauty contest, becoming Miss World-USA and a finalist in the London-based Miss World pageant.

While in England, she recorded three singles. She recalls, "Living there was a good experience, but I was happy to come home." After some minor acting roles in Los Angeles, she tested for and won (over 2,000 applicants) the role of Wonder Woman.

Since the mini-skirted, low-cut, snugly fitting Wonder Woman gear reveals every curve (and bulge), and since television cameras automatically exaggerate a performer's size, Lynda has to be more unrelentingly weight-conscious than most series stars. "I'm still vulnerable today. For example, I could sit in front of the television set and eat a bowl of potato chips. Greek olives could become another obsession."

Usually, sweets don't tempt Lynda much, but occasionally she's overcome by a craving for something sinfully yummy. When that happens, she uses psychology to combat her craving. "When you feel like you'll just die without a candy bar, I've discovered that it's a good idea to wait as long as you can and get busy with something else.

"When I feel that I absolutely must eat a rich dessert, I have it in a restaurant. Eating a dessert in public keeps me from having doubles because of social awareness."

Lynda doesn't drink alcoholic beverages, except a limited amount of beer. "Cold low-calorie' beer in a crystal glass is delicious but, of course, I can't drink much of it." She also feels that sugar should be eliminated as much as possible from a normal diet.

Her other tricks for maintaining weight? "I exercise regularly. We have a gym at home where I work out, swim and ride a bicycle. I also do isometric exercises daily. My husband likes exercise and is equally conscious of his weight-that helps." Lynda's husband-manager is Ron Samuels.

Ron and Lynda met when he went to the Wonder Woman set to look for a friend. He asked her to lunch, which lasted three hours; they fell in love instantly. They were married shortly thereafter, in May 1977.

Either fortunately or unfortunately, Ron's digestion doesn't tolerate spicy foods and therefore Lynda isn't tempted to cook heavy meals for dinner. "We eat simple, nutritious meals and keep very rigid schedules which don't allow us a lot of time to sit and nibble the wrong foods. When I am a dinner guest, if I'm offered something I shouldn't eat, I say, 'It looks delicious, but I'm so full I can't eat another bite.'

"People will accept the fact that you're not hungry more easily than they'll accept the fact that you're trying to keep the weight off."

Though Lynda -and Ron's $850,000 home in Los Angeles' Benedict Canyon suggests that her zealous attention to appearance has paid off, Lynda wants it known that she places little value on such things. "I am a born-again Christian and I go to prayer meetings."

Lynda feels so strongly that she draws her power from Christ that she doesn't want to be confused with a cartoon character whose "powers" come from other sources. So, if you watch the show regularly, you've probably noticed that down-to-earth conservative Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's alter ego, is getting more time on screen. And this is Lynda's doing.

Says Lynda, "In all things, I am vulnerable." That is why she rigorously guards her figure and her values.