ALEX GAY, 11, displays a photograph of herself taken before she went to a Florida weight loss camp two years ago. Gay recently appeared on the "Today Show" to discuss her struggle with weight and her experience at the camp, where she lost close to 60 pounds. (Tribune & Georgian photo/Emily Goodson)

An appearance on national television recently turned one St. Marys student into a local celebrity.

NBC's "Today Show" followed Alex Gay, 11, for several weeks over the summer as she attended Camp Vanguard, a weight loss camp in Lake Wales, Fla. Gay then traveled to New York City in September to film a follow-up interview with the show for its feature on childhood obesity, which aired Wednesday.

Alex said her struggles with weight began when she was 4 years old.

"I remember, in ballet, kids were calling me fat," she said. "It hurt me."

Alex's mother, Carrie Paulk-Gay, said it was awful as a parent to watch her daughter struggle due to her weight.

"You can't make the hurt go away," she said. "We tried everything under the sun."

Carrie said she started researching weight loss camps and found Camp Vanguard, which is part of the New Image Camps system, on the Internet.

"Finding a camp with a good reputation was tough," she said. "I just was worried about her self-esteem."

Alex said she looked at the camp's Web site and immediately liked what she saw.

"They looked like they had delicious food and they looked like they had a good exercise program," she said.

Her first summer at the camp was in 2006, and she returned to St. Marys almost 50 pounds slimmer. In fact, it was her camper of the year award that summer that made camp director Maxine Spadaro think of Alex when NBC called.

A film crew followed Alex and Carrie for one day in the spring, then went to Florida to film Alex and two other campers for two weeks. Carrie said the experience was an unforgettable one.

"Very few people get to see New York as we saw New York," she said. "It was great."

One of the highlights, Alex said, was meeting celebrities Jodi Foster and Tori Spelling.

"They were so nice," she said.

Now back in St. Marys, Alex and Carrie are working on keeping the healthy habits learned at camp going in everyday life.

"This is a lifestyle change; we're not in prison," Carrie said of the new health regime, which includes scaling back food portions and exercising regularly.

At camp, Alex said, a typical menu involved whole-grain waffles with syrup, fruit and juice for breakfast, pita pizza with vegetables, salad and diet Pepsi for lunch and turkey, potatoes, gravy and salad for dinner.

Abiding by the same healthy menu at home, she said, is fairly easy, but can sometimes be a challenge.

"It's easy, it's just sometimes that you want [the unhealthy stuff]," she said.

Carrie said they stuck to their diet in New York City, splitting large meals into smaller portions and sharing amongst themselves.

"She's an inspiration," she said of Alex.

Alex said she is not sure if she will return to camp next summer, but added that she would like to be a counselor there when she gets older in order to help other kids face what she has already.

"I want to wait until I get older," she said. "I would like to tell the kids about what happened to me."

Until then, her recommendation to others trying to lose weight is to stay positive and get excited about it.

"Have fun while you're doing it," she said. "Meet new people."

For more information about New Image Camps, visit www.newimagecamp.com.