Donna Dixon, 28, has tried them all: Scarsdale, Pritikin and, in the spring of 1982, she fasted for 20 days. Nonetheless, the female lead in Spies Like Us (her second film with hubby Dan Aykroyd) confesses, I love to cook, and I love to eat." Yet at 5'9", Dixon seldom goes more than five pounds over her ideal weight of 125--partly because of her addiction to athletics.
She sleeps as little as five hours a night and, when in L.A., is often at the gym by 8 a.m. Three times a week she works out with weight coach Dorie Pride, who within a month will have reduced Dixon's waist by one inch--at 36-24-35 she's now a size 8. "I love Nautilus and stretching," the actress says. "The results are immediate, and that gives me the motivation to continue. I'm very hard on myself because I know how good my body can look. Dorie has taught me to use less weight and more repetition so I don't become too muscular." (She was bench pressing 80 pounds and has dropped to 40 pounds.)
At the Aykroyds' house in the Hollywood Hills, Donna swims in the heated pool for at least 45 minutes each morning. There is also a stationary bicycle, which she pedals for 15 minutes a day and there are plans for gyms with Nautilus equipment in the Canadian home and Martha's Vineyard retreat.
Vacations often involve sports. The two love to ride on the beach at the Vineyard, and Aykroyd lined up with his wife for snowshoe trekking and cross-country skiing over their Christmas holiday in Canada. On summer jaunts to Canada's Loughbro Lake, "we swim for miles and miles," Donna says. "The water is like Perrier, and we spend a good four hours a day in it."
While filming Spies in London, the couple kept fit by rising an hour and a half early to walk to the locations. "The weight poured off us, and we were eating whatever we wanted," she says. Dixon usually is more discriminating. She has not eaten red meat in six years ("It tires me."), and dairy products--including cheese--are taboo. She no longer eats three meals a day. Breakfast is often a cup of coffee. She picks at fruits and vegetables during the day and nurses large tumblers of mineral water doctored with lemon or lime juice. In the evening she may eat simply prepared chicken or fish dishes.
The battle continues, however. "It's so difficult," Dixon sighs. "Sometimes if I have dessert, I think, 'Well, I blew it.' That's something I need to work on and control. But still there's nothing like a buffet."