
DATE: Monday, November 3, 1997              TAG: 9711030062

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  107 lines

FIT TO INSPIRE EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGIST SHARES INSIGHT, LIFESTYLE TIPS AT CENTER'S DEDICATION

There's one thing exercise physiologist Bob Greene would like people to know about being overweight and out of shape: The conditions do not create unhappiness.

Rather, says Greene, the fitness guru who helped talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, our dissatisfaction with life is more often our source of overeating and inconsistent flirtations with exercise.

Greene, 40, who engineered Winfrey's five-year odyssey into fitness and weight loss, spoke to an audience of nearly 400 Sunday at the dedication of Chesapeake General Hospital's new Lifestyle Health and Fitness Center on Taylor Road in Western Branch.

His talk was part of a seven-week tour promoting a new video he produced with Winfrey. Called ``Make the Connection: 10 Steps to a Better Body and a Better Life,'' it's patterned after a book the pair released last year.

Both are based on Winfrey's highly publicized 100-pound weight loss, which she achieved by eating healthfully, exercising daily and looking within herself to understand her behaviors, Greene said.

The former fitness-club director, who moved to Chicago in 1992 to be Winfrey's personal trainer, shared slides of her journey, with the men and women seated on folding chairs in the center's gymnasium.

Oprah on a bicycle. Oprah in a kayak. Oprah doing situps. Oprah running a half-marathon. Oprah weighing more than 200 pounds. Oprah sleek and dressed to thrill.

Getting fit is hard work, says Greene. It takes commitment.

So he tries to instill a passion in the people who come to hear him.

Sunday, they included Marcia Disrud and neighbor Dawn Hendrix, who drove from their homes in Virginia Beach.

The women are trying to lose weight but have been inconsistent in their plans to walk every day.

``Most people know the foods they should be eating,'' Greene says. ``They know they're supposed to exercise.

``People show up to be inspired.''

He tells them he knew Winfrey would be successful after their first day of exercise, when she told him she'd be back the next morning at 5:30.

Like Winfrey, we must be ready to change, he said.

Winfrey, who'd lost weight on liquid diets before, then rebounded in the public eye, wanted to do whatever it took to change for the better, for good.

Together, they came up with 10 basic steps that others could follow:

Exercise five to seven days a week. Mornings are best. You'll have less time to make excuses.

Exercise in ``the zone'': You should be able to talk. Barely.

Exercise for 20 to 60 minutes to start.

Eat a low-fat, balanced diet.

Eat three meals and two snacks daily. Get away from the traditional big dinner.

Limit or eliminate alcohol. It slows the metabolism.

Stop eating two or three hours before bedtime, when the metabolisms slow naturally.

Drink six to eight glasses of water daily. ``We're 60 percent water,'' says Greene.

Eat at least three vegetables and two fruits daily. They help fill us, and have anti-cancer properties, he says.

Renew. Remind yourself daily of your goals and the commitment you've made. Look within.

To achieve success in our physical bodies, we must be honest about our emotions and change our behaviors, said Greene, who at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds exercises daily.

In America, where studies show more than a third of the population is significantly overweight, we view exercise as punishment and food as a reward, Green said.

Often, rather than face our turmoils and stresses, we turn to food for solace.

Oprah used food to cope, food to celebrate.

In the book and video, she tells of landing a spot as a television news anchor in Baltimore in 1976. She was unprepared for the demands that would be placed on her. Every day after taping, she visited the foods stalls at a nearby mall. By the time she moved to Chicago several years later, her belongings were not the only weight she carried.

Everyone uses food as a coping mechanism, men included, says Greene, though his audiences are about 70 percent women.

He told the audience to ``visualize how you want your life to be.''

Envision the perfect life: home, career, activities.

That life, he says, is not a fantasy. We create it by our choices.

To change, we must seek challenges, and weave them into our days. Build a fulfilling life.

``People view their weight as their major source of unhappiness,'' he says. ``It's really the unhappiness that causes the weight.''

That is the connection for which the book and video are named.

After the talk, Greene fielded a few questions. Most were about fitness, though he says that surprised him when he began the tour. ``I always expected Oprah questions,'' he says. ``But they want to know `How can I change my life?' ''

On Sunday, Marcia Disrud and Dawn Hendrix got just the boost they needed.

``We were just casual about it before,'' says Hendrix, who planned to start her regimen anew at 5:45 today.

``Now we're gonna do it the right way.'' MEMO: Chesapeake General's Lifestyle Health and Fitness Center in

Western Branch continues its grand-opening activities this week. The

center is at 4626 Taylor Road, Chesapeake. For more information, call

483-8300. ILLUSTRATION: OPRAH'S FITNESS GURU

[Color Photo]

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

At the dedication of Chesapeake General Hospital's new Lifestyle

Health and Fitness Center, Bob Greene signs copies of a book he

wrote with Oprah Winfrey. He says most people just need inspiration.