Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 25, 1990                   TAG: 9004250088
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GERRI KOBREN THE BALTIMORE SUN
DATELINE: BALTIMORE                                LENGTH: Medium

SHAPING UP: NO SWEETS, LOTS OF SWEAT

There are, alas, no miracle methods. According to Dr. Lawrence Cheskin, director of a new obesity-treatment program at Francis Scott Key Medical Center in Baltimore, the old rule still applies: "Eat less and exercise more."

Traditionally, the "eat-less" end of that equation has been the waist-watcher's First Commandment. Today, however, weight control experts are stressing exercise, too.

"Eat less" works, of course, at least in the beginning. Whether we're on high proteins, low carbohydrates, all fruits or mostly rice, we can trim down - because no matter what kind of diet it is, it restricts calories.

But most of us find that the pot at the end of that particular rainbow usually reappears where we least want it to be. And it is more than just a cosmetic disaster: A study published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that women who are even modestly overweight are more likely to have heart attacks than are leaner women. Women who weigh 30 percent or more over the ideal listed on height and weight charts are at even greater risk.

"Two-thirds of people gain the weight back in a few years," Cheskin says. "Ninety percent have gained it all back in seven years. If you look at obesity as a disease, you have a better chance of being cured of many forms of cancer than of being cured of obesity."

The whys and wherefores of obesity are not entirely understood, though it appears that some people are genetically predisposed to overweight while others are destined for lifelong skinniness. Some people - those who get fat during childhood and adolescence - have an excess number of fat cells; others, who gain weight in adulthood, have bigger fat cells. In either case, however, the relative importance of heredity, food intake and energy level is still unknown.

It has also been noticed that weight usually drops fairly quickly at the beginning of a diet, and then plateaus toward the end. And then, of course, the pounds come creeping back when dieting stops.

For that piece of the problem, experts believe they know the answer:

"Your body is a logical machine, designed to keep you alive," explains Gina Greenley, exercise physiologist and on-site manager of a new health and fitness center for Francis Scott Key employees.

"When you go on any kind of calorie-reduced protocol, your body will slow down the furnace to conserve what little energy you're giving it. When you diet, you're training your body to operate with less food."

Then when you return to normal eating - not even over-eating - your sluggish furnace does not need the calories anymore. Your body puts them into storage. Around your waist. On your thighs. In places where you hate to have it all hang out when summer comes and baggies go.

"Exercise," Greenley declares, "counteracts that process."

Logic (and physics) is on her side: Obviously, activity requires more energy than inactivity does. Because oxygen feeds the internal fire, the most effective calorie-burning activity is the steady, rhythmic, breathe-as-you-go, aerobic kind that keeps the heart healthy, too.

But there is a difference: You can keep your cardiovascular system in shape with 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week. Depending on your body weight and the intensity of your activity, you can burn 200 to 300 calories in 20 minutes of jogging. But 3,500 calories are packed into each pound of fat. A quick jog just barely takes the edge off. Eat four 50-calorie Oreos, and you're back to Square One.

For weight loss, therefore, you should "choose the exercise you enjoy enough to do on a regular basis, something you can sustain for a long period of time," advises Ben Hurley, associate professor of exercise physiology and director of the exercise physiology lab at the University of Maryland College Park. "For weight control, I recommend that you try to sustain it for a minimum of 30 minutes, and preferably up to 60. If you are able to get it up to 60 minutes, on a regular basis, that would account for a large number of calories."

As an adjunct to aerobics, Greenley also advises weight-training, aimed at muscle development, for people interested in weight control.