• October 07, 2002
• Vol. 58
• No. 15

Downsized Diva

Weight Training and Brown-Bag Lunches Give Oprah Winfrey a Winning New Figure

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From PEOPLE Magazine

It's the stuff nightmares are made of—not being able to fit into your awards show dress—but Oprah Winfrey was ecstatic. Thanks to a new fitness regimen, her Bradley Bayou corseted Emmy gown "was too big," she says. "They had to come tighten it!"

Winfrey's svelte new form set the Emmy crowd abuzz as she accepted the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. "She looked beautiful," says Sissy Spacek, who sat nearby. "I kept wanting to say, 'Do a wide shot!'"

Guided by longtime trainer Bob Greene, author of Get with the Program!, Winfrey recommitted to healthy living last year, keeping a food journal, taking 5-mile walks and not eating after 7:30 p.m. Now she exercises daily, emphasizing weight training, and totes her own soup or salad lunches to work. "It's not about numbers," says Winfrey. "Give up the scale! It's about my health. I'm going to be 50 in two years. It's now or never. Fifty is the new 30!"