Do the names Bob Greene and Bill Phillips ring a bell?

If you've been keeping up with the world of diet plans, their names are becoming synonymous with weight-loss and getting in shape.

Books by both men have hit the top of the New York Times' best-seller list, and they, especially Greene, regularly make the rounds of TV talk shows.

Their eating plans definitely are not "starvation diets," but they do place heavy emphasis on working out with aerobics and weights to get in shape, although you don't necessarily have to become a gym rat.

Here is a summary of their plans:

It's hard to go wrong when you've got Oprah on your side.

So it goes with Greene, the TV talk-show queen's diet and exercise guru, whose new book, The Best Life Diet, is flying off the bookshelves quicker than you can say "glycemic index." 

Greene, an exercise physiologist and personal trainer who specializes in fitness, metabolism and weight loss, appears on Oprah's daytime TV show regularly and tours the country promoting The Best Life Diet and his philosophy of getting in shape.

Greene also is contributing writer and editor for Oprah's magazine, O, and writes about health and fitness on oprah.com. He has written several best sellers, including Total Body Makeover.

Oprah swears by this diet:

"You cannot ever live the life of your dreams without coming face to face with the truth," Oprah writes, on Greene's website. "Every unwanted pound creates another layer of lies. It's only when you peel back those layers that you will be set free: Free to work out, free to eat responsibly, free to live the life you want and deserve to live. Tell the truth and you'll learn to eat to satisfy your physical hunger and stop burying your hopes and dreams beneath layers of fat.

She claims she lost lots of weight - in stages - by following Greene's advice.

"I've now taken most of the bad foods out of my diet and replaced them with good," she writes. "I eat smaller portions and I eat healthy foods as a way of life, not a diet to go on and off. And I'm always working on getting better.

"My diet is a work in progress."

Why do you overeat? 

The brains behind many of the well-known diet plans say their programs are not diets, but "lifestyles," and Greene is no exception, although he uses the phrase "way of living."

He - and Oprah - say that a major goal of Best for Life is to lose weight, but also to keep the weight off and reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related maladies.

According to press accounts, Greene says you must examine your life so that changes you make in your lifestyle come from within, not from diet or exercise regimens. The keys are making a personal commitment and then focusing on exercising and dieting equally.

But first, you must try to figure out why you are overeating, why you haven't lost weight in the past, and why you want to lose weight now, says Greene, who believes that "emotional eating" is a major reason why you - and millions of other people - gain weight. Something is making you overeat - and you have to figure out what it is. 

Right here, calories aren't so important as the answers to that question. For example, why do you go through a whole box of Oreos in one sitting?

Three phases 

Once you get answers to those questions, you're ready to plunge into the Best Life Diet, he says.

The program is broken into three phases that you can follow at your own pace. You'll follow a diet and increase your physical activity by walking briskly or going as far as getting into strength training at the gym.

The first two phases can last a minimum of four weeks.

In Phase 1, you make gradual changes in your lifestyle and exercise habits. For example, you eat three meals a day and one snack. If you haven't eaten breakfast regularly, you'll start now.

Depending on what amount of exercise you do now, you'll increase your amount of physical activity. You'll cut out all alcohol, although you can add it back later in the program.

You'll take a multivitamin, omega-3 supplement and calcium supplement if you don't get enough of the nutrients from your eating.

You'll stop eating at least two hours before bedtime.

The second phase picks up the pace by offering you menus and meal plans. You'll get a handle on why you get hungry and the emotional reasons why you overeat. Using a "hunger scale," you'll learn how to tell when you've had enough to eat.

It is here that you eliminate junk foods, sugar-laden soft drinks and any other bad foods and beverages.

The first two phases requires that you drop sugar-laden soft drinks; foods containing trans fat; fried foods; white bread; regular pasta; high-fat dairy products;

In the third phase, the "lifestyle phase," provides ideas for meals and fitness plans, including strength training with weights.

The Best Life Diet program also includes online counseling, daily and weekly recipes and meal plans, a recipe database, library of exercise videos, a message board, and newsletters.

Program Summary:

Website: www.bestlife.com

Diet premise: Learn the emotional reasons why you overeat, and then change your eating and exercise habits in three phases.

Cost: about $4.50 a week, for three-month subscription plan. Best Life Diet hardcover runs about $15. Other books by Greene, about $16; Best Life Diet Daily Journal, $10.85; pedemoter, $17.95; audio CDs, $13.97

Length of program: first two phases, a minimum of four weeks; the third phase, rest of your life.

Program extras: online counseling; recipes and meal plans; fitness articles and recommendations; recipe database; exercise videos; bulletin board; newsletters; success stories;

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Phillips is another writer making a splash in the diet world with his Eating for Life book and plan. The book introduces food to his 12-week nutrition and fitness program. The fitness portion is outlined in Phillips' other best-seller, Body for Life.

The former competitive bodybuilder - he poses sans his shirt for pictures in his book - says losing weight and getting in shape involves making wise-eating choices throughout your life - and a big way to do that is to eat often and eat in an enjoyable way.

According to Phillips on his website, eating right takes two things: knowing what to do and then doing what you know, period. In other words, learning the proper ways to nourish your body and then applying the information to lose weight, gain energy and improve your general health.

Eating for Life "is not about dieting," the website says. "It's about feeding your body, not starving it. It's a celebration of the abundant variety of nutritious, delicious foods that support your health, while satisfying your appetite."

Six meals a day

Phillips says the calories in his meals are low enough so you'll lose weight but also high enough to help you keep a reasonable weight once you drop the excess baggage. When you hit your weight goal, you keep up with new eating habits you've developed via the program.

Basically, for six days out of the week, you eat six small meals each day; on the seventh day, you can eat anything you want and even lay off the exercising.

Each meal is low in fat and consists of 40 percent to 50 percent protein and 40 percent to 50 percent carbs.  Your protein will come from lean meat, poultry, fish, egg whites or cottage cheese; your carbohydrates from such things as potatoes or brown rice.

Phillips recommends taking supplements and drinking protein shakes, all of which you can buy from his company. 

'The spark'

You'll find that each of the six meals is really, really small and low in calories, but you're eating so many of them throughout the day that the munchies seem to stay away.

As for exercise, Phillips recommends weight or resistance training three times a week and cardio/aerobic training three times a week so your body can form muscle mass that ultimately will help you burn fat.

"Exercise is the spark. Nutrition is the fuel. Without both, there can be no flame - no results," Phillips says. 

You must also drink 10 glasses of water each day. 

As with many major diet programs, Eating for Life emphasizes portion control; that is, eating the right amount of food. Counting calories takes a back seat.

In the book, the first 10 chapters talk about the various diets, the "low-carb myth," and Phillips' "right recipe" for losing fat and gaining energy and strength. The next 250 pages teach you how to prepare nutritious breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts and nutrition shakes.

Program Summary:

Website: www.eatingforlife.com

Diet premise: Six meals and a snack every day for six days of the week; on the seventh, you can eat anything you want; certain amount of weight and cardio training

Cost: Eating for Life book, about $35; website advertises 30-percent discounts; men's and women's nutrition shakes, from $61.25 to $275.

Length of program: 12 weeks.

Program extras: recipes and meal plans; grocery shopping guides; message boards;  success stories.