Critics have been on Oprah Winfrey’s weight loss in recent times and it has raised concerns from many lovers of the showbiz magnate.
The reality TV icon’s body journey has been documented in the media, on magazine covers, and in episodes of her popular talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, for as long as she has been in the public eye.
About to turn 70, Winfrey feels confident that she now knows more about how to keep a healthy weight over the long term and finally get over her shame.
In addition to regular exercise and other lifestyle changes, Oprah says she has added a weight-loss medication to her regimen, which she approaches holistically.
Speaking about fluctuations in weight, Oprah indicated: “five decades of space in my brain, yo-yo-ing and feeling like why can’t I just conquer this thing, believing willpower was my failing?”
Related stories
“I started hiking after having knee surgery, and I set weekly goals for increasing my distance. In the long run, I could hike three to five miles a day, and on weekends, a 10-mile straight-up hike,” she says. “I felt stronger, more fit, and more alive than I’d felt in years.”
She continues, “I use the WeightWatchers point-counting methodology, drink a gallon of water every day, and eat my last meal at four o’clock. I knew about [weight-loss] pills, but I thought I needed to show that I could stick with it. I no longer have those feelings.”
“I was recommending it to people long before I was on it myself,” noted Oprah.
In July, Winfrey’s approach to using pharmaceutical aids changed after she participated in a recorded panel discussion titled The State of Weight, which was a part of Oprah Daily’s Life You Want series and featured clinicians and experts in weight loss.
Oprah Winfrey says she wrestled with the idea that taking a drug would be the easy way out.
She claims that after reconciling the science, she “released my shame about it” and spoke with her physician, who subsequently recommended a medication for weight loss.
“As a tool to manage not yo-yoing, I now use it as I feel I need it,” she says, declining to disclose the precise medication she takes.
“Having a medically recommended medication to help me control my weight and maintain my health feels like a gift, a reprieve, and a relief that I won’t have to hide from and face ridicule for in the future. I’m over being embarrassed by other people, especially by myself.”
Regarding her comprehensive regimen for health and fitness, she states, “It’s everything.” “I know everyone thought I was doing well, but I put in a ton of work.” I’m aware that it doesn’t work for me if I’m not also exercising and watching out for everything else.”
Instead of gaining eight pounds like she did last year, she gained half a pound after taking the medication before Thanksgiving “because I knew I was going to have two solid weeks of eating,” she says.
Despite being seven pounds short of her target weight of 160 pounds, Winfrey maintains that “numbers don’t matter.” Rather, she is happy to continue building on the gains she has made in the two years following her surgery. “It was a second shot for me to live a more vital and vibrant life,” she explains.
“I used to look out the window every morning and think, ‘God, one day I want to walk up that mountain.’ I live on a mountain in Hawaii, and there’s this big hill. I did it over Christmas last year… It seemed like atonement,” the talk show host added.