Oprah Winfrey has been candid about her body struggles throughout her life, confessing she previously yo-yo dieted and even starved herself in order to look thin.
The star confessed on her website: “For four solid months, I didn’t eat a single morsel of food. When I started Optifast in July 1988, I was at 212 pounds. By fall, I weighed 145 pounds. I’d saved a pair of Calvin Klein jeans from my days of working in Baltimore, and my goal was to get back into those jeans.”
But the diet messed up her metabolism, and after returning to solid foods she gained 10 pounds back. She explained: “Since I wasn’t exercising, there was nothing my body could do but regain the weight. Now I know that it’s impossible to starve your body for four months, then feed it, and not expect to regain the weight.”
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The star took “solace” in foods like corn dogs and “six-inch chocolate chip cookies” after her quick rise to fame, but she was soon left “discontent” with her body after visiting “diet doctors” who put her on a 1,200 calorie regimen. Though she dropped the weight, it didn’t last.
(Image: Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Oprah said: “Thus began the cycle of discontent, the struggle with my body. With myself.” She later quit dieting entirely, hitting her heaviest weight at 237 pounds in the 90s. She worked to get healthy with various personal trainers and now has a healthier approach to nutrition.
Though her weight has fluctuated over the years, Oprah says her goal is not to be “thin”. She explained after being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism: “My goal is for my body to be the weight it can hold – to be strong and healthy and fit, to be itself. My goal is to learn to embrace this body and to be grateful every day for what it has given me.”
(Image: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
She even tried Weight Watchers before ultimately turning to weight loss drugs for “maintenance” purposes. Speaking in December 2023, the talk show host explained to People magazine: “I was on the cover of some magazine and it said, ‘Dumpy, Frumpy and Downright Lumpy.’
“I didn’t feel angry. I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my fault.” But now Oprah, 70, thinks she’s cracked the code to staying healthy through lifestyle changes. Along with regular exercise and healthier foods, she’s also using a weight loss medication to help.
(Image: Getty Images)
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She said: “After knee surgery, I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends. I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points. I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way.”
She found she was “recommending” the medication to other people even before she started using the drugs herself – and now she’s not shy about admitting she’s using meds to help her along her journey.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
