Oprah Winfrey is covering the new issue of People Magazine with her 42 pound weight loss. Purely speculative on my part, but I would bet that she struck some kind of cross promotional deal between People and Weight Watchers. I could be wrong though, people are looking for answers in the new year, and a lot of people believe Oprah has them. Others point out that Oprah loses and gains weight over and over again, we’ve seen her yo-yo for years, and that just because she’s successfully lost weight now doesn’t mean she’ll keep it off. Oprah knows what people are saying this about her and she agrees, sort of. I had the chance to read Oprah’s full People interview and she sounds very self aware about her relationship with food, but I guess she always sounds that way, that’s why so many people follow her.
Her weight made her embarrassed
Many times in the past, I’ve felt completely out of control. My public struggle with weight has always embarrassed me because it felt off principle.How can I give everybody else everything they need, and I still can’t give this to myself? It’s one of the things that has helped me relate so well to so many different people.
I have suffered publicly – fasting, eating no carbs, green juices, protein shakes, blah blah blah.
She wondered if she would ever figure it out
I had been thinking, ‘Am I going to die and not figure this out? Am I going to leave this planet Earth still complaining about not being able to keep the weight off?’How she negotiated a stock deal with Weight Watchers
[When Weight Watchers called] I was ready to hear it. I always want to know, ‘How can I own a piece of it?’ I will take the risk. If I’m going to do the work, I should also equally benefit.On how it was losing the weight
This has been the easiest process that I’ve ever experienced. At no time during meals do I deprive myself. I will probably be counting points forever.She fits into a size 12 now
I no longer feel my life is controlled by a number on a scale. People who say ‘She’ll put the weight back on,’ they’re right. I will if I don’t manage it. It’s not like I’m home free. I can eat anything I want; I just can’t eat it at the same time.
[From People, print edition and online]
So many of us can relate to Oprah’s struggles with weight. She does make it sound so awful to be overweight though, and a lot of you have mentioned that it seems like she’s basing her self worth on her size. This is a lady who is a billionaire, who is successful beyond most people’s dreams, and she admits to being worried she would die without ever losing weight. There’s something so sad and fatalistic about that. Why is that the worst thing?
photos credit: WENN and Getty
Is she gonna age or what?
Not as long as she has money … 🙂
nope-black don’t crack.
Lol
Sadly, we live in a very shallow world. I would hate to be in the public eye.
Oprah’s choice. This is primarily about monetizing her weight issues. She could easily make the WW program free and never miss the income.
Instead, we are reminded that even a billionaire struggles, despite unlimited access to personal chefs, personal dietitians, personal trainers, psychologists, psychotherapists, and any other kind of weight loss assistance we can think of. But FLASH! Oprah find$ WW the ea$ie$t to follow.
She has to remain relatable. She struggles for real but, in her place, I wouldn’t be planning my own meals, fighting off temptation at the grocery store, or even tracking my points myself. I would have far more interesting things to do – like run my empire.
“She could easily make the WW program free and never miss the income”
Lol. What next? Will you expect the Walton family to give you your Walmart groceries for free? Should Bill Gates let you have your OS for free? We see this warped logic anytime a black person, especially a woman, does TOO well. Oprah should stop finding revenue streams, Beyonce should “take a break” to give others a chance et cetera. Stop. It. If you dont want what Oprah is selling, dont buy it. Its called free will.
Yeah, except Oprah doesn’t OWN Weight Watchers. She can’t make it free.
She’s always said she’s an emotional eater. When something goes wrong she put weight back on.
well if she’s dealing with emotional eating, maybe she felt like she let herself down.
I can relate to that feeling of “am I gonna die and never have figured out X or changed Y?” That’s a midlife thing. For her it may be less about her appearance and more about her emotionality with food, she hasn’t felt in charge of that relationship and she’s someone who is has been in charge of everything else for so long. I hope she stabilizes at a happy medium, with the emphasis on both words.
Well, she still is controlled by numbers if she feels compelled to tell people she’s size 12. Who cares? She’s a billionaire, she doesn’t need to keep sharing her weight fluctuations with the world. Just be happy, Oprah.
It would really be nice if she kept her weight fluctuations to herself. She goes on talk shows every time she loses weight touting with great enthusiasm the wonderful method she used to shed the pounds and how she’s finally going to keep it off for good. A few months later she’s fat again. If the viewing public are tired of hearing about her weight loss journeys to nowhere, it’s no wonder.
You can eat anything you want, just not at the same time.
Great advice, and very true. You have to tell yourself it’s ok to eat it tomorrow, that the food will be there, and you can have it then. It’s also ok to tell yourself, out loud, “just feel it”, and let the emotion come no matter what it is.
Just let it happen, then you can learn you WILL survive it and you don’t need food to compensate.
(obviously, given the thicke thread, I am not talking about letting the rage be felt, that is a different issue entirely. I think most emotional eaters to the extreme of gaining weight feel loneliness, sadness, internal feelings of the nature. JMO)
“tell yourself it’s ok to eat it tomorrow, that the food will be there”
This is a big one for those of us who grew up in scarcity and I believe Oprah is one of us. My instinct is always to gouge because the food may not be there later. In the end, I decided to just not buy anything ready cooked, including bread or cereals. And if I do buy, to always buy the smallest portions. I am lucky not to have had a weight problem because like I said, my brain is always warning me of impending poverty.
This is a really important point…there are metabolic AND emotional changes stemming from deprivation, and it’s hard to simply say “Oh, I’ll just eat less.”
There’s more research accumulating on what flips these metabolic switches for some people, as well as normal variation in our relationships with food. It turns out some people really do live to eat and some people really do eat to live, and so on.
I didn’t grow up in poverty but in a large family. If you didn’t eat it now, someone else would. :/
As a person who has struggled with my weight since I was eight, I feel Oprah. I’m earning my Master’s right now, work full-time, support my family, and get rave reviews at my job. Still, I judge myself so harshly based on the numbers on the scale. It’s not logical, it’s purely emotional. I’m in my early forties, and, like O, am terrified that I will die fat, having never conquered this addiction.
Luna, your accomplishments are inspiring. And I bet if you read about a woman who was doing the same things, you’d think her life was worth celebrating. I bet you wouldn’t judge her by her size. I think you should give yourself the same break you would give a stranger because you sound like one amazing woman.
+1,000
I’ve been overweight since I was a teenager. This morning I weighed in at 255 lbs at 6’3″ (yes, I’m a guy).
I turn 40 in June. Because of my weight (and also issues with my hair loss), I have never had a girlfriend. I haven’t dated since 2008. I’ve always put it off until I lose weight and I still do because most girls don’t want a fat guy and I don’t want to have to limit my pool of potential dates to the few who either like a fat guy or can’t afford to care about looks.
I don’t think she was saying she’s afraid to die without losing weight, she was saying she is afraid to die without figuring out this complicated relationship with good and weight that is lost and put back on.
It sounds trivial but it is what it is. She has a point here. If she wasn’t thinking about her weight she would probably quit trying to lose it and she would hit an even higher weight.
I am sorry, but this is very sad to me. For decades she puts herself out there talking about her weight. She is an inspiration to so many people, she has all this success, she is the American Dream, but she lowers herself with this loosing weight talk. What about loving yourself despite of your size? Why not putting self-love in the focus or something else? Oprah needs to see that she is so much more than this weight watchers spokesperson, she is FREAKING OPRAH!!
With everything that is going on in the world, so many people dying in wars, refugees drowning and freezing in Europe, Trump becoming president, and on and on and on, I find I was hoping that when” Oprah surfaced” again news -wise, it would hold some meaning. Some kind of reflection on these crazy days or something. But instead she talks about her weight loss and for some reason I am disappointed. And indeed a little sad because she is so awesome, and here she is focusing on only this.
My takeaway is that she is first and foremost a brilliant businesswoman. That’s mainly what she seems to be doing here.
I became disillusioned with Oprah a long time ago. IMO, she’s a capitalist who sells personal growth and spirituality. I find her to be hypocritical and smug. One example that put me off: she would regularly have episodes of her talk show where she would chastise people for living beyond their means but if you ever look at her magazine it is chock-full of very expensive non-essential items. The first time I found out it was even possible to spend $1000 on a pair of shoes, it was because I saw it in her magazine. What percentage of her fan base can actually afford to spend $1000 on a pair of shoes? She’s very materialistic.
I think her demographic has shifted over the years. She now caters almost exclusively to wealthy women (and women aspiring to be wealthy). Her magazine and (decreasing) political focus seem to reflect that. Personal growth, infidelity, weight loss, luxury items — those are still big sellers with rich women and Oprah pretty consistently taps those markets.
If she gains the weight back, maybe she’ll go to another company and they’ll pay her another few billion dollars. She keeps her bank full
I don’t know man. I gained ten kilos (that’s about 20lbs? isn’t even that much) in three months after I quit antidepressants. I didn’t fit into my old clothes, and I can’t afford a new one. I chafed where I had never chafed before. I folded in very uncomfortable ways. I was not comfortable. I didn’t mind the way I looked in the mirror, I just loathed the way I felt physically.
I’m now on my way to get my old body back. It already feels better. So I’ll have none of this self-love crap. I’ve already got it. But I, any I would think many others, still feel winded, sweaty, chafing and uncomfortable. Can’t wait to get back to my old body.
So if this is what makes Oprah happy, good for her.
Maybe I’m just cynical (always have been about Oprah to be honest) but I don’t buy all the ‘constant struggle’ and woe is me pity party talk about her weight. I’m not saying that her weight issues aren’t real but I do take issue with her motivations for constantly talking about her weight and dieting. She’s knows that it makes her more relatable to the other overweight people out there who just happen to be the target demographic for the weight loss company she has a massive financial stake in.
I know I’m in the minority but I don’t get the cult of Oprah worship. She’s a savvy business woman but she’s done many questionable, ethically dubious things along the way.
Those of us who struggle with food addiction appreciate hearing that it is also hard for someone who seemingly has it all. How many of us say “I could do it if I had a chef or trainer” as a way to justify not hitting our goals. Oprah has those things and still struggles. It makes her real to me.
I agree, I find it so interesting that she has all the money and power in the world, but she can’t control her weight. It makes her relatable since I struggle with my weight and food addition too. 4 years ago I lost a bunch of weight and declared that I’d never let myself get that big again! Sure enough, I gained it all back. I know now this is a struggle I will have for the rest of my life and it’s too bad Oprah thinks she can solve it. I bet the next step for her when she gains it back again will be gastric surgery. I refuse to do that because I know an “easy fix” won’t solve my issues.
She just wants to be healthy. It is the worst thing to feel like you’re literally killing your self. It’s not about the number on the scale, but the things that she is putting into her body to get her there.
I can totally relate to everything that Oprah says about her weight as I have had weight fluctuation problems throughout my life and have been on similar diets/weight control programs. Since I started keeping a food diary on myfitnesspal.com I feel in control of my life – my weight. It is FREE so I can maintain my weight when I get to a certain level and not feel like I am spending money and not loosing weight. Although I have lost 22 pounds I am still in the over-weight section of my BMI. I know exactly what I need to do to loose the next 5 pounds and can choose to do that when I am ready. Interestingly, I have never gained more than 3 pounds since I started using this website, and basically have eaten what I want. It is a daily reinforcement of the weight loss/intake ratio. It helps keep things real for me.
Just imagine all that Oprah could have accomplished had she been THIN! Wait. . . .
The way so many of us tie our self-worth to appearance and body size is a tragedy.
What’s always been so fascinating to me about Oprah is her willingness to put it all out there. She’s been pretty upfront about a lot of her personal struggles. It feels pretty authentic and brave to me. Maybe it’s a calculated vulnerability, or commercial but I’m not gonna drag her for making good business decisions. This is clearly a topic that resonates with a lot of women, and you have free will – you don’t have to do WW or follow any of her media (I don’t).
To me, this is just the opposite side of the coin that causes anorexia and other eating disorders. We’re all slammed daily with images of perfect bodies (probably photoshopped) and we learn to think that we should all look perfect. It’s possible to be healthy and still carry some extra pounds. The opposite is also true, I have a daughter who is 5’9″ and has never weighed over 110, but she is in perfect health.
I gained weight steadily for years while working. I live at the beach and worked downtown, so it was a long commute. I had to get up early to get ready, then drive nearly an hour (or ride public transit more than an hour) to get to work, and I’d stop in the little shop in the lobby to grab a container of iced tea to drink, since my skinflint employer didn’t provide drinks like every other law firm in history, and those donuts and muffins were looking so good at this point. Or the restaurant in the building would be cooking bacon and the entire lobby smelled like it. Anyway, I’d always end up eating something not-that-good-for-me at 8:30 am. The office went to lunch at 11:30, I wasn’t hungry yet, but knowing it was going to be nearly 7:00 when I got home, I’d eat lunch. By mid-afternoon, as the daily pressure built, I’d crunch on Lifesavers with a vengeance. Sometimes someone would pop popcorn and we’d all share. Then the long drive home in gridlock traffic in a standard transmission car, and I would often just wheel into a fast food place and grab dinner, because at that point I’d been up for 14 hours and knew I was not going to take the time to cook anything healthy.
I retired, and in the first year lost 45 pounds because I only ate when hungry, kept bags of salad around for lunches, and wasn’t doing the tension eating any more. None of my clothes fit now, but it doesn’t matter because I wear pajamas all the time.
Unfortunately for me the only way to get over my weight issue or weight concern was a tragedy. IMO once something more powerful (loss of child, close death, personal attack) happens in your life, weight never reaches your mind again. It’s sad but true.
It is the worst thing to be morbidly obese. It sucks more than you can imagine and not just psychologically but physically. It’s painful, it’s uncomfortable, it’s inconvenient, it’s expensive. I don’t think Oprah should ever have to justify why she continues to strive to get to a weight where she is comfortable. To me, it’s more fatalistic and sad to give up on something that would make her happier.
Every person’s mileage may vary and for others they may decide for themselves that it is more comfortable and less painful psychologically to forego efforts to lose weight. But that’s not everyone and I applaud Oprah for not giving up on getting to her best self.
I am with you on this (see my long post on gastric sleeve)
I’ve long been a non-fan of Oprah; amazing how somebody still screwed up after all these years about HER particular issue can be so simple-mindedly, “lightbulb moment- easy solution” about the issues of others.
At some point she bought all her own hype and I believe you can see it in the speed and with the impatience she brought to passing on her judments of others. Also (in my opinion) she began to behave as though she were the equivalent of a fully-qualified psychologist/therapist in the way in which she presented her ideas and talked over her experts. She began presenting her show with a condescending knowitall attitude and increasingly a boredom that was palpable.
It turns out she’s no different than anyone else: logic and quick fix theories and tricks are no match for ancient emotional baggage. And may never be for Oprah, for me – or for you.
I will say that dealing with my own intractable issues whilst having enough money to pay the rent and eat would make my life easier than it is now, but having millions wouldn’t make my life a million times better. And I probably wouldn’t enjoy the success or failure of my ability to triumph over my most painful issues being constantly judged by the general public a particularly fun experience.
But I don’t feel sorry for Oprah – I don’t care about her and she (not even knowing I exist) clearly couldn’t care less about me. She has more money than I do, but I’m effortlessly slender. She’s pompous and I’m a bit self-pitying, but then again, she’s a narcissist and I’m clinically depressed. I still think I’m more fun and interesting and a better friend, but then again, no doubt she’d say the same.
If we were to throw our lives and problems into a pile, if I won the coin toss and got to choose first, i’d still pick my not altogether satisfactory life without thinking twice.
I’m a size 18 and I fluctuate between 16 and 18. This woman is not a size 12 she is way bigger than me, I’m sorry she looks more like a 20- 22. Somebody is pulling our legs!