Oprah: ‘Thin people’ don’t have more willpower, they just don’t have ‘food noise’

In 2023, Oprah made some somewhat controversial statements and decisions about weight loss. It all started when she took part in a larger conversation about weight loss drugs (like Ozempic) and whether they’re “the easy way out” for people who want to lose weight. She framed the conversation as “weight loss is a matter of willpower.” Then, in true Oprah fashion, she educated herself and changed her mind. In late 2023, she revealed that she had begun taking one of those weight-loss drugs – she never identified which one – and that she felt like the experiment was wildly successful for her. Now, after more than a year on the drug, she spoke this week about what she’s learned about weight loss and the “willpower” conversation.

Oprah Winfrey said taking weight-loss drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy, helped her realize the truth about ‘thin people.’ In 2023, the media mogul, 70, finally admitted to using an undisclosed GLP-1 — a type 2 diabetes medication that can also aid in weight loss — to shed nearly 50 pounds after decades of yo-yo dieting. The admission came as a shock to fans as Oprah had previously denied using meds to slim down and even went as far as to slam the method as an ‘easy way out.’ But now, having nearly reached her goal weight of 160 pounds, Winfrey is sharing her experience taking a GLP-1 and what it has taught her about ‘thin people.’ She did so while discussing the function and safety of these types of drugs with Dr. Ania Jastreboff on the latest episode of her podcast.

‘One of the things that I realized the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people had more willpower,’ Winfrey confessed. ‘They ate better foods. They were able to stick to it longer. They never had a potato chip.’

But once she started on a GLP-1, Winfrey realized that what she initially perceived as ‘willpower’ was actually an absence of intrusive hunger thoughts — often referred to as ‘food noise.’ Ozempic, Wegovy and other GLP-1 medications can help eradicate food noise — which often leads to overeating and weight gain — by reducing cravings and slowing down digestion.

‘And then I realized the very first time I took the GLP-1 that, they’re not even thinking about it,’ the billionaire said. ‘They’re eating when they’re hungry and they’re stopping when they’re full.’

Winfrey explained that that way of eating ‘doesn’t work’ if you struggle with obesity, which is a disease.

[From The Daily Mail]

I’ve always admired Oprah’s openness in discussing her weight, her diets, her failed attempts at weight loss and all of it. I’m glad that the weight-loss drug has given her a new peace and a new perspective on this one piece of her life’s work. Personally, I don’t think it’s solely about willpower or food noise – genetics play such a huge role, as do learned behaviors around food and consumption. The willpower vs. food noise conversation is much more complicated, you know?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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66 Responses to “Oprah: ‘Thin people’ don’t have more willpower, they just don’t have ‘food noise’”

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  1. Lynn says:

    I have Type 2 diabetes and was put on Ozempic because of it. I couldn’t tolerate side effects so I stopped it but the disappearance of food noise was SHOCKING. I can only equate it with what it must be like to be an alcoholic and suddenly not think about alcohol constantly. I cannot imagine what it must be like to live like that all the time.

  2. QuiteContrary says:

    Food noise is definitely a huge part of it. I’m on Wegovy. It has transformed my life.

    I used to think about what I was going to have for lunch, even as I was eating breakfast. My head just wouldn’t shut off thoughts of food. (I have had decades-long issues with food, including anorexia as a teen.) Now I eat when I need to eat. It’s incredible.

    • Libra says:

      I also think about what’s for lunch as I’m eating breakfast, but it’s my job. My husband is an insulin dependent diabetic with congestive heart failure. I’m pre diabetic. Meals just don’t happen on the fly or when you’re hungry. It takes constant planning and awareness, so I think about food a lot. I don’t know if this is “food noise” or not.

      • QuiteContrary says:

        Meal planning is very different from food noise. The former is logical and sensible. Food noise is obsessive.

    • jo73c says:

      yes, I had an immediate feeling of relief. I was suddenly free of this anxiety that I hadn’t realised was so constant and intrusive.

      You still have to have some willpower and make healthy decisions. But it’s so much easier when not constantly battling with the food noise.

  3. Mireille says:

    I am relatively slender, but for me it is not about weight as it is about health. I would love to engorge myself on pizza, mac and cheese, and baked potatoes every day, but I know I’m a precarious half step away from diabetes (genetic pre-disposition…such a bitch), so I need the discipline. Eating healthy is not easy. Losing and maintaining a HEALTHY weight is not easy. Nor does it help that there is societal scrutiny over body sizes, body types, especially when it comes to women and children.

    • North of Boston says:

      It’s also not JUST down to behavior (not engorging yourself) or turning off the “food noise”. These GLP-1 inhibitors have other effects on how your body functions, how your metabolism works.

      I’m not on one, but a relative is for T2 diabetes and another relative is a clinical pharmacist who has done a deep dive into how these medications work, the clinical studies. It’s really interesting to hear them talk about it – these meds are like a huge reset … your body, metabolism starts working completely differently. And they provide protective benefits not just by helping lower blood sugar back to normal levels but cardiovascular heath, reduction in inflammatory diseases, PCOS, helping improve mobility in ways drs don’t fully understand yet but are really positive (if you can tolerate the gastro stuff, find a dose/formulation that works for you)

    • Fina says:

      I think the point here is that for many people it is relatively easy and that that is related to less „food noise“ or cravings. I am one of these people. I am not disciplined, neither in normal life nor when it comes to food. When I crave chocolate I just eat chocolate until I don’t want chocolate anymore and I am lucky that that is always very quickly after a few piece. And that my appetite is often for healthy things. I think this is due to a mixture of genetics, hormonal profile, what food you grew up with. What Oprah says is that thin people are not per se more disciplined or are thin because they are disciplined, and I just want to 100% agree with that.

    • EmpressCakey says:

      So you have no idea what food noise is but you are sure it’s just discipline that keeps you slender? It’s always fun when people who have no experience with something tell the people who are suffering from it to “just use discipline”! Would you tell a schizophrenic to “just stop listening to those voices – have some discipline!” No? Well guess what? Having your brain relentlessly screaming for food – even when you are stuffed and don’t want another bite – takes a hell of a lot more than “just discipline” to deal with it. If you haven’t experienced it then you have no idea how exhausting and endless it is.

      • Mireille says:

        I am talking about my experience when it comes to weight and health, in which I have my own struggles. As people are sharing their own experience with eating and weight, I am just sharing mine. MY EXPERIENCE. I am not denigrating anyone else nor saying that my experience is a one-size fit all. At what point in my post did I say everyone needs to just “exercise discipline?” DO NOT assume or jump down my throat for sharing my experience. Just stop.

      • North of Boston says:

        I think it’s the way you referred to things as “I would love to engorge myself …” and then chocked up not doing that to using “discipline”. With the implication being people who aren’t able to achieve, maintain “relatively slender” bodies could just have more discipline. On a thread about how food noise and other factors (such as my point about how they change how a person’s body works, to more “normal”) addressed by these new meds have made it clear that for many people who have struggled with weight issues for years, no, discipline was not the issue.

        It would be like if on a thread about how people with broken legs found they could stand and walk and finally heal because they were given casts and braces and crutches and someone posted that their legs have always been relatively healthy, sometimes a bit sore but not broken, and they found for them it was just a matter of discipline to keep themselves healthy – it wasn’t easy, but focusing on how they move and stretching/ exercising a healthy way meant they could stand and walk without assistive equipment.

        You may not have meant it that way, but after lifetimes people being told incessantly by many it is “just” willpower, discipline, diet and exercise that’s the problem, it’s easy to see why that’s how it came across.

  4. Becks1 says:

    I think I understand what she means. I see it in my own family. My mom, one brother and I all have issues with food and “food noise.” My dad and my other brother do not. When my dad thinks he’s gained a few pounds (he’s 75 and in very good shape, runs every day), he just doesn’t drink soda for a few days. My other brother stopped alcohol a few years ago and started working out again and eating healthy, but he never had the “food noise” that Brother1 and my mom and I have.

    I just think about food a lot. I think about what I want to eat next and when I’m going to eat. I read cookbooks for fun. I can’t have just one cookie, I’ll eat the whole box in a day. Yes I can use willpower to stop some of this (a lot of which is just mindless behavior) but I have to actively think about stopping it. My dad just……doesn’t reach for the cookie. It doesn’t occur to him so its not something he has to actively push back on mentally.

    When I track what I’m eating I do a lot better and I can quiet the food noise. But its still always there. And yes there are emotional components to this – mom is an emotional eater as is Brother1 and I sort of am (its been really hard this week not to eat all the candy and drink all the wine, let me tell you. but I’ve avoided both.) but even when I’m not dealing with anxiety or depression or anything I still have that food noise.

    • manda says:

      yes, eating all the cookies! I don’t know how people bake for a hobby and don’t stuff their faces all the time. I have tried the tracking thing and I feel like it makes the noise worse for me. I am so jealous of people that don’t deal with that!

      • LadyMTL says:

        As someone who can bake a dozen cookies and then eat only one or two, it is primarily willpower but it’s SO difficult. I had to ‘train’ myself over a long time to eat that way…an example: I used to drink one can of soda per day, then cut it back to 3 per week and that was so hard! Once I managed to stay at 3 per week I went down to one per week, and now I hardly drink any.

        I think a big part of it is the difficulty of getting to that point, and the fact that some things (sugar, salty treats, fast food) can be addictive. If you want to cut back, be kind to yourself and realize that it’s going to be tough, and you’re not a bad person if you cave now and then.

  5. pottymouth pup says:

    What she said about food noise is spot on. GLP-1s are also being looked at for drug/alcohol addiction as well (quieting the noise for the substance) Sometimes it takes the highest dose of a GLP-1 and contrave to quiet that noise. Additionally, many morbidly obese people also have the noise of the internalized societal view of them as “fat slobs,” “lazy,” “worthless,” etc. that leads to self-sabotage and even binge eating disorder when they are doing what they should be doing (eating less, eating healthier, getting exercise) and still cannot lose enough weight to meet societal standards or reach very long plateaus of being able to lose weight. Genetics, as you note, plays a large role as well as does the systemic inflammation often from stress/poor quality sleep that leads to metabolic disorders (this is a huge underlying factor in cardiovascular health)

    • K says:

      100 per cent bullseye

    • Malalalaa says:

      Yes to the idea of food noise. I think the analogy to alcoholism is spot on and while I’ve successfully dieted (and very unsuccessfully put weight back on) nothing has ever tackled the food obsession like these drugs and it truly is a game-changer.
      Let’s face it a lot of the reaction to these drugs is just latent fatphobia. The idea that thin people are more disciplined, the idea that overweight people are somehow “cheating” by taking them because they’re not suffering enough to be thin.

    • IdlesAtCranky says:

      @Pottymouth Pup:

      Well said.

      The sad thing to me is that we all, including Oprah, including thin people & not-thin people — we all want it to be simple.

      And it’s not. It’s just not.

      For me, the biggest wave of relief I ever felt in my life was during a required pre-surgery consultation with an endocrinologist.

      He told me “Look. These issues are complicated. But you’ve got to get it out of your head that you’re overweight because you’re lazy, or undisciplined” (things I had just said about myself.)

      He said “One thing that is true, from your family history, is that genetically you are part of the population of people who evolved to better survive famines. That’s how your metabolism works. Unfortunately, you live in a time when desk jobs and the food industry make a metabolism like yours a liability instead of a strength. THAT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. So stop blaming yourself, please. It doesn’t help!”

      I’d never seen him before and never saw him again. But I’m so grateful to him.

  6. Lisa says:

    There are many reasons obese people eat! It isn’t always a addiction to food!

    • Mireille says:

      There are many reasons obese people eat!
      –And those reasons are never addressed nor do we show any empathy for people who are struggling with weight management. We automatically think they’re just greedy for food, lack self control, and too lazy to do anything about it. There’s a lot more to obesity that “just stop eating so much.” I wish there are more TV specials, more programs, more education that can address the stigma of obesity. It would help society to develop understanding and compassion for those who are living with this condition and all the underlying factors that fuel it.

  7. TOM says:

    It’s food noise, it’s genetics, it’s activity level, it’s other medications you may be taking like steroids, it’s so many things that your answer may not be my answer.

  8. manda says:

    I’ve really tried to absent myself from diet conversations and diet culture, so I am just learning this phrase “food noise” now. That is totally me, I have that. I think about food literally all the time. What to make for dinner, what to have for lunch, what thing I ate last night or last week that was so good. I feel consumed by thoughts of eating. Unsuprisingly, I really need to watch my A1C, and it’s so. freaking. hard. Sugar and carbs are literally in everything that’s good, at least good to me. It’s strange because I always had one of those constitutions where I could eat practically anything and not gain weight, but perimenopause has changed that, and I am struggling. My doctor and I have discussed that I will likely have to go on something if I can’t control it with diet and exercise alone, which I am fine with, I think. Not having those thoughts would be so freeing

  9. Clear Pink Bunny says:

    Totally know what she means about food noise. Sadly, I’ve recently gained weight, but I’m getting close to menopause and all the women in my family have thyroid issues. I need to get mine checked, again.
    Years ago, I cut out sugar. I couldn’t leave a box of cookies or cake, candy alone. The box had to be empty. And I thought about food all the time. When the sugar was cut out, it took about a month before the withdrawal symptoms were gone, but it was amazing. I was addicted to all things sugar. I remember losing weight, not thinking about food all the time, I could eat till I was full, even sometimes forgetting to eat.
    I still don’t eat sugar, and if I did, I’d be a lot heavier than I am, now. I still don’t really think about food, and still can forget to eat, but genetics are finally catching up with me.

  10. Fergus says:

    I think food noise is slightly different for everyone who has it. I never had it until menopause. For me, it was being hungry CONSTANTLY, even after eating, so that all I could think about was food–just a constant gnawing hunger. I would watch shows and literally think, gosh, how do they film these stretches and not need to eat. Why would anyone do anything in the day that wasn’t directly related to eating. It was almost primal survival stuff. Since I didn’t originally have food noise, getting on hormones stopped it and now I am back to normal eating. And btw, I always ate extremely clean/healthy….even with a great diet, if you are constantly eating, you will gain lots of weight.

    • Hypocrisy says:

      I was going to say that menopause makes food noise a constant loop.. I started semaglutide injections for New Years, between this and HRT I’m starting to feel like my old self again.

      • Fergus says:

        I wasn’t given semaglutide, but was given testosterone and that with the HRT has been a complete game changer for me! I had not realized how down the hole I had become until I started climbing out of it.

  11. LongThymeLurker says:

    I have been on Contrave for about a year and when I take it correctly, I don’t think about food, drugs or alcohol very much. It also helps my mood too and I feel better because I’m not overeating. Unfortunately my insurance doesn’t cover it so it’s $134 a month, but hoping it will be covered soon.

    • Pluviophile says:

      Look into goodrx and Mark Cuban’s website for discounts on Contrave or, even better, have your provider write for Wellbutrin and Naltrexone (which is what Contrave is) and get those meds through the discount sites I mentioned.

  12. PunkyMomma says:

    Genetics do play a huge role, and if you’re female HORMONES!

    I’m glad these options are on the market—they’re life savers. If only they were affordable and available to more people—the positive impact these drugs have on obesity have proven cost effective for the healthcare industry.

    • Fergus says:

      Yes, I commented on this above.

      If you’re female and peri or post menopause

      HORMONES are the answer! (and also greatly reduce the risk of bone loss, CVD, and dementia in the future.)

  13. Faithmobile says:

    I’ve never heard something so lovely as muting food noise. I wonder if hypnosis or acupuncture would help instead of medication.

    • Jaded says:

      I’m a registered hypnotist and have use it for reducing alcohol consumption, calming anxiety, sleep disorders, but never food. That’s a good thought, maybe you could look into it.

  14. Sherry says:

    My food noise started to dwindle when I found out I was on the border for Type 2 diabetes. When you hit menopause, weight creeps on, believe me. Then I got a Crohn’s Disease diagnosis, and that ended my emotional eating, for the most part. I’ll test the boundaries at times, but I always pay for it.

    • sparrow1 says:

      i;ve had anorexia in the past. Now have iBS which i believe could be linked to the abuse i put my body through during those years. Last year i had a cancer scare when the pain in my abdomen reached hyper levels and i was bleeding (turned out to be a new twist to my iBS story). Once again i fell out of my relationship with food, blaming it for my pain, and lost a lot of weight. getting back on track again. (ps my capital “i” won’t work!)

  15. Tina E says:

    Honestly I would LOVE to take Wegovy. I’m in Canada and about 20lbs overweight, and because here it’s only approved for people with a BMI that’s technically “obese”, I can’t get it.

    I work out 5 days a week, eat relatively healthy (including monitoring calories and focusing on protein) and just cannot achieve a “healthy” weight. It’s been a struggle since I was a teenager. I would do love the opportunity to live my life without having to obsess anymore.

    • Dara says:

      BMI is a flawed way to measure ideal weight. It should never be the only measure of whether someone is at a healthy weight. If your blood pressure is good, and your bloodwork numbers are good, and your workouts keep you strong, then give yourself a break – you are amazing. There are probably a lot of people out there that have a “good” BMI but are not as healthy as you are. I don’t like the term “skinny fat”, but it is actually a thing that exists.

    • Smu says:

      I am in Canada also. I started with Ozempic (which is a lot cheaper than Wegovy and is the exact same drug). Your doctor can prescribe Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro. As long as it is a legally available drug your doc can prescribe. Now I did need to lose 45 lbs. And previously I had already lost 24 lbs tortuously and slowly, then no mater how good I was following my diet I could not get below 180. I am 5’ 2” so you can see that is too much. I am now at my goal 135 lbs. I started with Ozempic, reached the max dose available in Canada, and then switched over to Mounjaro. Ozempic was 234 CAD per month. Mounjaro was 412 per month. Wegovy is also about 412. But, recently the Mounjaro manufacturer switched from using vials to an injection pen. And raise the price hugely, a month is now 738!!! I am going to switch to Wegovy as it is still 412. Now, that is a lot. But I just cut out some other less needful things to cover the cost. I do not have extended health, so I pay. Maybe you might have some kind of insurance that pays? The BC government does not cover the cost of any of the three drugs for weight loss. If you have diabetes, which I do not, then BC does cover the cost of Ozempic. It does stamp out the food noise. That is really why I was successful. However, if I had only been 20 lbs over weight and was maintaining that, I would not have bothered. But remember, my original starting point was over 200 lbs. I was fortunate and have had no side effects. By the way ate to lose about 1 pound per week. I was in no rush. Took me 8 months to get from 180 to 135 where I am happy to stay. Still not a stick but I am comfortable.

      • Tina E says:

        From all my research, it hasn’t been approved by Health Canada for use unless you’re obese or have underlying health issues, which unfortunately isn’t applicable to me. It sounds like my doc would have to go against Public Health guidelines to prescribe it to me, which knowing him, means he will not.

        I’ve even checked with weight loss clinics that prescribe it and as soon as I tell them my height/weight, they say I’m not “suitable for the program”.

        Again, I’m not super heavy or anything, I just busy my butt to be 20lbs overweight so I would love the ability to get rid of the food noise and just not have to worry anymore (obviously while maintaining a healthy lifestyle)

  16. Mel says:

    I don’t get why people in general don’t understand that everyone isn’t meant to be thin. Some people will have bigger bodies and if they have trouble losing weight it’s because of other factors not just over eating or exercising. Let’s discuss all the crap that’s put in American food that increases weight gain and other things. I can’t drink milk in the US but when I’m in other countries I can have milk without getting the stomach cramps. Why is that?

    • MY3CENTS says:

      This.
      Think about people 100-150 years ago and compare to today. The time is a nothing in the evolution scale. Yes people have more money, and more food is available, but the commercial food is really really bad for us.
      Companies are sticking things in their food for a longer shelf life and better taste, but we are paying the price.
      For anyone struggling with food issues the odds are stacked against them.

      • Lu says:

        You are right the commercial food is really bad for us and also designed, often literally in a food science lab, to be addictive so that we eat more of it. I used to have tremendous food noise. Grew up with it and my absent parent had the same problem, so maybe have a genetic component. I got lucky and took a nutrition class as a young adult and changed to eating healthy foods. It took a while for my taste buds to change, but after I gave up the ultra processed foods I lost my taste for them. Things I remembered tasting really good started to taste like chemicals or plastic or just not good. Most sweets started to taste too sweet and I wished they could be made with about half the sugar. But that wasn’t really available so I didn’t eat much sugar and stopped craving it.

        For about two decades now I eat as much as I want at meals. If I get hungry between meals I have a snack but most of the time I just want a meal. I never worry about my weight and that’s what I wish for everyone.

        Unfortunately with the way our environment is set up with all the high calorie & high fat / sugar / salt foods, often limited access to healthy foods (or even just the time to prepare them), it is really hard to escape the big corporation food environment. They really don’t want us to be healthy, because then they would make less money.

        There was a headline about how these companies are fighting back because people who take GLP-1 agonists are eating less of their food. That tells us all we need to know about their priorities.

    • Blithe says:

      @Mel, I have issues with US milk and US flour. Have you tried A2 milk? I thought I was mildly lactose intolerant, and maybe I am, but A2 yogurt (I haven’t tried the milk) is fine, for me, anyway.

  17. Jaded says:

    First, I’m on steroids as a complementary drug with my chemo. They can help treat the cancer itself, reduce inflammation, help prevent an allergic reaction to cancer treatments, reduce your body’s immune response, help reduce nausea during cancer treatment and improve your appetite. I’ve noticed that my hungries have increased 100%. I wake up hungry at night, I’m nibbling all the time (which I was told to do) and it helped get my weight back up after surgery and a terrible reaction to an oral chemo drug I was given last fall where I could hardly eat. The weight I’ve gained is fine, I’m not overweight, but was told that this is a good thing in that my increased weight helps my body fight back against the cancer. Once I stop the steroids hopefully the constant hungries go away and my weight normalizes, it’s fluctuated from 130 to 144 lbs throughout this journey, I’d like to maintain it around 135.

    Second, Mr. Jaded is type 1 diabetic and he has to have carbs at every meal or his blood sugar crashes and he passes out — I’ve been through this with him several times, calling an ambulance, in hospital overnight — so I have to plan meals around him getting enough carbs (glucose).

    Finally I have several friends on Wegovy because they couldn’t control their sugar/carb cravings and were a good 20-30 lbs overweight. It’s working well because their weight loss isn’t dramatic, 2-3 lbs a week is a healthy weight loss, plus it’s quieted down the cravings and the food noise. Good luck to them and to all of you who are seeing success with these drugs.

  18. og bella says:

    Just started my 3rd month on Wegovy. Life changing. LIFE CHANGING. My father always told me it was lack of will power and it just so isn’t.

    The day before the shot, when the food noise comes back, it’s a shock how much my brain hyper-fixated on food, I understand now that it is not normal.

    My blood pressure has come down, my joints hurt less. I am going for blood next week to check my A1C. I already dropped 3 points on the BMI scale and moved down to class 1 obese. I was only a size 14 american in pants so you might now think I was considered obese so that’s interesting.

    I am so happy for this.

    • Danbury says:

      Congrats on the Wegovy journey and keep going!! I’ve been on Rybelsus, a pill version of this (you take the pills daily), for about 18 months. I lost 20kgs. I’m so happy I could cry. My body doesn’t hurt anymore, exercise is easier. And yes, the food noise is gone. LIFE CHANGING

    • Izzy says:

      I’m now on Wegovy now, I was switched from Ozempic. I completely understand about the food noise. I just did bloodwork and my A1C, which was 5.9 before I started and was 4.9 after a year, is now 4.8. I couldn’t be happier. My knee no longer hurts either.

      Congratulations on the success. Keep going!

  19. Limerick says:

    One year ago I started zepbound and it has changed my life.

    Following menopause in my 40’s, I started gaining weight. I spent years dieting and exercising (running 3 miles per day and Pilates three times a week) and my weight still blossomed. After an emergency hysterectomy, my weight gain grew to 4-5 lbs per month.

    My doctors all said ” Eat less. Exercise more. Calories in. Calories out” Finally I had an NP who suggested I try weight loss drugs. I said no. I could do this! I was not a failure.! I had willpower.

    When I returned for a follow up, we agreed I would work with a nutritionist and an exercise trainer. After eight months we added a therapist because I was not losing weight and needed to discuss why I felt meds made me a failure.

    I cannot describe the difference in my life once I started the meds. I am still on a very low dose and have lost to the point I am no longer obese. But I now feel full! I do not feel deprived.

    My blood pressure meds are down to one pill and my cholesterol numbers are stellar. I no longer weigh and measure every bite of food.

    The best part? I visited my endocrinologist, hypothyroid issue, and she APOLOGIZED to me for spending years telling me to eat less and exercise me. She was now in menopause and realized we are not lying when we said did but were still gaining weight.

  20. sevenblue says:

    I have been thin all my life. One thing I have realized while talking with my friends, when I am stressed, sad, angry, my body doesn’t want any food. I can’t even look at it, don’t crave anything. That has always been the case. For a lot of people, it is different. They crave more food when they are under a lot of stress. Then, it turns into weight anxiety, which creates more stress. If I was born in a different body, I know I would experience the same struggles. I know there is willpower aspect of it, but if you don’t crave food, you don’t even use willpower. From what I read, Ozempic and the other brands create the same sensation of decreased craving, which is a huge improvement for a lot of people. I just hope people get these drugs under the guide of a doctor, because there are a lot of horror stories out there, where these drugs are used as an ED tool.

  21. Molly says:

    This class of drugs certainly has added to the conversation around obesity and its causes and solutions. Everyone has something to say about willpower, calorie-in/calories out, genetics, processed foods, yadda, yadda, yadda. There is always the subtext of failure of you are overweight. I know these have been life changing for many (including in this comment section) and happy day if they work and there are no long-term adverse consequences. But what I can’t quite come to terms with is that this is a privileged solution. These drugs are incredibly expensive, which adds another layer to this conversation about affordability and access. As Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times, “As long as most Americans cannot afford the drug that democratizes weight, the stigma of obesity is still controlled by those who can afford to be thin.” Oprah can afford it.

  22. Eurogirl70 says:

    Oprah, first you went on a starvation diet. Then you pedaled Dr Oz and “The Secret”. You know what the secret was? Ozempic and Wegovy. You
    Have so much money to hire trainers, and personal chefs. Just stop. I know some here are fans but Oprah is for herself. Stop looking to her for guidance on anything. She is as messed up as the rest of us!

  23. Meqan says:

    I don’t “get” how people can consume alcoholic beverages until they are drunk. Best I can do is a few sips which I never have because alcohol does nothing for me. I struggle very hard not to over consume food every single day. I am ALWAYS trying to keep my eating in check and I am on a glp-1 medication. It feels like an addiction to me except my drug of choice is high carb food.

  24. Suffragette says:

    This can be a difficult subject to discuss because if you haven’t experienced food noise, you probably can’t appreciate what those of us who have it go through. I have found myself mindlessly walking around my kitchen at night like a shark trying to figure out what I can eat to quiet that noise. I never ever understood my sis-in-law saying she couldn’t finish her delicious dinner because she had to “save tummy space” for dessert. The f*ck? (This is the girl, who when we are out clothes shopping-a crushing experience-asks me from the dressing room to get her a size 2 or 0 because the size 4 is too baggy.)

    Hard agree about the meds being absolutely life changing. I have been on Wegovy for over a year and have lost 70 lbs. (I was well north of 200) Now I get what it feels like to not be at the mercy of thoughts about food. I eat when I’m hungry, and I stop when I feel full. That sounds obvious, but for me, it’s a total revelation. I am finally pushing back on the idea that my super skinny best friends in high school and college back in the ancient times were somehow morally superior to me because they had the willpower not to overeat. The difference? They just weren’t hostage to the food noise like I was. And it isn’t emotional eating… I mean, I have that too, but food noise is different. Totally agree that it feels almost primal.
    Hopefully, as these meds come down in cost over time, it will be available and affordable for everyone. I think the compound GLP-1 options will help drive this. Would be great if in the future we can have affordable access to tailor-made doses for weight loss and maintenance.

  25. Betsy says:

    Every few years I agree with Oprah on one thing, and here it is.

  26. Desi says:

    The food noise she speaks of is her body’s addiction to carbohydrates. I’ve worked with people to resolve the body’s dependence on carbohydrates and the food noise disappears. It is about will power – to be consistent about removing sugar and carbohydrates until the body adjusts to a new pattern of being.

    • TeresaMaria says:

      My take is the same. I believe “sugar needs sugar” and the only way to go is to get rid of sugar-addiction. And nowadays sugar doesn’t mean only sweets, pastry etc – hidden sugar is in so many things. It took me nearly a year to finally break free of sugar addiction and quiet the “food noise” it caused.

    • North of Boston says:

      Are there any clinical studies that support this claim?

    • QuiteContrary says:

      Desi: The willpower thing is ridiculous. I am incredibly strong-willed in every other area of my life, but that didn’t keep me from having food issues.

      Willpower is fleeting. When some of us stop overeating, our bodies tell us we’re starving and want us to eat more. That’s how our bodies are MADE. Which is why we need medication to help us lose weight.
      I’m so deeply exhausted by people who think this is a matter of will. From that line of thinking it’s just a short leap to moral judgment.

    • Veronica S. says:

      I dislike that the word “addiction” gets thrown around to describe carbs. Your body likes them because they’re the most energy efficient way for it to form ATP. Of course it wants more of that because it reduces the metabolic workload. Protein and fat take longer because they require additional cycles of metabolism to break down and convert into glucose. What happened is our bodies are built for a lifestyle that didn’t include bounteous plenty, so constant access a carbs wasn’t something we had to worry about. That changed with industrialized agriculture.

      Protein and fats help reduce appetite because they take longer to digest and breakdown, but they’re also unhealthy long term if your carb load is too reduced because of the byproducts. Ideally, your diet should be balanced if possible, but not everybody can actually do that. People with GI disorders, who’s had gallbladders removed, etc. all have limitations on how much fat and protein they can take in.

  27. Fifi says:

    Skinny person here: yep, I sometimes forget to eat and can easily reject food.

    • Lu says:

      I can see your point about how addiction might not apply. At the same time, eating sugar does cause the brain to release dopamine, and that can lead to addiction. Studies in rats have shown they prefer sugar over cocaine. The food companies design their food (with the help of food scientists) with delectable ratios of fat, sugar, and salt to make it difficult for people to consume small portions

  28. Melangie says:

    I’ve been micro dosing Ozempic for 1 year & have lost 35 lbs. The amount I take wouldn’t be therapeutic for someone with diabetes, but it has shut off my life long food noise to a very manageable degree. I hope it becomes more widely available & affordable

  29. Veronica S. says:

    Careful, Oprah, you might upset all the Instagram influencers who have built their entire brand and personality on moralizing body size instead of acknowledging it’s a complex combo of genetic, environmental, and personal factors. However will they define their sense of superior social value otherwise?

  30. J says:

    Bit of a sweeping statement from Oprah. I’m thin but have a lot of food noise. I used to binge eat a lot in my 20s (I was eating my feelings) but have a pretty good diet now in my 30s and mostly eat in moderation. I do have genetics and a fast metabolism on my side, but I also exercise, limit junk food in the house, don’t really drink alcohol etc. I started putting on weight in my late 20s and realised that if I didn’t change my habits, I would become overweight. The change has been tricky for me but worthwhile, BUT I have never had the bottomless hunger that others describe. I guess all I’m saying is don’t assume that thin people around you are just lucky and don’t find food challenging. I still have to push through the food noise and try to be disciplined. Having that food noise turned off by these drugs honestly sounds life-changing!