Oprah Winfrey opens up about brutal weight struggles and ‘shame’ she has felt about her body – as she reveals why she’s REFUSED to ‘take the easy way out’ and try Ozempic to slim down

Oprah Winfrey has spoken candidly about obesity and why she was hesitant to use Ozempic during her own weight loss journey.

The 69-year-old hosted a panel in front of a live audience in New York as part of The Life You Want by Oprah Daily series.

She was joined by obesity experts Fatima Cody Stanford and Melanie Jay as well as Weight Watchers CEO Sima Sistani and psychologist Rachel Goldman.

The group attempted to “reframe the obesity and weight crisis,” as Oprah argued: “I don’t know if there’s another public person whose struggles with weight have been exploited as much as mine.

During the discussion, shared online on Wednesday, experts emphasized that obesity is a metabolic disease in which some bodies are “more predisposed to storing more fat”, also known as adipose tissue.

Oprah candidly explained: “For those of us who store fat, no matter how many times… You’ve all watched me diet, diet, diet and diet, it’s a recurring thing because my body always seems to want to go back “to a certain weight.

She added: “If I ate an apple pie at 11 p.m. I would be two kilos heavier in the morning. I can’t eat after a while.

The TV personality, who claimed to have “yo-yoed her whole life”, later said: “It’s a world that has forever shamed people for being overweight and all of us who have experienced it know that people treat you differently. They just do.

“And I’m Oprah Winfrey and I know what that entails and I’m treated differently if I’m over 200 pounds or under 200 pounds…

“There is a condescension. There is a stigma.

Oprah said the key was to have friends and partners around you who offered support and “rejoiced in your victory.”

After further discussion about currently available weight loss drugs – including Ozempic and Wegovy – the media mogul said: “Shouldn’t we all just be more accepting of the body you choose to be in? It should be your choice.

Throughout her decades-long weight loss journey, Oprah never shied away from discussing her struggles in public. Photographed in 1988 (left) and 1992 (right)

She was joined by obesity experts Fatima Cody Stanford and Melanie Jay as well as Weight Watchers CEO Sima Sistani and psychologist Rachel Goldman.

“One of the things I was so ashamed of, and even when I started hearing about the weight loss drugs, at the same time I was having knee surgery and I was like, ‘I have to do this on my because if I take the medicine, it’s the easy way out.”

“There is a part of me that feels – as many people feel with bariatric surgery – that I have to do it the hard way, I have to keep climbing mountains, I have to keep suffering and I have to do it because otherwise I was wrong in one way or another.

She concluded: “As someone who has been shamed for so many years (about my weight), I’m just sick and tired of it.”

Throughout her decades-long weight loss journey, Oprah never shied away from discussing her struggles in public.

In fact, she’s been extremely honest with her fans every step of the way, sharing even the most intimate details regarding her relationship with her body and her “food addiction.”

Her weight problems began in 1976, when she landed her first “big job” at age 22.

The journalist, who weighed 148 pounds at the time, said she struggled to cope with the immense pressure placed on her and began to gorge on things like corn dogs, cookies chocolate chip” and fast food from the mall food court. to repress emotions and “numb negative feelings.”

Her weight quickly climbed to more than 200 pounds and she began trying “every diet known to woman.”

In fact, she’s been extremely honest with her fans every step of the way, sharing even the most intimate details regarding her relationship with her body and her “food addiction.” Photographed in 1990

In 1988, just two years after launching The Oprah Winfrey Show, the TV legend revealed during an episode that she had lost 150 pounds in four months on an all-liquid diet – and celebrated by rolling a grease cart on stage.

In 1988, just two years after the launch of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the television legend revealed during an episode of her show that she had lost 67 pounds in four months on an all-liquid diet.

In fact, she later revealed that she had “starved” herself and messed up her “metabolism,” which ultimately allowed her to gain it all back and then some pretty quickly.

In the early 1990s, the self-confessed yo-yo dieter weighed the heaviest – 237 pounds – and felt “so ashamed” of having “joined the ranks of the perpetually obese” that she said she could barely look people in the eye.

She remembers feeling like a “big failure.” But after meeting a personal trainer at a Colorado spa, he helped her turn things around.

For years, Oprah’s weight fluctuated. With the help of his new trainer, he dropped to 160 pounds in 2006, but two years later he was back to 200 pounds.

At the time, she said numerous health issues were to blame for the weight gain and admitted she once again felt “defeated” and was on the verge of ” give up” and let “the fat win”.

However, in 2015, she partnered with the company Weight Watchers, and within a year, she reported losing 40 pounds through the program.

But she experienced another setback in late 2021, with Oprah revealing in January 2022 that she was on a diet “reset” after drinking heavily over the holidays.