Entertainment | 12/10/2008 11:25 am

Oprah Winfrey at 200 Pounds: 'I'm Embarrassed'

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Oprah Winfrey at the Prime-Time Emmy Awards in 2008 © AP

Oprah Winfrey at 54 years old is still uncomfortable in her skin. Winfrey reveals in her upcoming issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, that she’s lost her career-long battle with weight loss — and tops the scale at an unhealthy 200 pounds.

She writes:

I’m embarrassed. I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, "How did I let this happen again?"

At 5 foot 6, Winfrey’s body mass index would be 31.8. A BMI over 30 is considered "obese," according to the Centers for Disease Control. Winfrey, though, is a fighter, and when she sets her mind to something, she absolutely prevails. In 1992, she was at her heaviest at 237 pounds. In 2005, she was a toned 160. Winfrey writes that a thyroid condition and a grueling schedule have made exercising and controlling what she eats a struggle.

"I had just given up on myself last year," she writes.

O’s January issue hits newsstands on December 16. Read Oprah’s weight-loss-battle editorial at Oprah.com.

Tell us: Are you struggling with your weight?

87 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Oprah, I’d be more embarrassed if i were you at Tom Cruise’s jumping on your sofa that the weight gain. Your weight can come off but the vision of Tom jumping up and down on that piece of furniture will live in public memory for a long long time,

By f p on 12/10/2008 11:40 am

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I truly believe that if this dialogue about self-care and what it really MEANS in our day-to-day lives becomes one-tenth as pervasive as the dialogue around shame and self-loathing around weight and dieting and body image – that one-tenth discussion will change the trajectory of obesity and low body image in our nation. Laura Fenamore, Body Image Mastery Mentor http://www.LauraFenamore.com Laura@LauraFenamore.com Blog: http://www.BodyImageMastery.blogspot.com

By Laura Fenamore on 01/25/2009 11:13 pm

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Yes, I am! I didn’t have a problem until my thyroid became under-active and I hit menopause. Psoriatic arthritis also kicked in, making exercise pretty uninviting to me. It’s very hard. I hope Oprah won’t continue to feel embarrassed. She is a beautiful woman. Most of us struggle with weight and we struggle even more with letting our sense of self worth depend on how much we weigh.

By elaine s on 12/10/2008 11:43 am

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Elaine, wish I had a magic wand to help you with the psoriatric arthritis, the psoriasis has been with me for 40 years and a great number of $$$$$ spent on it. Now in my seventies I have the thyroid problem. We should all remember your line :”letting our sense of self worth depend on how much we weigh.”. My thoughts are with you.

By Jeannot Kensinger on 12/11/2008 5:59 am

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Thank you, Jeanot

By elaine s on 12/12/2008 10:53 am

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How interesting, I saw her show for a while today and thought she looked different - far better than usual!. Shows to go ya, eh? Her eating and weight isn’t the issue I think Oprah just needs time out, to learn about herself, and learn to put perfume under her own nose first. When I was younger, I was hell-bent for election, too, but cancer put things into perspective for me - I stopped being the end all and be all to everyone (made a big difference in some not very nice ways, but I had my reality in check, too so it didn’t affect me too much). To heck with seeking out, and promoting so-called experts who turn out to be marginal, at best. Oz is a total goof, and obviously loves making women fawn over him (Closet misogynist?). One wonders, does that man ever work? Someone sent me a website he’s on to determine one’s “true”: age and beauty. One would have to be really skewed to need such “tests” and worse off if they believed them. I read a questionnaire and there’s no way that can be an accurate survey, far too limiting, plus life has many more variables; imagine how many people that may really upset. It’s a marketing website! i can’t believe I’m writing about Oprah, but elaine, I agree with you. I have had an autoimmune thyroid condition since I had Polio, and it became malignant, but not before I was gaining weight (swimming was moved up to daily to combat it) and every doctor told me I was eating too much; nothing changed about me but how I felt - exhausted, falling asleep by 7 PM, and trying to exercise more daily. By the time it was discovered, the parathyroids were involved … and I’d had a total hyst. 14 years before (but refused hormones, thank goodness), choosing instead to walk 2 miles, briskly, each morning to ward off the resultant hot flashes, and that worked. But, my chemistries are great, BP’s low, low, and I have a fabulous diet (rarely eat anything in a bag, box bottle or can). I hope Oprah doesn’t get into a twit about her body, instead, let loose, eat lots of great veggies, and grains (everything is much better roasted), and scarfs fresh blackberries, or raspberries when she’s tempted to eat junk food. We all have our genes to contend with, too, and stress does not help the fluid-balance in the body at all. Once she stops fretting about her weight, finds a sport or activity she loves (dancing wildly to her favorite music, naked - one of my lame joys, literally, if you know what I’m referring to, or in my case anything in the water! I’d give my eye teeth for a pool again - at my age now when I desperately need one for the pain of this Polio thing, I don’t have a ghost of a chance in … well, enough of that - just get her to let go, and only have the most luscious, great foods in her environment, and fire everyone who shows, tells, teaches her what to do, her inner-self knows. She didn’t get where she is without that. It’s an evolutionary process. If anyone knows her, tell her to go and spend 10-days in Paris, and watch what and h ow the French women eat, and talk to them in the sidewalk cafes — for one thing we do not eat enough veggies, nor the water they’re cooked in, and we eat too much of one thing, etc. Stress has a great deal to do with one’s weight, if we relax and enjoy life with other activities, eating becomes less important. I’ve always eaten my dessert first in any grand restaurant, and do not want to die wishing I’d had that bit of lemon Kiwi tart.

By C jay on 12/12/2008 12:22 am

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Elaine, I was diagnosed with PA over a year ago, and I was able to get off all of the medications and get my life back. I’m back to walking 4 miles 4 days a week. If you want more details on how I did it message me through http://fabulously40.com

By Yana Berlin on 12/16/2008 1:06 am

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Oprah probably still has thyroid levels that are out of control, which can make your crave sweets and make it very difficult to exercise. The muscle fibers actually change from fast twitch to slow twitch when hypothyroid. Plus, the benefits of exercise are limited when thyroid levels are low because to build muscle, one needs thyroid hormone in sufficient supply to make the proteins in the cell. So she should quit being embarrassed and start looking for better resources to deal with her thyroid issues. Once she gets that under control, it will be much easier to diet and exercise, though it will still be as hard as it is for everyone else.

By Elizabeth Bennett on 12/10/2008 11:46 am

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Elizabeth What is the significance of changing from fast twitch to slow twitch? I have never heard those concepts before. Does it have to do with the rate at which you burn fat or build muscle, or what? I don’t know much about thyroid.

By Frannie Em on 12/10/2008 12:51 pm

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Fast twitch muscle performs faster and takes up oxygen faster, if I understand it correctly. If you are athletic, you want more fast twitch fibers in your muscles. Thyroid hormone is needed to make proteins in the cells with instructions from the RNA. It is also needed to process oxygen in the cells. So if you are low on thyroid hormone, you are going to be short of breath, you are going to feel really sore after exercising because your muscles cannot repair themselves, and you are going to feel uncomfortable exercising. I am not medically trained, I just remember reading about this a while back. That is why it is not about being embarrassed, it is about not having your thyroid levels right. I sympathize with Oprah, I do. Low thyroid levels can wreck your whole life. Especially if you have a doctor that does not treat them properly. Over time it can even contribute to artery damage and a higher risk of heart disease.

By Elizabeth Bennett on 12/10/2008 8:24 pm

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Elizabeth, Thanks so much for the info. Very helpful.

By Frannie Em on 12/11/2008 12:40 am

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Elizabeth, thank you so very much for this explanation. Doctor just told me that I am “extremely low” (think he said 30 whatever that means) have me a pill to take before breakfast and that is that. No explanation, since then I am craving sweets to no end. Walking is what I do best but I am so exhausted, I now take 3 hour “naps”, Used to be 30 minutes.

By Jeannot Kensinger on 12/11/2008 6:04 am

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… and become malignant, Elizabeth, and spread! It’s horrible surgery! I’m convinced, there’s far more to body build, and fat depositing in places than eating too much. Great Scott, the women in my family all lived into the late 90s-100s and to date, the only one (except me) who exercised, is on many prescriptions, has carotid insufficiency, a rotten temper and and had 2 by-passes - she’s 97. Go figure. None of us smoked, and few ever drank much except socially but goodness they all ate eggs and cheeses, and foods I will not touch (lots of meat, and Crisco, white flour, sugar, mayonnaise, beans baked with sow belly and brown sugar . . ).

By C jay on 12/12/2008 12:29 am

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Elizabeth: haven’t seen you for a while—how are you?

By f p on 12/10/2008 2:09 pm

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I’m fine. I was just out of town for a few weeks. Had a great time. Now I am going to be time crunched because of the holidays, so I will probably not be “around” as much as usual.

By Elizabeth Bennett on 12/10/2008 8:19 pm