Oprah Speaks On Taking Weight Loss Medication As Needed: “It’s Not Something To Hide Behind”
Oprah Winfrey has always been public about struggles with her weight, rooting back to the onset of her career. Now the billionaire media mogul has overcome her “shame” about taking different measures to shed pounds — including using weight loss medication.
In a recent interview with PEOPLE, the O Network boss proudly spoke about using an unnamed weight loss supplement “as a tool to manage” her weight while also taking a holistic approach.
“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,” she said. “The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for. I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
The Color Purple producer did not disclose which weight loss medication she uses, but some have speculated that it may be Ozempic: a popularized medicine that helps people slim down, as it’s also prescribed to those with Type 2 diabetes.
Back in October, Oprah moderated a panel alongside obesity specialists Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford and Dr. Melanie Jay, psychologist Dr. Rachel Goldman and Sima Sistani, the CEO of WeightWatchers. The 68-year-old recalled how different she was treated when she was over 200 lbs and expressed that she felt that if she took Ozempic, it would be “an easy way out.”
“Even when I first started hearing about the weight loss drugs, at the same time I was going through knee surgery, and I felt, ‘I’ve got to do this on my own.’ Because if I take the drug, that’s the easy way out,” she said during the The State of Weight conversation. “It should be yours to own and not to be shamed about it. As a person who’s been shamed for so many years, I’m just sick of it. I’m just sick of it. I’m just sick of it.”
Oprah also shared with PEOPLE some of the lifestyle changes she made to achieve her current weight.
“After knee surgery, I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week,” she revealed. “I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends. I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years.”
“I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points,” she added. “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.”
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