Oprah Winfrey changes perceptions of 'thin people'
Oprah Winfrey has changed her perceptions of "thin people" after taking weight loss medication and realising it isn't just a question of willpower.
Oprah Winfrey has changed her perceptions of "thin people" after taking weight loss medication.
The 70-year-old talk show host has seen her size fluctuate over the years but admitted that taking an undisclosed GLP-1 drug has made her reflect on her previous misconception that people were only smaller than her because they "had more will power".
Speaking to Dr. Ania Jastreboff on her 'Oprah Podcast', the media mogul said: “One of the things that I realised the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people — those people — had more willpower.
"[I thought] they ate better foods. They were able to stick to it longer. They never had a potato chip.
“And then I realised the very first time I took the GLP-1 that, they’re not even thinking about it. They’re eating when they’re hungry and they’re stopping when they’re full.”
But the 'Color Purple' star noted such a mindset "doesn't work if you have obesity.
Oprah previously described weight-loss drugs as a "gift" and declared she refused to be "shamed" about her weight anymore.
She told People magazine: "I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing.
"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."
But she stressed that she doesn't rely solely on the medication to control her weight.
She said: "After knee surgery, I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. 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. 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.
"I was actually recommending it to people long before I was on it myself."
