Inside Oprah Winfrey’s health and fitness transformation
It’s no secret Oprah Winfrey’s weight has fluctuated over the years, but she’s never shied away from showing off her figure at every size.
Most recently, the former talk show host stepped out looking slim and svelte while attending the Academy Museum Gala in December 2023.
“Absolutely beautiful. Share the secret of losing so much weight,” one social media user commented on a photo from the evening.
Meanwhile, another wondered, “How’d she loose [sic] all that weight and get toned? Exercise and diet or diet, exercise, medical intervention? I neeed to know.”
Her Weight Watchers journey
Winfrey’s been relatively open and honest about her physical appearance as well as her health and fitness journey.
At her heaviest, she weighed 237 pounds.
Having spent the majority of her career in the spotlight being overweight, she signed on as an ambassador for Weight Watchers in 2015.
“Weight Watchers is easier than any other program I’ve ever been on. It’s a lifestyle, a way of eating, and a way of living that’s so freeing. You never feel like you are on a diet, and it works,” she said in a press release at the time.
“I can honestly tell you I struggle no more. I’m eating everything I love — tacos, pasta. I’ve never felt deprived.”
The media mogul initially lost over 40 pounds and has returned to using the points-based eating program whenever she’s felt the need to “reset.”
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Is she on Ozempic?
In September 2023, Winfrey shaded those who use Ozempic or similar medications to shed pounds, admitting that she once contemplated going that route.
“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,'” she said on a panel alongside obesity specialists.
“Because if I take the drug, that’s the easy way out.
Part of the reason she felt pressure to turn to the type 2 diabetes prescription was due to being “shamed in the tabloids every week for about 25 years” for lacking the “willpower” to get her health in check.
However, just three months later, she finally admitted to resorting to a medication in order to lose weight.
“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,” she told People in December 2023.
“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.”
The “Color Purple” star added, “I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
What is her diet?
According to Oprah.com, Winfrey’s diet is “healthful but far from dull,” and she “averages about 1,700 well-balanced calories daily” spread out among three meals and two snacks.
Her diet is 50 percent “good” carbohydrates (like whole grains, fruits and vegetables), 30 percent fats (mostly “healthy” ones) and 20 percent proteins.
She consumes about 34 grams of fiber and 1,100 milligrams of calcium every day.
The multi-hyphenate focuses on consuming “lots of fresh foods prepared simply” to help keep her sodium “well within recommended levels.”
However, it’s unclear if or how the addition of the weight-loss medication changed her diet.
She revealed in December 2023, “I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day and use the Weight Watchers principles of counting points.”
What is her exercise regimen?
Winfrey is a big fan of a balanced exercise regimen that includes cardio and strength training.
Per Oprah.com, she does 45 minutes of aerobic exercise six mornings a week. The workouts include “power walking on a graded treadmill (up to 10 percent), jogging, elliptical exercise, stair-stepping or rowing.”
Four or five evenings a week before dinner, the Hollywood star will do another 20 minutes of any of the above exercises to “reflect on her progress toward her goals.”
Winfrey also strength trains four or five times a week for 30 to 40 minutes, beginning with a 15-minute power walk to warm up. She usually does two days in a row, followed by a day off.
She will use gym equipment and her own body weight to tone her legs and arms in addition to daily abdominal work in the form of “incline crunches” (three sets of 30 at three increasingly difficult inclines).
On the remaining morning of the week, usually on a day with no strength training, Winfrey will run for 75 minutes.
She stretches her whole body after every single workout but focuses mainly on her legs.
Has she undergone any plastic or cosmetic surgery?
In the past, Winfrey has vehemently denied altering her body via plastic surgery. Her best friend and the editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine, Gayle King, has also shut down those rumors.
However, there are a number of noninvasive body contouring and fat removal treatments that have become quite popular in recent years.
It’s unclear what, if any, cosmetic assistance the TV personality has had.
