Oprah: I Weigh 200 Pounds

Talk Show Queen Admits She Has "Fallen Off The Wagon" When It Comes To Healthy Living

(AP)  When it comes to her weight, Oprah Winfrey has always been straightforward.

The talk show queen continues the honesty, saying in the January issue of "O" magazine out Tuesday that she now weighs 200 pounds and has "fallen off the wagon" when it comes to healthy living.

"I'm mad at myself," Winfrey writes in an article provided early to The Associated Press by Harpo Productions.

"I'm embarrassed," she writes. "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?"'

In the piece, Winfrey, 54, details her recent struggles with an out-of-balance thyroid and how the condition made her develop "a fear of working out." She says she's added 40 pounds to her frame since she weighed 160 pounds in 2006.

"Yes, you're adding correctly; that means the dreaded 2-0-0," Winfrey writes. "I was so frustrated I started eating whatever I wanted - and that's never good."

Winfrey also writes that her goal is no longer to be thin; instead, she wants to be strong, healthy and fit. She hopes to get started with her upcoming "Best Life Week," starting Jan. 5 with an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" during which she is expected to talk candidly about her weight.

Winfrey, who is chairman of Harpo Inc., famously wheeled a wagon loaded with fat onto the set of her talk show in 1988 to represent a 67-pound weight loss while wearing a pair of size 10 Calvin Klein jeans. She had lost the pounds with a liquid protein diet.

"I had literally starved myself for four months - not a morsel of food," Winfrey recalled in 2005. "Two hours after that show, I started eating to celebrate - of course, within two days those jeans no longer fit!"

Winfrey's weight has yo-yoed to the delight of the tabloid press ever since. She weighed as many as 237 pounds and by late 1990 acknowledged she had regained most of the 67 pounds, saying "I'll never diet again."

In 1994, she finished the Marine Corps Marathon and by 1996 hired personal trainer Bob Greene, saying her roller-coaster weight saga was over.

But now, 20 years since the Calvin Klein jeans episode, Winfrey finds herself tipping the scales again, telling AP Television last week that she has yet to choose a gown for President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural ball next month.

"I had a dress on the vision board, but I'm not sure that's gonna fit," Winfrey said. "So I have to work on something else."

In the latest "O" magazine article, Winfrey writes that she hit rock bottom when she wanted to skip out on an April 26 taping with Cher and Tina Turner in Las Vegas.

"I felt like a fat cow," Winfrey writes. "I wanted to disappear."

Winfrey's weight and height put her body mass index at 31.8, which is obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says people who are obese are "at higher risk for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol."

It seems Winfrey is aware of the health risks, inviting both Greene and Dr. Mehmet Oz to her show during the first week of January, along with spirituality experts, sex therapists and financial expert Suze Orman.

Winfrey also is expected to discuss her weight on her XM satellite radio station's "The Gayle King Show" on Jan. 5 and will host interactive live Web casts at Oprah.com the week of Jan. 12 to 16 every night at 9 p.m. EST.

Winfrey, an admitted food addict, sounds almost apologetic in her article.

"I definitely wasn't setting an example," she writes. "I was talking the talk, but I wasn't walking the walk. And that was very disappointing to me."

[daffy64]

Does anyone else find it bizarre that she has a magazine named after herself that features a picture of herself on the cover every month?

Recent article in the mag..."How to save the world...by shopping!!" With, of course, an airbrushed picture of her looking "fabulous".

Can you say "nutcase"?

[rational_1]

Didn''t Dr. Phil have some sort of diet or fitness plan that he was hawking a while back? Oprah could follow that and get all cut like Dr. Phil. LOL

[calmarie-2009]

I saw the show back in 1988 when Oprah wheeled the wagon on stage loaded with fat. It is hard to keep weight gain down. I am a 53 year of female and it is not easy. The aging process with the up and down hormones and metabolism changes makes it more difficult. I have learned to not diet, but change my eating habits and exercise. My doctor said if you lose 1 pound a month that''s 12 pounds a year. The main thing is not to do any thing drastic because the weight will come back. It is all about life style changes, eat smaller portions, and an attitude to be as healthy as you can be without sacrificing the foods you like (just eat less and not as often). We struggle as women to be what others think we should be and how we should look. I have learned to feel good about me and who don''t like what they see...don''t look. Oprah is constantly in the watchful of the world and we all noticed the weight gain. Oprah make life style changes with your eating habits and make it a gradual change that you can control and of course the world will be watching. We know you are human too!

[missglo]

Why is this news worthy? So, what! she has gained some pounds. Everyone of us has flaws. She is allowed to live her life as she pleases. Just as we do. I think that she is to hard on herself. As for each of us, lets take some time to look in our mirrors. And see our short comings.

[brownieadog]

Actually, she likes to eat more than she wants to be thin. All those times she had Dr. Phil on her show, she appeared as though she was "together" and she was offering Dr. Phil''s help to her viewing audience. To me she never saw she needed Dr. Phil''s help for herself.

[dibbie67]

Yes, it IS difficult to lose weight, especially as you age. It''s also a MENTAL thing, too. To be THIN...sigh. That''s what MOST women who AREN''T thin want to be. I will be 41 in a week and also weigh in around 200 pounds. I''m very healthy except for my blood pressure. I exercise at least 5 days a week. I do Tahitian, Belly dance and plan to take tap dancing lessons and watch what I eat MOST of the time. I KNOW being overweight is NOT healthy and I''m TRYING to get HEALTHIER. What boggles MY mind is that she has ALL this HELP: personal chef(s), fitness trainers, exercise equipment, etc and is STILL having TROUBLE?! She needs to STAY MOTIVATED as well since you WON''T use all that unless you WANT to. I DANCE, which is something I LOVE to do and THAT keeps me motivated. I''m NOT rich or famous (obviously) but I MAKE DO with the resources that I have. And it takes DETERMINATION. I am DETERMINED to lose weight to be HEALTHY FIRST, then LOOK GOOD. Also, it will be a LIFESTYLE CHANGE, not a DIET, which you will do for the rest of your LIFE.

[credibility2]

The impact of women''s aging, metabolic changes, menopause and thyroid imbalance aren''t fully researched or studied by the medical profession. Even men pack on the weight as they age and their metabolisms slow down. This is a natural part of the aging process. Unfortunately, our mind-set culture refuses to accept this. The entertainment and fashion industry has made us all think we should act and look like a pubescent undeveloped and emaciated human form. Consider what''s driving these industries. No one should feel ashamed of or make excuses for weight gain as they age, slow down, etc. It''s life. Deal with it.

[daffy64]

For all her self-help and self-esteem shows it''''s finally evident that it''''s always about her....always has been and always will be. But for all her ego-laden attempts at healing herself via a world wide audience...she''''s done it squarely in the open. Oprah is needy and more addicted to the attention she gets from being on camera that she is to food. I laughed when she said she wouldn''''t consider working in Obama''''s administration...she couldn''''t handle it. It wouldn''''t be the adoration she craves on a daily basis. Oprah has deeper issues than food and it all centers around her need to feel like the queen bee 24/7.

----

She can''t get a man to marry her.

[daffy64]

Of course, these comments must be MEN...since none of you have ever struggled with weight, or is it that you just don''''t care. Being model thin isn''''t any healthier than being overweight is. Oprah has made the same mistakes many women have made, the all liquid diets, etc. The only way to get healthy (notice I didn''''t say THIN) is to eat healthy and exercise. As to you men who make fun of overweight women, that only shows how shallow you are. Guess you haven''''t learned yet that it''''s truly what''''s on the inside that counts.

---

True. But most of us don''t go on national television giving advice to others about fitness. Or have a magazine that features a picture of our fabulous airbrushed self every month. This woman has mental health issues.

[likeiam]

I have watched her irregularly over the past year or so and wondered if she could see herself on the monitors. People always use the new year as marker for making resolute changes and this is no different for Oprah. The weighty manuver also works to her advantage as a ratings booster as idle minds will watch to see if Oprah is truely going to follow through with her commitment to make the necessary changes to improve her health.

[likeitis5050]

For all her self-help and self-esteem shows it''s finally evident that it''s always about her....always has been and always will be. But for all her ego-laden attempts at healing herself via a world wide audience...she''s done it squarely in the open. Oprah is needy and more addicted to the attention she gets from being on camera that she is to food. I laughed when she said she wouldn''t consider working in Obama''s administration...she couldn''t handle it. It wouldn''t be the adoration she craves on a daily basis. Oprah has deeper issues than food and it all centers around her need to feel like the queen bee 24/7.

[thisandthat1]

"it''s truly what''s on the inside that counts"

That''s just something that fat people have been conditioned to say. Unfortunately ....not true.

[walkshe]

Of course, these comments must be MEN...since none of you have ever struggled with weight, or is it that you just don''t care. Being model thin isn''t any healthier than being overweight is. Oprah has made the same mistakes many women have made, the all liquid diets, etc. The only way to get healthy (notice I didn''t say THIN) is to eat healthy and exercise. As to you men who make fun of overweight women, that only shows how shallow you are. Guess you haven''t learned yet that it''s truly what''s on the inside that counts.

[thisandthat1]

She only weighs 200 lbs?

[navyjimfl]

Ha Ha....back to being fodder for the comedians....

[daffy64]

What a flake. I can''t believe people take advice from this person.