Is Oprah A Bad Role Model?

O Magazine January 2009 Cover

All over the net everyone is up in arms about Oprah’s come to Jesus about her weight.  In January 2009’s O Magazine, Oprah Winfrey confesses that she now weighs 200 pounds and has “fallen off the wagon.”  Winfrey states, “I’m mad at myself. . . [and] 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?’”

Winfrey, 54, says she has struggled with an out-of-balance thyroid and the condition made her develop “a fear of working out.” The “queen of daytime talk” confessed that she’s packed on 40 pounds since she weighed 160 pounds in 2006, according to The Associated Press. “Yes, you’re adding correctly; that means the dreaded 2-0-0,” Winfrey says. “I was so frustrated I started eating whatever I wanted – and that’s never good.”  Winfrey has tipped the scales at 237 in the past.

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 AP reports. “I definitely wasn’t setting an example,” Winfrey writes in her article. “I was talking the talk, but I wasn’t walking the walk. And that was very disappointing to me.

Oprah’s struggle: pictured in 1994 and earlier this month

The cover of Oprah’s magazine features her in two different pictures.  One shows her current figure, the other her more slimline self four years ago. It’s a visual and public admission that she has gained 40 pounds in the past year.

Sluggish metabolism

“I thought I was finished with the weight battle. I was done. I’d conquered it. I was so sure, I was even cocky.

It is fitting that Oprah should choose to share her latest weight woes with the world, since she has always been very open about this aspect of her life.

In 1992, she weighed 237 pounds (108kg). She hired a personal trainer and made it her goal to slim down, and completed the Marine Corps Marathon the following year.

I thought I was finished with the weight battle. I was done. I’d conquered it. I was so sure, I was even cocky Oprah Winfrey

In 1998 on her show, wearing a pair of tight fitting size 10 jeans, she famously wheeled a cart loaded with 67 pounds of fat to represent the amount she had lost on a liquid protein diet.

By 2005 she weighed 160 pounds (73kg), and had completed a diet where she starved herself for four months.

Since then, her diet pattern and weight have fluctuated. She says in her magazine that hypothyroidism – a sluggish metabolism that can cause fatigue and weight gain – are the reason she has hit the 200 pound mark.

“It seemed as if the struggle I’d had with weight my entire adult life was now officially over. I felt completely defeated. I thought, ‘I give up. I give up. Fat wins.’”

‘Fat cow’

“All these years I’d had only myself to blame for lack of willpower. Now I had an official, documented excuse,” she said discussing her thyroid condition.

Writing candidly, Winfrey says that the condition sucked the life out of her, but despite feeling under the weather she continued to show up to record her shows.

Gayle King, Oprah’s best friend, told ABC’s Good Morning America that the talk show star has already had a big reaction from people who are surprised she confessed to gaining weight.

Oprah showed off her svelte figure on screen in 1988

Oprah says her goal isn’t to be thin, but to be healthy and strong.

My Thoughts

I am not an Oprah lover, but I  do think that Oprah is human.  Losing weight is not a magical thing that happens and you are skinny forever.  Losing weight takes looking at your habits and you have to implement a change to your lifestyle.  Fad diets won’t do it, training once for a marathon won’t do it.  It takes continual evaluation.

Experts say being overweight can be likened to an addiction.  Just like an alcoholic has to constantly monitor their alcohol intake, those of us who struggle with weight have to monitor ourselves as well.

I think we could all stand to learn a thing or two from Oprah’s weight struggles.  Being a star doesn’t make you super human and there isn’t a magical solution. I don’t think it makes her a bad person or less of an important public figure.

I bet you most of the haters are overweight and just got finished eating a 3,000 calorie meal.

What’s your opinion?

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