Oprah Winfrey is opening up about why she determined to begin utilizing a weight-loss drug in a brand new interview.

The media mogul, 70, has been candid up to now concerning the criticism and disgrace she’s confronted for her weight over the many years, most lately in a brand new TV particular, titled “Disgrace, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution,” that aired March 18 on ABC.

However when she lastly understood that weight problems is a illness, every little thing modified, she mentioned in a March 20 look on CNN’s “King Charles,” the place she mirrored on the particular.

“I couldn’t work out anymore. I can’t climb any sooner or run any sooner. I used to be all the way down to consuming one meal a day. There’s nothing else I can do,” Oprah recalled of deciding to get some additional assist with sustaining her weight.

Since beginning a weight-loss remedy and higher understanding how her physique works, she struggles a lot much less with blaming herself.

“There’s now a way of hope, No. 1, and No. 2, you now not blame your self,” Winfrey mentioned. “Once I inform you what number of instances I’ve blamed myself since you suppose, ‘I’m sensible sufficient to determine this out,’ after which to listen to all alongside, it’s you preventing your mind.”

“The one factor I hope individuals come away with is figuring out that (weight problems is) a illness and it’s within the mind,” she added.

The particular comes three months after Winfrey introduced she was taking a weight-loss drug, although she hasn’t specified which one.

What weight-loss drug did Oprah take?

Winfrey confirmed that she is taking a weight-loss drug in an interview with Individuals revealed in December, however didn’t verify which remedy she is taking. Many have speculated it is Ozempic, a model identify remedy that is been authorized by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration to deal with Sort 2 diabetes. Weight reduction is a well-known facet impact.

Previous to Winfrey sharing that she’d been taking a weight-loss remedy, rumors have been already swirling that she was doing in order she walked the purple carpet on the premiere for the remake of “The Shade Purple” in December 2023.

“I now use it as I really feel I would like it, as a device to handle not yo-yoing,” she advised Individuals.

“The truth that there’s a medically authorized prescription for managing weight and staying more healthy, in my lifetime, seems like aid, like redemption, like a present, and never one thing to cover behind and as soon as once more be ridiculed for. I’m completely finished with the shaming from different individuals and significantly myself.”

Winfrey mentioned she took the remedy earlier than Thanksgiving “as a result of I knew I used to be going to have two strong weeks of consuming,” she advised Individuals, and “as an alternative of gaining eight kilos like I did final 12 months, I gained half a pound. … It quiets the meals noise.”

Winfrey revealed she as soon as thought taking a weight-loss drug can be “the simple manner out.”

“There’s part of me that feels … I’ve received to do it the exhausting manner. I’ve received to maintain climbing the mountains. I’ve received to maintain struggling. I’ve received to do this as a result of in any other case I someway cheated myself,” Winfrey mentioned in September 2023 throughout a panel on Oprah Every day, known as “The State of Weight.”

It was after that dialogue that she modified her thoughts about utilizing a weight-loss drug, Winfrey advised Individuals, calling it her “largest aha” second: “I noticed I’d been blaming myself all these years for being obese, and I’ve a predisposition that no quantity of willpower goes to manage.”

Frustration along with her weight has “occupied 5 many years of area” in her mind, she famous.

Weight problems is a illness, she added: “It’s not about willpower — it’s concerning the mind.” It was then that she “launched my very own disgrace about it,” she famous, and was prescribed the weight-loss remedy by her physician.

How did Oprah shed pounds?

Winfrey has misplaced her newest weight utilizing a weight-loss drug and with a nutritious diet and exercising. She advised Individuals the weight-loss remedy is simply a part of her routine for sustaining a wholesome weight.

“I do know all people thought I used to be on it, however I labored so rattling exhausting. I do know that if I’m not additionally figuring out and vigilant about all the opposite issues, it doesn’t work for me,” she mentioned.

The discuss present host added that she eats her final meal at 4 p.m., drinks a gallon of water a day and makes use of the WeightWatchers ideas of counting factors.

She’s additionally been mountaineering 3 to five miles each day and doing a 10-mile hike on weekends, noting that she’s been feeling “stronger, healthier and extra alive” than she’s felt in years.

When requested about her transformation on the “The Shade Purple” occasion, Winfrey didn’t even point out a weight-loss drug.

“It’s not one factor, it’s every little thing,” she advised Leisure Tonight. “I intend to maintain it that manner. … I used to be on that treadmill as we speak.”

Research present that weight-loss medication must be a part of a holistic method, with among the strongest ends in sufferers who’re additionally consuming a nutritious diet and exercising.

Are you able to get Ozempic from WeightWatchers?

Sure, WeightWatchers affords prescription weight-loss medication and diabetes medication, like Ozempic.

In February, Winfrey confirmed she’ll step down from the board of administrators of WW, previously generally known as Weight Watchers.

The media mogul has been a spokesperson for WW and on the corporate’s board since 2015, however is not going to put herself up for re-election on the Could shareholder assembly.

Winfrey mentioned in an announcement that she plans to donate her WW shares to the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition, which the WW board mentioned would “remove any perceived battle of curiosity round her taking weight-loss drugs.”

WW confirmed it will offer drugs comparable to Wegovy and Ozempic within the spring of 2023.

Winfrey shared within the March ABC particular that she minimize ties with WW to forestall hypothesis that she had a battle of curiosity when creating the particular.

Oprah’s weight reduction historical past

Winfrey has struggled along with her weight for many years, famously shedding 67 kilos with a liquid food plan in 1988 then regaining the burden as quickly as she “returned to actual meals,” she recalled on Oprah.com.

Within the March 18 particular, she mentioned that she primarily “starved” herself for 5 months earlier than gaining all of it again.

In 1992, Winfrey reached 237 kilos, essentially the most she ever weighed, she mentioned throughout the “The State of Weight” panel dialogue. She recalled feeling pissed off that it doesn’t matter what she did, her physique all the time wished to return to a sure weight.

In 2019, Winfrey revealed she was identified with pre-diabetes earlier than doing WW. She then misplaced 42 kilos with this system, getting her blood sugar and blood stress again into regular ranges.

Her purpose weight now’s 160 kilos, although she advised Individuals it’s “not concerning the quantity” however about residing “a extra important and vibrant life.”

As she approached her seventieth birthday, her No. 1 concern was her well being, Winfrey mentioned, noting she doesn’t dwell with a worry of dying, however with “a acutely aware acknowledgment that it’s attainable at any time.”

“(I) acknowledge what an absolute miracle it’s that 70 years on, that coronary heart’s nonetheless pumping,” she added.

How do weight-loss medication work?

Ozempic and comparable medication work by mimicking the hormones the physique releases when an individual eats meals, as TODAY.com beforehand reported. Individuals have decreased urge for food, and after they do eat, they really feel full sooner.

Semaglutide, the lively ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, targets one hormone, generally known as GLP-1. Tirzepatide, the lively ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound, targets two totally different hormones, GIP and GLP-1, which might result in even larger weight reduction, analysis exhibits.

Wegovy and Zepbound are authorized by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration for individuals with weight problems or those that have issues from being obese. Ozempic and Mounjaro are authorized to deal with Sort 2 diabetes.

The commonest uncomfortable side effects embrace nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdomen ache and constipation. Individuals self-inject the medication as soon as every week and need to hold taking them to take care of weight reduction.

Sufferers can anticipate to lose 15% to twenty% of their physique weight, says Dr. Christopher McGowan, a gastroenterologist and weight problems medication specialist who runs a weight-loss clinic in Cary, North Carolina.

Utilizing a weight-loss remedy is “by no means the simple manner out,” he notes.

“You continue to have to enhance your diet. You continue to have to remain lively. You actually have to remain fairly constant over time to attain the outcomes which can be seen within the medical research,” McGowan tells TODAY.com.

“The explanation these new drugs are such recreation changers is they are surely efficient, and it’s fairly outstanding to assist somebody who’s tried oftentimes for years, many years, perhaps their total grownup life, to shed pounds.”