Oprah Winfrey looked unrecognisable in her latest social media post as it marked another milestone in the broadcaster’s years-long weight loss journey.
On Tuesday, the 71-year-old television personality took to Instagram to share a self-portrait for her book club and, in doing so, showed off her slimmed down physique.
She posed in a colorful, V-neck blouse paired with leather trousers as she held a copy of Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert’s new memoir All the Way to the River.
Oprah, who weighed 237 pounds at her heaviest, has spoken openly about her food ‘addiction’, feelings of shame associated with body image, and taking weight loss medication in a bid to be healthier.
In her latest picture, Oprah looked worlds away from her past self after losing approximately 50 pounds with the help of these aids that she first admitted using in 2023.
However, her struggles began in 1976 when she landed her first ‘big job’ as a news co-anchor in Baltimore, US, at the age of 22.
Writing in a post on her website, Oprah confessed she ‘used food to numb my negative feelings’ during that period of her life, adding: ‘No matter how insignificant the discomfort, my first reaction was to reach for something to eat.’
One year into the job, she met a ‘diet doctor’ who put her on a restrictive 1,200-calorie diet to try and control her eating habits. At the time, she weighed 148 pounds and was a US size eight (or a UK size 12) – well below the average American woman.
Oprah Winfrey looked almost unrecognisable in her latest social media snap amid her weight loss journey
Recalling her experience with the dietician, she wrote: ‘I had lost ten pounds (there’s nothing like the first time…). Two months later, I’d regained 12. Thus began the cycle of discontent, the struggle with my body. With myself.’
The infamous ‘wheel moment’ in the late 1980s
Oprah first spoke publicly about her weight loss journey on television in 1988 during a now-famous episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The broacaster, who had launched her eponymous talk show two years prior, strutted onto stage looking noticeably slimmer as she told her audience she had lost a whopping 67 pounds thanks to a ‘liquid diet’ known as Optifast.
Wearing a figure-hugging black turtleneck and a pair of size 10 jeans, Oprah wheeled out a wagon ‘full of 67 pounds of fat’ during the programme.
While many celebrated her transformation at the time, Oprah later confessed she had ‘statved herself’ to achieve the results after trying ‘just about every diet known to womankind‘.
‘For four solid months, I didn’t eat a single morsel of food,’ she recalled in a post on her website. ‘When I started Optifast in July 1988, I was at 212 pounds. By fall, I weighed 145 pounds.
‘I’d saved a pair of Calvin Klein jeans from my days of working in Baltimore, and my goal was to get back into those jeans.
In November 1988 (seen) – two years after launching the Oprah Winfrey Show – the talk show revealed she had lost a whopping 67 pounds in just four months thanks to a ‘liquid diet’
She celebrated the feat by wheeling out a wagon ‘full of 67 pounds of fat’ onto the stage
And while the results were impressive at the time, Oprah (seen left in 1986 and right in 1988) later admitted that she had ‘starved herself’ after trying ‘every diet known to womankind’
She added that the diet messed up her ‘metabolism’ and that ‘two weeks after she returned to real food,’ she gained 10 pounds back. She’s seen left in early 1989 and right in late 1989
In a separate post on her site, Oprah explained that her weight problems began years prior, when she landed her first ‘big job’ as a news co-anchor in Baltimore at age 22 (seen)
‘I discovered that food – especially corn dogs and chocolate chip cookies with macadamia nuts – could provide a great deal of solace,’ Oprah (seen in 1978) said. ‘I ate my emotions’
‘Wearing my size 10 jeans, I pulled a wagon full of fat – representing the 67 pounds I’d dropped – onto the stage.’
She added that the diet messed up her ‘metabolism’ and that ‘two weeks after she returned to real food,’ she quickly gained 10 pounds back.
Oprah has commented on the wheel moment several times since, calling it one of the ‘biggest ego trips of my life’ and a ‘big mistake’ in an interview with Entertainment Tonight in 2011.
Oprah admits being part of the ‘dieting brigade’
After she lost – then quickly regained – the weight she had knocked off, Oprah turned to fad diets to bring the number on the scale down in the early 90s.
She tried every diet under the sun, Oprah wrote on her website, including Atkins, Scarsdale, Cabbage Soup, and ‘even the Banana, Hot Dog, and Egg’ plans but found herself gaining ‘even more weight in the end’.
‘What I didn’t know is that with each diet, I was starving my muscles, slowing down my metabolism, and setting myself up to gain even more weight in the end,’ she confessed.
So she turned to self-love to try and heal her relationship with her body.
Oprah (seen in 1986) said that she ‘thought she was fine’ and ‘just had a little weight problem’ at the time. But she later realised she had much deeper issues ‘that she was burying by eating’
By 1990, Oprah had gained all the weight back and then some – and she said she was ready to say goodbye to dieting for good. She is pictured in 1990
During an interview with People magazine, the star said she believed the reason her diet had ‘failed’ was because ‘they don’t work.’ She’s seen in 1992
‘Around 1995, after years of yo-yoing, I finally realized that being grateful to my body, whatever shape it was in, was key to giving more love to myself.’
During an interview with People magazine, the star said she believed the reason her diet had ‘failed’ was because ‘they don’t work.’
‘I tell people, if you’re underweight, go on a diet and you’ll gain everything you lost plus more,’ she joked, before adding more seriously, ‘I thought I was cured. And that’s just not true.
‘I’m trying to find a way to live in a world with food, but without being controlled by it, without being a compulsive eater. That’s why I say I will never diet again.’
Trainer Bob Greene turns Oprah’s life around
After rising to her heaviest at 237 pounds throughout the early 1990s, she decided to hire personal trainer Bob Greene and private chef Rosie Daley to help her transform her lifestyle completely.
In an essay posted on her website, Oprah described Bob as the ‘answer to my prayers’ after she had given up hope that ‘I could be thin’.
‘[When I met Bob], I was 237 pounds, miserable, and so ashamed to have joined the ranks of the perpetually obese that I had trouble maintaining eye contact,’ the Emmy winner’s post read.
When Oprah started to suffer from unexplained heart palpitations in the early 2000s, it made her want to strive to be even healthier. She’s seen in 2002
By 2005, Oprah (seen in 2006) was down to 160 pounds. ‘I thought I was finished with the weight battle. I’d conquered it. I was so sure, I was even cocky,’ she said
‘I couldn’t understand why I was able to triumph over so many other challenges and adversities in life, and yet when it came to losing weight I was a big fat failure.
‘I’d reached the end of believing I could be thin. I had filled journals with prayers to God to help me conquer my weight demon. Bob Greene was the answer to my prayers.’
She explained that they first crossed paths at a spa in Colorado and – while Oprah felt certain he was judging her weight and appearance ‘as I had already judged and labelled myself’ – Bob ‘really understood’ her.
Oprah said that Bob asked her ‘tough’ questions that forced her to really analyse her lifestyle and mindset as a whole.
Soon after they started working together, she said, almost every aspect of her life changed.
Throughout the mid ’90s, she was often seen going for runs and leaving the gym alongside Bob, and she looked amazing when she attended the Emmy awards in 1994 and wore a figure-hugging white gown that showed off her stunning new physique.
Oprah said she eliminated unhealthy foods from her diet entirely, and started eating smaller portions and ‘healthful’ meals as a habit, not a diet.
By 2006, Oprah was down to 160 pounds from 237 pounds.
But in 2008, she fell off track after suffering from a series of health woes, and she was soon back-up to 200 pounds. She is seen left in 2006 and right in 2009
At the time, she said her heart palpitations had gotten worse – which resulted in her struggling to sleep through the night and developing a ‘fear of working out.’ She’s seen in 2009
‘I thought I was finished with the weight battle. I was done. I’d conquered it. I was so sure, I was even cocky,’ she told O magazine.
Oprah feels the weight of her health issues
Oprah’s jubilation was short-lived; by 2008, she had fallen off track after suffering from a series of health woes, as she gained 40 pounds.
At the time, she explained that her heart palpitations had gotten worse – which resulted in her struggling to sleep through the night, feeling ‘lethargic’ all the time, and developing a ‘fear of working out.’
‘I began having rushing heart palpitations every time I worked out. OK, I’ve never loved daily exercise, but this was different,’ she wrote in her magazine.
‘I actually developed a fear of working out. I was scared that I would pass out. Or worse. I felt as if I didn’t know my own body anymore.’
After seeing a series of doctors, she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, which is a condition that makes your thyroid overactive – and the diagnosis made her spiral into an even worse state of mind.
‘My doctor prescribed medication and warned me that I must “learn to embrace hunger” or I would immediately gain weight,’ she continued. ‘Believe me, no part of me was prepared to embrace hunger.
After seeing a series of doctors, Oprah (seen in 2009) was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, a condition that makes your thyroid overactive, and that made her spiral even worse
‘I felt completely defeated,’ she recalled. ‘I thought, “I give up. I give up. Fat wins.” ‘The thyroid diagnosis felt like some kind of prison sentence.’ She’s pictured in 2009
At the time, however, the host (seen in 2011) said she was determined to get back on track. She said she was off the medication and was back to exercising ‘at least one hour six days a week’
‘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.” All these years I’d had only myself to blame for lack of willpower. Now I had an official, documented excuse.’
Oprah said the diagnosis felt like a ‘prison sentence’ that forced her down the same path of eating to ‘comfort, to soothe, to ease stress’ as she compared herself to an addict whose ‘drug of choice is food’.
Still, she persevered as Oprah was determined to conquer her ‘ongoing food addiction’.
She said, per the recommendation of her doctor, that she was off the medication and was back to exercising ‘at least one hour five or six days a week.’
She said she was still trying to ‘tackle’ her ‘ongoing food addiction,’ and that while she wasn’t on ‘any particular program,’ she was focused on ‘eating less sugar and fewer refined carbs.’
‘My goal isn’t to be thin. My goal is for my body to be the weight it can hold – to be strong and healthy and fit, to be itself,’ she concluded.
‘My goal is to learn to embrace this body and to be grateful every day for what it has given me.’
In late 2015, news hit the web that Oprah had bought a 10 per cent stake in the company Weight Watchers for $43 million – and she soon became the face of the brand
The Weight Watchers effect
In 2015, Oprah famously joined Weight Watchers, the American company that pioneered a points-based diets system endorsed by the Duchess of York, Tina Fey, Jennifer Hudson, and James Corden.
Not only did she start the program – and eventually lose 40 pounds – Oprah also acquired a 10 per cent stake in the company for a whopping $43 million and became the face of the brand.
By early 2016, she wrote in O magazine that she had lost 26 pounds since joining forces with the company that has since been rebranded to WW. And by December 2016, her weight loss was up to 40 pounds.
‘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 told People.
She said the points-based system meant she could still eat all her favourite foods so long as they didn’t exceed an allotted ‘budget’ that is determined by height, age, gender, and weight.
In an interview with WW in 2017, the media mogul explained that her weight loss felt different this time because she had changed her ‘intentions.’
‘When the weight first started to come off, I needed to get clear on my intention,’ she explained.
By early 2016, the star (seen in June 2016) revealed she had lost 26 pounds since joining forces with the company. And by December 2016, her weight loss was up to 40 pounds
In an interview with WW in 2017, the media mogul explained that her weight loss felt different this time because she had changed her ‘intentions.’ She’s seen in 2016
‘I could lose weight to fit a dress size or to make other people like me. But this time I changed the intention to, “I want to be the healthiest I can be,”‘ Oprah (pictured in 2018) said
‘I could lose weight to fit a dress size, or attend an event, or to make other people like me. But I couldn’t keep it off for those reasons.
‘I always put the weight back on. This time I changed the intention to, “I want to be the healthiest I can be – physically, emotionally, spiritually.”
‘So the process and purpose of losing shifted for me. It was easier, because my intention was clearer.
‘Intention is the most powerful principle that rules my world. I do nothing without first thinking about why I’m doing it. What is the real motivation?’
She also revealed in a newsletter that she had been diagnosed with pre-diabetes before joining Weight Watchers, but insisted her blood pressure and blood sugar were all ‘stabilised and in a healthy range again.’
In January 2022, Oprah revealed she had kicked off her year with a diet ‘reset’ after ‘eating every day like food had just been invented’ over the holidays.
At the time, she shared a clip of herself tossing out leftovers of cake that she had made for her friend Gayle King’s birthday, while encouraging others to ‘get back in control’ after Christmastime.
‘Time for a reset. I’m clearing out my fridge,’ she said in the video. ‘You know, we had 12 people over the house over the holidays. I gotta say, we ate every day like food had just been invented.
In January 2022, Oprah revealed she had kicked off her year with a diet ‘reset’ after ‘eating every day like food had just been invented’ over the holidays
‘So, I’m clearing out the fridge. No chance of one last piece of Gayle’s delicious bananas foster birthday cake,’ she continued, while throwing the dessert into the garbage.’
Oprah even encouraged her followers to join WW so that they could ‘reset’ together.
Ozempic speculation
Oprah’s dramatic transformation became the subject of intense public and media speculation when she walked the red carpet at the premiere of The Colour Purple movie in 2023.
People questioned whether the star had shed those pounds by tracking points alone and wondered whether Oprah was using weight loss jabs like Ozempic that have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years.
However, Oprah had previously denied using any weight loss aids because it felt like taking ‘the easy way out’.
The billionaire discussed the medication on her panel, Oprah’s Daily ‘The Life You Want Class: The State of Weight’ in September 2023.
Weighing on the Hollywood-endorsed trend, she said: ‘Shouldn’t we all just be more accepting of whatever body you choose to be in? That should be your choice.
Oprah’s dramatic transformation became the subject of intense public and media speculation when she walked the red carpet at the premiere of The Colour Purple in 2023
A longtime spokesperson for Weight Watchers, people were skeptical immediately that the star had shed those pounds by tracking points alone and wondered whether Oprah was using weight loss jabs like Ozempic that have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years
Oprah said taking weight-loss drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy, helped her realize the truth about ‘thin people’; seen in December 2024
Despite her initial denial about using weight-loss drugs, Oprah declared she was ‘done with the shaming’ in December 2023 when she revealed that she used a GLP-1 to drop 40lbs; seen in January 2024
‘Even 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”.
‘Because if I take the drug, that’s the easy way out.’
She added it had been difficult to see how popular these diabetes medications had become as weight loss aids considering as someone who was ‘shamed in the tabloids every week’ for 25 years.
Less than four months later, however, Oprah said she was ‘absolutely done with the shaming from other people’ as the TV host admitted taking these medications that work by curbing feelings of hunger.
As photos of a visibly thinner Oprah, wearing a floor-length, figure-flattering gown for the premiere of The Colour Purple in December that year,
In an interview with People magazine that same month, she confirmed that she had begun taking a pharmaceuticals to aid in her weight loss and quiet the ‘food noise’.
She said: ‘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 talk show veteran said she has finally come to terms with the fact that she had spent much of her life painting her failure to keep weight off as a personal flaw rather than the medical issue that it is
‘I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.’
She also incorporated regular exercise, such as hiking, to help her shed unwanted pounds.
When she began taking the medication, she had what she called an ‘aha moment’ – she had been blaming herself for her weight all these years when in reality, she had a genetic predisposition that willpower alone couldn’t control.
Oprah was diagnosed with pre-diabetes before she joined WW, she revealed in 2019.
The makeover
After publicly revealing that she uses GLP-1s to manage her weight, Oprah has continued to endorse the medication while also promoting a healthier lifestyle.
In February 2024, Oprah announced she was stepping down from the WW’s board as stock for the lifestyle firm plunged by 20 per cent in the wake of her announcement.
The following month, Oprah revealed she quit Weight Watchers to avoid a conflict of interest issue while preparing to release a special about the rise of prescription weight loss drugs at the time.
In January 2025, Oprah revealed she had reached her goal weight of 160 pounds (72 kilos) and shared her experience of taking a GLP-1 and what it has taught her about ‘thin people’
Oprah Winfrey showed off her slimmed-down figure as she enjoyed a pre-wedding workout with Gayle King in Venice on Friday morning
The former talk show host, was a vision in a fitted dusty pink gown, which featured her cinched waist following her 50 pound weight loss
Structural draping helped accentuate Winfrey’s hour glass shape, while the frothy chiffon sleeves and skirt added a soft touch to the designer frock
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, she explained: ‘I decided that because this special was really important to me and I wanted to be able to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about, and Weight Watchers is now in the business of being a weight health company that also administers drug medications for weight.
‘I did not want to have the appearance of any conflict of interest,’
In January 2025, Oprah revealed she had reached her goal weight of 160 pounds (72 kilos) and shared her experience of taking a GLP-1 and what it has taught her about ‘thin people’.
She did so while discussing the function and safety of these types of drugs with Dr. Ania Jastreboff on the latest episode of her podcast.
‘One of the things that I realized the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people had more willpower,’ she confessed. ‘They ate better foods. They were able to stick to it longer. They never had a potato chip.’
But once she started on a GLP-1, Winfrey realized that what she initially perceived as ‘willpower’ was actually an absence of intrusive hunger thoughts — often referred to as ‘food noise.’
Ozempic, Wegovy and other GLP-1 medications can help eradicate food noise — which often leads to overeating and weight gain — by reducing cravings and slowing down digestion.
‘And then I realised the very first time I took the GLP-1 that, they’re not even thinking about it,’ the billionaire said.
‘They’re eating when they’re hungry and they’re stopping when they’re full.’
Winfrey explained that that way of eating ‘doesn’t work’ if you struggle with obesity, which is a disease.
In June, the 71-year-old flaunted her incredible results, a combination of GLP-1s with eating well and working out regularly, as she attended Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s Venetian wedding.
She was one of the many A-list guests at the wedding of the century as Oprah looked a vision in a fitted dusty pink gown, which featured her cinched waist.
Her latest post to promote her book club showed Oprah has maintained her weight through a mix of exercise, healthy eating choices, and the weight loss medications.
