News: Oprah and her battle with her weight; she's back at 200 pounds.

A few days ago, I saw news reports that in the January issue of O Magazine, Oprah reveals that she has gained forty pounds and now weighs 200 pounds.

The article isn’t out yet, but apparently she says she’s mad at herself. “I'm 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?'” she wrote.

Hearing that made me feel sad. Oprah is so fabulous, I'm sorry she can't let go of this issue and just enjoy being herself. But weight is such a tough issue.

The relationship between happiness and weight is complicated and under-studied, I think. It’s an issue to which I want to give more consideration. I just read a fascinating book by Abby Ellin, Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat-Camper Weighs in on Living Large, Losing Weight, And How Parents Can (And Can't) Help, that gave me a lot to think about. A lot of people say that weight shouldn’t matter for happiness, but the fact is, for a lot of people, it does matter.

In his book What You Can Change . . . and What You Can't (p. 190), Martin Seligman points out: “All thin-ideal cultures…have roughly twice as much depression in women as men. (Women diet twice as much as men...) [In] cultures without the thin ideal…the amount of depression in women and men in these cultures is the same. This suggests that around the world, the thin ideal and dieting not only cause eating disorders but also cause women to be more depressed than men.” Two root causes of depression are failure and helplessness; dieting makes you feel both. (Note: I can't find my copy of the book to double-check the quotation.)

I also can’t help but think that there’s some major aspect of eating, nutrition, exercise, and metabolism that we don’t understand and that is playing a significant role in the obesity problem. If OPRAH has trouble with her weight, with all the massive support and motivation she has…

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What a combination. Alex Fayle, of the terrific blog Someday Syndrome, wrote a guest post on Leo Babauta's fantastic blog, Zen Habits. I was thrilled to be included in this post on 11 Ways to Cure Someday Syndrome.

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Comments

[Rui]

Thank you for the post! I do understand her feeling coz i'm also struggling with my weight although im not overweight.

Yes, slim means a lot in some people's eyes. They would judge you as a lazy and stupid person at first glance if you're a bit pachy. We often say 'to be myself', but no one could absolutely ignore others' opinion. Here we got another saying 'it's much easier to change youself than to change the world'. When everyone accept it, the skinny fashion would never be converse.

[adora]

I admire Oprah for being open about her weight issue. You just can't help thinking there is a lot we don't know about weight gain if Oprah has problem. I mean, no one would ever think she is lazy, undisciplined or undetermined.

What bothers me most is that I know that being thin doesn't make me any happier, and yet I feel bad being overweight and feel that everything will be better when I'm thin.

Recent studies are showing that weight gain has a lot to do with gut flora. A scientist in Switzerland did a controlled "super size me", in which he fed hundreds of people twice the calories they normally eat regardless of their weight. Some people had to drop out in a few days, but some people just never get fat! It is believe that the presence and absence of certain bacteria in the guts alter absorption of nutrients.

[Alex Fayle]

It's funny how our culture is so obsessed with thinness and yet North American culture has such a huge obesity problem.

It's just a part of our tendency to go to extremes in everything we do...

[Wendylicious]

Oprah's problem is the same as a lot of people's...the "D" word. Diet is something you "go on" something you do to lose weight.

I struggled with my weight since my mid-20's until I realized that it wasn't "going on a diet". I had to make permanent changes in my lifestyle.

People try to make losing weight and staying healthy so darn hard. It's not hard, it's very easy. Consume less calories than you expend. PERIOD. That's it. It's not fun, it's not convienent; but it is easier.

And I am happier. My confidence and self esteem is high, I physically feel better, my skin looks better, everything.

Our culture just loves to make excuses.

[pkzcass]

I have to disagree with Wendylicious at least about Oprah. I'm sure that she made a lifestyle change and just didn't "diet," but she's human, just like the rest of us, and for some reason, she slid backwards. I'm not overweight, but I have been down the Oprah road and am there now. I was happier when I was 10 pounds thinner, if for no other reason than my clothes were more comfortable and I lowered my cholesterol by 60 points. To me, that was HUGE. I recall a period in my life where I was under alot of stress and my way of handling that was to NOT eat, and I was at my thinnest since high school. My clothes were swimming on me, and yet I was extremely HAPPY with myself. However, I eventually gained that back because once the stress factor was removed, I started eating normally again. Then I did Weight Watchers and lost almost 15 pounds. Again...very happy. Clothes looked good, I felt good. Somehow I gave up a year or so ago and started eating everything I wanted. Gained it all back. So I guess I'll get back to the healthy lifestyle I had created and maintained for almost two years; hopefully Oprah will too.

[paprikapink]

Don't we all know someone (or are we that someone) who looks at an overweight person and sees someone who is "lazy" "greedy" "weak willed"...that judgement is so strong in our culture. I think it is a misguided, unkind, and frankly, ignorant view of others. Just as we now understand alcoholism to be a disease, I think we have to learn that there is a powerful physiological aspect to hunger and cravings. Even if you are someone who has lost weight personally and you feel very successful, you don't have the perspective to declare that anyone else's experience would be similar. We can't use ourselves as a case study for the rest of the world. Doing the same thing that someone else is doing is not the same as being them doing it. Maybe you have more insight than someone who has never been on the same path, but stow the judgement. It's not helpful.

[phquaryn]

Gretchen, this is off topic, but I think you posted long ago about the term "quotation". Weather you did or not, I have to say that your usage makes me smile!

I have so much to say about women and weightloss that it would fill its own blog. Oprah is the most powerful woman in the world, and she focuses so much time and energy on her weight! What chance do we mere mortals have.

[Alix R]

What saddens me most about this entire thing is that this public admission, and public self-shaming, perpetuates the idea that weight is, and should be, a public issue. It isn't, and shouldn't be. You can no more tell how healthy a fat person is by looking a them, than you can with a thin person. Weight is NOT a reliable indicator of health. Perpetuating the belief that weight is a public, and moral issue is wholly unhelpful, and in many ways damaging, to society in general and women in particular.

Oprah would seem to me to be living proof that naturally heavier people can no more maintain a weight significantly lower than their natural set-point than naturally slender people could maintain a significantly higher weight. With all her resources, both personal and financial, the fact that her body repeatedly slides back to the same place every time tells me that's where she should be. It *should* be socially acceptable and morally irrelevant that she looks fantastic at her natural weight.

Although Wendylicious has had success, and may, against almost insurmountable odds, maintain that success (average success rate for any method is less than 2% for 5 years or more,) the 'calories in, calories out' model is based on a misconceptual meme, not on science. In reality, recent studies have shown that weight is nearly as genetically pre-determined as height.

I am sorry that I am in a hurry and cannot directly cite my sources, but I can cite Shapely Prose, over at http://kateharding.net/but-dont-you-realize-fat-is-unhealthy/ This post is a great place to start, as is that blog in general. Another good resource, where most of my science references can be found, is http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/

[mibsphil]

Disclaimer: I love your blog, I think you are a terrific writer and I learn a lot from you.

That said, I cannot for the life of me understand why everyone, it seems, is in thrall to Oprah. I can't find anything about her that could possibly engender such overwhelming adulation. Role model? Hardly. For me, all it takes is her recommendation, or endorsement, to make me run the other way. Being rich does not indicate character.

Re weight: people struggle with it. Sometimes people struggle unnecessarily (people who go to extremes and become too thin, have eating disorders, etc.) It's a difficult problem, one which I know firsthand. But it's also a problem that should be dealt with. There are very real health problems associated with obesity and simply saying that women should be happy with the body they have is simplistic and possibly dangerous. Yes, we all have to come to terms with the many variations of body types, and we need to accept that some of us will never be skinny, no matter how hard we wish it. But keeping our weight within healthy parameters is an important component to overall health. It simply is not healthy to be very overweight.

However, it isn't healthy, either, to focus only on weight and not on the many things that contribute to a healthy lifestyle: quitting smoking; eating a healthy, nutritious diet; exercise; etc. Each person has a comfortable, healthy ideal weight and we should be realistic about our own bodies.

So Oprah gained weight--big deal. Losing weight and getting in shape is difficult for everyone, her included. Why should anyone feel sorrier for her than for anyone else? Or: why should anyone applaud her for making a public issue of her personal struggle? Why is her personal struggle interesting? This is one of the annoying things about well known people--the assumption that everything, no matter how banal, that they experience is profoundly interesting to everyone else.

[NicoleS]

I was sad to hear Oprah being so hard on herself about her weight. I know because of her celebrity status, people look at her through a fine lens - so maybe she felt accountable & decided to discuss (again) her weight in public.

What's most sad to me is that she was told earlier this year that she has a thyroid problem. With all the clout she has, she could do SO much good for so many by doing a show about thyroid imbalances.

Her weight gain could EASILY be a result of her thyroid hormones not being regulated properly.

I also have a thyroid problem (low acting), and struggle with my weight. Think of your thyroid as the thermostat which regulates your whole body. If it's turned off, your body won't burn calories right. I was told by a Dr. that if I lose 1/2 pound a week, I should be thrilled (until my thyroid levels are properly balanced).

I've learned A Lot about the thyroid through Mary Shomon's web site & her info on about.com, and encourage anyone who thinks they might have a thyroid problem to look at her site.

[NicoleS]

I was sad to hear Oprah being so hard on herself about her weight. I know because of her celebrity status, people look at her through a fine lens - so maybe she felt accountable & decided to discuss (again) her weight in public.

What's most sad to me is that she was told earlier this year that she has a thyroid problem. With all the clout she has, she could do SO much good for so many by doing a show about thyroid imbalances.

Her weight gain could EASILY be a result of her thyroid hormones not being regulated properly.

I also have a thyroid problem (low acting), and struggle with my weight. Think of your thyroid as the thermostat which regulates your whole body. If it's turned off, your body won't burn calories right. I was told by a Dr. that if I lose 1/2 pound a week, I should be thrilled (until my thyroid levels are properly balanced).

I've learned A Lot about the thyroid through Mary Shomon's web site & her info on about.com, and encourage anyone who thinks they might have a thyroid problem to look at her site.

[Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D.]

I'm pleased that celebrities like Oprah share their struggles with weight and other issues with the public. It's easy to say that weight, looks and other things shouldn't matter, but they do in our culture.

Self-revelations from folks with high visibility can give some people relief from guilt and shame which, unchecked, only perpetuate the problem. The important thing for all of us to remember, however, is that no matter what's happening with others we must each chart our own path to the solutions that are right for us.

[Kim]

Longtime reader who just wanted to pass on a little info. Hope it won't be unwelcome. You see Fat is a Feminist Issue. Judging people by certain body standards and the hatred that many people feel about their body--it is a real problem. I also read another wonderful blog (about body acceptance) and that writer dealt with the Oprah news and I loved that piece so much I had to share it with you when I saw your post:

http://kateharding.net/2008/12/09/dear-oprah/

For another thoughtful post about the issue is the one which brought me to her site:

http://kateharding.net/2007/11/27/the-fantasy-of-being-thin/

Like your site, that last post is really about being happy. I hope you'll read it Gretchen and think about the issues there.

[Bonnie]

I just read Valerie Frankel's Thin Is The New Happy. I read in an interview that what sparked her to write it was the realization that her weight had played a role in all her major decisions.

I'd recommend it.

[Kim - Dancing B*A*G Lady]

I wouldn't expect any less from Oprah. She is as real as they come. Gee and president elect Obama smokes. Who would have thunk it? What makes us weak makes us strong.

I can relate. I have been between 150-200 lbs, up and down and every where in between 4 times.

Lifestyle disruptions and stress is my issue.

[Desperate Housewife]

Oprah looks better when she's heavy. She looks better now than she ever has since her show first came on. What a great thing it would be if she could just embrace it and inspire other women with real bodies to do the same.
On the other hand, I do understand (from personal experience) that it's pretty hard to be enthusiastic about your overweight body when you have to look at yourself naked everyday! :(

[Dara Chadwick]

As someone who lost weight publicly (I was Shape magazine's 2007 Weight-Loss Diary columnist), I can speak to the fact that weight loss, while theoretically easy (eat fewer calories, move more), can indeed be a difficult process and keeping weight off requires a certain level of commitment. I can also speak to the fact that thinner does not mean happier.

In my experience -- and it's only my own, of course -- what does make me happier is knowing that I've made the most of the body I have and that I'm taking care of myself. When you're in that place where you do prioritize taking care of yourself, it's possible to let go of putting unrealistic pressure on yourself to make your body look a certain way. I'm not inside Oprah's head, of course, but I suspect her sense of defeat and shame comes from having been in that place and then letting life get in the way of doing what needs to be done to stay there.

I like that she's talking about this with her readers; after all, she's in the spotlight every day with millions of people noticing that she's gaining weight. Still, I think she should be a lot kinder to herself and her readers by avoiding words like "fat cow" to describe herself. That doesn't help anybody.

[Alyysa]

I lost 13 lbs in only two weeks by obeying this one easy rule http://www.officialacaidiet.com/index.php?id=One+Simple+Dieting+Rule

[FupDuckTV]

I personally am HAPPY about Oprah being over 200lbs. It proves to me that money can't buy you everything.

I agree with Mibsphil's comments! Oprah is just a person. People can be fat & happy or healthy & happy. "Thin" is not in one of Grethen's 12 commandments.

"Hearing that made me feel SAD." - Gretchen

[R Brandenburg]

It's hard to feel sympathy for women and their issue with weight. Throughout my whole life, women has said to me that I was too thin. It became such an issue that I stopped going to the beach. Years later, I looked at photographs of myself in my youth and realized that I was simply a thin teenager and that those women had a problem, not me. Now, women make comments about my hair loss. (Apparently, they don't think it's sexist.) Mothers chastizes their daughters for not enough enough food, and then chide them for having gaining weight. Fashion editors - largely women - decide which models will make it on the pages of the publications - and guess what - it's mostly thin and ultra thin models. This is about women having power over other women. This is about control. Anorexia has been around since at least the Middle Ages. God only knows what those women were being told by their mothers, their sisters, and their friends.

[Mo]

The best book I've read about this is Gina Kolata's "Rethinking Thin." She is a health writer for the New York Times. (She also has several good article in the Obesity section of the NYT health page.) She talks about how all our beliefs about dieting and weight loss come from theories that were developed before any scientific research was done on the topic. However, the moralistic attitude is so entrenched that only scientific studies reinforcing that attitude gain traction in the media, despite overwhelming evidence showing that obesity is a complex condition.

She also points out that overweight and obesity are PROTECTIVE against many health problems, a fact which is completely ignored in the obesity wars issue. If you are going to blame obesity for the rise in costs for treating diabetes, you have to subtract the cost of treating Alzheimer's which is a disease of the thin.

[EAC]

I think the complicated issue about Oprah and her weight gain is that it's a product of a disorder. She has said this. ("I once poured a bunch of syrup into a bag of hot dogs because I was so stressed"). It's not totally about her simply enjoying food and eating more than someone else might. Emotional eating/compulsive bingeing are disorders (sometimes brought on by dieting, sometimes by other factors) that are really hard on the human body. I think there are people who eat healthfully and whose natural weight ranges include 200 lbs. That's not quite the issue for Oprah. It's that she binges her way up to 200, instead of dealing with stress and emotions in a more healthy way. I commend her for addressing THAT.

[Jenny]

I agree with Desperate Housewife - Oprah does look better now than when she was teenager-thin. For goodness sakes, she's 50 years old! Like us all, she's got to accept the changes that come with age. I understand she's spent her life wrestling with the idea of being fat, gaining weight. Yo-yoing and dieting won't have done her metabolism any good at all. I think her comments about her weight cited in Gretchen's post were injudicious, and will just encourage people who struggle with this issue to feel ashamed. But then again, she's not a rocket scientist or a psychologist, regardless of the implicit claims made by her program, magazine and other franchised products.

I have "cooking with rosie", the book of recipes written by her and the live in chef she had for a while.

In some respects, and put in the right context, Oprah's story IS encouraging for the rest of us - even with all her money, she's human. You can hire a chef, a personal trainer, a personal 'shapewear' consultant, but you can't buy a 'thin' metabolism, you can't buy your way out of emotional eating, you can't buy self-control. I should know, I just ate a 250g block of chocolate today coz I felt sad!

And having said all this, I saw a friend I hadn't seen in months yesterday. SHe's lost 25kg on doctor's orders for her health. Her secret? "Doing all the things you know you should do". Vegetables, fruit, "nothing nice". And exercise. Hmmm.

I've enjoyed reading all the posts on this topic - a real debate.

[Faye]

"I also can’t help but think that there’s some major aspect of eating, nutrition, exercise, and metabolism that we don’t understand and that is playing a significant role in the obesity problem."

There is. I agree with a lot of the comments about how a "culture of thin" has horrible affects on body image, but there are also a lot of things that we have been mislead about when it comes to the causes of obesity. The main point of my post is to point out a book called "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes. It's a pretty profound book (but technical, so prepare yourself), and an important read for anyone that's concerned about how food affects our bodies.

I'll just mention one point from the book that I think is most pertinent to this discussion. This relates to the comment adora made above about some people never getting fat, no matter what they eat, and also the conception that some people who have weight issues are just "lazy". The sentence, "consume less calories than you expend" is based on the laws of energy conservation, which come down to this equation:

Change in energy stores (fat stores) = Energy intake - Energy Expenditure

The typical evaluation of this equation is that you'll lose weight (your body will burn fat or not store as much) if you decrease your energy intake and increase your energy expenditure. However, this is only looking at the right side of the equation. What about the left side? What if there is some dysfunction affecting your energy stores, and this causes you to *increase* your energy intake and *decrease* your energy expenditure, thus making you gain weight (and make you look lazy and gluttonous to other people). What if there is something affecting your body that causes you to constantly increase your fat stores while your body is still essentially starving for energy?

This is not a diet book, but a book that evaluates the scientific research behind our understanding of obesity and food. There is too much in it to outline here, but it's a fascinating read and would definitely get you to think about how you eat.

[athena]

i haven't read the previous comments, but i wanted to suggest a book that i think explains that missing element(s) in losing weight: the slow down diet by marc david which is not a diet. je doesn't tell you what to eat or how much or anything a "normal" diet would. he gives eight "prescriptions" that will change your thinking about weight and health and gives a lot of scientific and anecdotal evidence. for example, the first prescription is relaxation, specifically breathing properly. when you do not breathe while eating, your body does not digest your food. he cites studies that support this. the other prescriptions are quality, awareness, rhythm, pleasure (if you don't like what you are eating, your body won't absorb the nutrients no matter how "health" the food is), thought, story, and the power of the sacred. i found this book really fascinating. i think looking at weight loss from a new perspective will help a lot of people. also, i watched "i can make you thin" on tlc earlier this year, and a lot of those principles are the same as marc david's. i have successfully lost 6 pounds since labor day doing a half-assed program from these tools. that's very slow, but i'm fine with it. i'm not sure i've explained it that well, but you can find the slow down diet on amazon with some good reviews.