Oprah Winfrey's dramatic transformation: Tracing talk show host's weight-loss journey

A look at Oprah Winfrey's tumultuous weight loss journey over the years

Oprah Winfrey is not only the Queen of Daytime Televiosn but also someone who has suffered a lot for her fluctuating weight. From trying liquid diets to crash diets to finally trying weight-loss medication, Winfrey has tried everything to remain fit. Here is a look inside the talk-show host's tumultuous journey toward achieving her perfect figure.

1. 1970s: Beginnings of a lifelong struggle

Oprah kicked off her showbiz career in the 1970s when she started with Baltimore's WJZ-TV. The television queen, who has always struggled with her weight found herself paying a dietician through one of her first checks. In a 2002 essay for O Magazine, Oprah wrote, "I still have the check I wrote to my first diet doctor—Baltimore, 1977," before adding, "I was 23 years old, 148 pounds, a size 8, and I thought I was fat. The doctor put me on a 1,200-calorie regimen, and in less than two weeks 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." 

2. 1988: Losing 67 lbs in a year

1988 was a milestone year in Oprah's weight loss journey as she lost 67 lbs that year. The show host walked on the stage of her 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' with a wagon loaded with 67 lbs of animal fat, representative of the weight she has lost. Wearing a size 10 Calvin Klein jeans, Oprah was proud to show off her 145-lbs figure. She later reminisced about the weight loss in an episode on 'An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution' where she shared, "In an effort to combat all the shame, I starved myself for nearly five months and then wheeled out that wagon of fat that the internet will never let me forget," before adding, "And after losing 67 pounds on a liquid diet, the next day—the very next day—I started to gain it back."

3. 1992: Oprah meets trainer Bob Greene

In 1991, Oprah revealed to People that she gained back 17 lbs from the 67 she lost. Moreover, she shared she wasn't crash dieting again. In 1992, the talk show host, however, met with her trainer that changed the course of her life. Winfrey wrote in 2007 that while she was at her "heaviest" at that point with 237 lbs, her time with trainer Bob Greene changed her perspective. She wrote, "When I first met Bob and he asked me why I was overweight, I thought he was being a smart-ass," and added, "I was overweight for the same reason everybody else is, I answered smugly. I loved food." She also realized that she was using food to "numb my negative feelings," befire adding working with Greene was "priceless therapy."

4. 2001: An epiphany

In 2001, Oprah had an epiphanic moment after suffering from continuous heart palpitations. She wrote in her essay, "... six months of unexplained heart palpitations, I finally got it. On December 19, 2001, I wrote in my journal: "One thing is for sure—having palpitations at night makes me more aware of being happy to awaken in the morning, more grateful for each day." I stopped taking my heart for granted and began thanking it for every beat it had ever given me. I marveled at the wonder of it: In 47 years, I'd never consciously given a thought to what my heart does, feeding oxygen to my lungs, liver, pancreas, even my brain, one beat at a time."" Since then, she not only vowed to take care of her heart and body, she also came to a truce with her "cellulite."

5. 2002: Heart health and self-love

Since the epiphanic moment in late 2001, Oprah vowed to take care of her heart. In a 2002 essay, she wrote, "For so many years, I had let my heart down by not giving it the support it needed. Overeating. Overstressing. Overdoing. No wonder when I lay down at night it couldn't stop racing." She admitted, "Though there was plenty of room for improvement, I no longer hated any part of myself, including the cellulite."

6. 2004: Down to 160 lbs

Throughout 2004, Oprah lost considerable weight and declared in a 2005 issue of O Magazine that she has "toned" down to 160 lbs. She wrote, "I thought I was finished with the weight battle," before adding, "I was done. I'd conquered it. I was so sure, I was even cocky. I had the nerve to say to friends who were struggling, 'All you have to do is work out harder and eat less! Get your 10,000 steps in! None of that starchy stuff!'"

7. 2008: More health complications

From 2007 through 2009, Oprah had a roller coaster weight loss journey. In February 2007, she faced health complications including hyperthyroidism, which though it "can speed up metabolism and cause weight loss," caused none in Oprah's case. She wrote, "My doctor prescribed medication and warned me that I must 'learn to embrace hunger' or I would immediately gain weight," before adding, "Believe me, no part of me was prepared to embrace hunger." After struggling with her health condition for two years, in a January 2009 issue of O Magazine, she wrote, "What I've learned this year is that my weight issue isn't about eating less or working out harder, or even about a malfunctioning thyroid." She explained her 40-lbs weight gain saying, "It's about my life being out of balance, with too much work and not enough play, not enough time to calm down. I let the well run dry." "Here's another thing this past year has been trying to teach me: I don't have a weight problem—I have a self-care problem that manifests through weight," continued Winfrey.

2017: End of talk show and 40-lbs weight loss

In 2017, while Oprah's famous talk-show came to an end, she also embarked on other ventures including writing a healthy cookbook titled, 'Food, Health, and Happiness'. During this year, she lost 40 lbs as well. 

2023: Oprah reveals she's on weight loss medication

In December 2023, during an interview with People, Oprah confirmed that she was on weight-loss medication. Though she did not mention the name, she clarified the staying healthy was her primary goal. The queen of daytime television shared, "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. I'm absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself." She added, "I can look at a picture from any period of my life, and the first thing that comes to mind is not the event or experience, but my weight and size, because that is how I've viewed (and judged) myself-through the prism of numbers," per The Mirror.