Hoda & Jenna Discuss Oprah's Weight Loss
Hoda started the conversation about Oprah's recent revelation, saying, "First of all, it works for Oprah, and she's saying it out loud, which is awesome because I don't know how many people, if any of us, know who are taking these [drugs] but are doing it in secret and saying, 'I'm just drinking water' or 'I'm just walking.'
She continued, saying that her honesty is helping others feel better about themselves, because if Oprah was to just say that it's been a strict diet and exercise routine, others who are doing the same thing may think, "Nothing works for me," when in reality, fitness and diet are "not the whole trick."
"She's about to be 70," Hoda said about Oprah, who starts her seventh decade at the end of January. "Oprah Winfrey—who looks spectacular—is about to be 70 years old, and she's going into this next decade saying, 'You know what?!'"
Jenna also pointed out that Oprah "eats very healthy," which is true: Oprah follows the points principle of Weight Watchers, which she is an ambassador of.
"Isn't Oprah cool?" Jenna said. "When everybody else seems to be hiding it, she's telling the truth."
Oprah Shares Her Weight Loss Story
In her People cover story, Oprah explain that she's done feeling ashamed about her weight and weight loss choices. Weight and weight loss "occupied five decades of space in my brain," she said. "Yo-yoing and feeling like why can't I just conquer this thing, believing willpower was my failing."
But now, she says she uses weight loss drugs as "a tool" and takes them "as I feel I need it." Her weight loss management isn't just weight loss drugs, though. "I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week," she explained. "I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on the weekends."
In addition to incorporating lots of movement into her day, she says she's adjusted her diet too. "I eat my last meal at 4 o'clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the Weight Watchers principles of counting points," she says.
But her most important point is that she's not ashamed of her journey or her weight anymore. "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."