Oprah Winfrey said she’s “finally winning” the weight battle and explained how science helped.

In a recent CBS Sunday Morning interview, the 71-year-old icon reflected on her journey shifting away from self-blame for that change. A light-hearted moment came when Jane Pauley asked about getting dressed. Winfrey replied, “I can tell you what a joy it is to actually pack clothes that you know are going to fit and you’re going to feel good in them… it is a joy to get dressed.” The sentiment is a testament to how far she’s come from the days of uncomfortable fits and hiding in baggy clothes.

Winfrey described a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and public scrutiny, from an on-air Joan Rivers moment in 1985 to pulling a wagon of animal fat (representing her weight loss) after a 1988 liquid-diet transformation, and said those experiences shaped her public persona. She told Pauley she once feared winning awards because she didn’t want to be watched walking onstage, and that anxiety followed decades of gains and losses. 

She explained that her body has long had a biologically driven “set point,” telling Pauley, “My body, Jane, was always seeking 211 to 218… once I get to 211, I go, ‘Oh, I got to do something.’ But now I understand that the biology of me… was always trying to get my body back to 211.” 

Winfrey said learning to view obesity as a medical condition changed everything. “The American Medical Association says obesity is a disease, a treatable disease,” she said. After a doctor explained that, she recalled breaking down, saying, “It’s not my fault, Jane. It’s not my fault.” 

Winfrey continued,  "And I could weep right now, could weep right now. I'm not going to! But I could weep right now for all of the many days and nights I journaled about this being my fault, and why can't I conquer this thing?"

After resisting for years, she said she began GLP-1 medication two years ago and combined that with daily hiking and resistance training — a regimen that got her down below her 211 comfort zone. “I just yesterday hit my marathon weight,” she said, naming the number plainly: “155.” 

Winfrey also co-wrote a new book, “Enough: Your Weight, Your Health, and What’s It Like to Be Free,” with Dr. Ania Jastreboff of Yale School of Medicine, which explores the science behind the “enough point” and how biology, not blame, often governs weight. 

Winfrey said the change was more than physical. Reflecting on decades of public scrutiny, she said she “wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now,” when Pauley offered, “You would have been a phenomenal success, but I don't think you would have become 'Oprah' if you hadn't had the weight issue and been open about it and shared it.” 

Winfrey agreed and said, “There's a wonderful spiritual, African American spiritual, called, 'I Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now.' 

I wouldn't take nothing for my journey now
for my journey now
for my journey now
I wouldn't take nothing for my journey now.

"I wouldn't change the journey," she said. "because I think the struggle with the weight actually helped me be more relatable and relate more to other people who were in their own struggles. But I'm glad now to be in a position where I feel the healthiest and strongest I have ever been."