Oprah Winfrey made a controversial declaration during her podcast: obesity is not a personal failure but a biological disease.
For decades, she carried the shame of weight struggles, beginning with a childhood memory of her father’s words: “No need to you weighing yourself because you know you’re going to be big. You’re going to be big and no matter what you do, you’re always going to be big.”
This core belief began to shift three years ago when Oprah learned what medical researchers have known for over a decade: obesity is a disease.
“The science is now clear. Obesity is not a choice. It is not caused by a lack of willpower or inherent laziness or you not doing enough. It is a disease,” she stated. “And this is one of the most astonishing revelations of my lifetime I have to say.”
Working with Dr. Ana Yastaster, an endocrinologist and professor at Yale School of Medicine, Oprah explored the biological mechanisms behind obesity. The key revelation centered on the body’s internal thermostat, or “enough point.”
Oprah explained her own experience: “When I first did the fast back in 1988 pulled out the fat. I started out at 211 lbs. After I ran the marathon, put the weight back on. I went back to 211 lbs. 211 seems to be the set point for me between 211 and 218.”
Dr. Yastaster compared this to a house thermostat, explaining that the body fights to maintain a specific weight just as it maintains body temperature. “Your body does the exact same thing with fat. It has this amount of fat in mind,” Dr. Yastaster explained. When someone attempts to lose weight below their set point, the body responds by increasing appetite and decreasing energy expenditure.
Oprah described this phenomenon as “food noise,” a persistent preoccupation with eating.
“All these years, I always thought that those of you who do not suffer from this, have not had obesity or the experience of it, I always thought you all were just stronger, that your willpower was greater,” she said. “And then I realized you weren’t even thinking about it.”
The discovery of GLP-1 medications changed everything for Oprah. “The moment I took the first GLP1, I mean like the next day, the food noise subsided and I thought, ‘What the living hell is going on here?'” She explained that these medications work by recalibrating the body’s enough point, allowing it to recognize satiety at a lower weight.
Oprah emphasized that obesity affects 74% of Americans and is associated with over 200 other diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. “Besides cancer and heart disease, this is the defining health crisis of the modern age,” she stated. “And for the first time, there actually is real hope.”
Throughout the conversation, Oprah repeatedly stressed that obesity results from genetics interacting with environment. She invoked another doctor’s phrase: “Genes load the gun and the environment pulls the trigger.” This biological reality means willpower alone cannot overcome obesity. “We cannot willpower away the biology of obesity,” Dr. Yastaster confirmed.
Oprah acknowledged the stigma she faced throughout her public weight struggles. “Weight has been a source of shame and embarrassment for me” since childhood, she said. But understanding obesity as a disease brought liberation. “I feel a sense of freedom,” she declared. “I can honestly say I feel liberated.”
Her message to others experiencing similar struggles was clear and compassionate: “For everybody who’s naysaying and doesn’t really get it yet. Your body is always fighting to get back to a certain internal thermostat.” Most importantly, she emphasized: “It’s not your fault.”
