Every year, we set resolutions for the New Year, hoping that this year will be the year we finally lose some weight. Unfortunately, most of us have to admit that we are no sooner into the New Year and we have already broken our dieting resolutions. But this year was different. Oprah Winfrey not only maintained her status as the world’s greatest talk show host, but she actually lost a couple of pounds. How did she do it? Is it possible to lose weight while remaining dedicated to your New Year’s resolutions? Let’s take a look.
The Biggest Loser
It’s no secret that Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful hosts of all time. With her eponymous show, The Biggest Loser, she transformed the lives of millions of Americans, many of whom had never been able to lose weight. The combination of her incredible charisma and unique brand of medicine made it easy for people to follow her advice and start losing weight.
Although she no longer hosts The Biggest Loser, she still watches the show from time to time. In fact, she even had a hand in shaping the new generation of weight-loss reality TV shows. In 2016, she tweeted about how much she enjoyed a special guest appearance on the show, saying, “Tonight is one of the most memorable nights of my life. I met @BIGgestLosER & they asked me to be a guest judge on one of their shows. It was such an honor. I looked so handsome. I felt so proud of all the contestants. Thank you #BIGgestLosER.”
The Doctor’s Office
In 2016, Oprah Winfrey announced that she had a new show, The Doctor’s Office. The show focuses on her visits to different doctors around the country to discuss patients’ medical problems. We don’t know much about the show yet, but it will probably be similar to her previous show, in that it will give her an opportunity to talk about medicine and health issues with famous doctors. She has already featured some very famous faces, including Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers. And, according to a recently published interview, she has even talked to President Trump about health issues. So The Doctor’s Office sounds like it will be completely unique in that it will allow her to educate as well as entertain her audience.
A Year Without Dieting
It seems that Oprah Winfrey didn’t quite follow the traditional New Year’s resolution route. Instead of trying to lose weight, she actually decided to gain some. We get it, though. Everyone has their own way of dealing with resolutions and one of the biggest problems with traditional diets is that they often require you to consciously restrict yourself from eating the things you want. So, for the year 2016, Oprah didn’t diet. Instead, she focused on eating healthy foods and getting plenty of rest. According to a recent Oprah Winfrey interview, she credits her father, Charles, for teaching her how to live a healthy lifestyle: “I have always been a person who looks at the positive side of things. My father showed me how to find the good in everything. I always say that I do my best, which is probably not the case since I am not one of those people who seems to do well with others’ rules.”
Now, obviously, Oprah doesn’t set out to deliberately defy convention. She just follows her own path and that’s what makes her so intriguing. Especially since it seems that her way of working out has changed over the years. In her prime, she would literally walk around the city with a personal trainer following her closely. But these days, she goes to the gym for an hour or so before heading off to her daily meetings. So, presumably, her walk to the gym has turned into a workout.
More Media
In addition to her daily walks, Oprah Winfrey spends a lot of time working out in the gym and on her kitchen table, putting together podcasts and ordering cookbooks. In 2016, she became one of the first American citizens to announce podcasting by self-publishing a memoir, All Things Considered, which is essentially a collection of her podcasts. Since then, she has constantly updated and released new books, like My Life on the Road and What You’ll Never Believe About Me. To give you some idea of how successful she is, her latest book, What You’ll Never Believe About Me, became a New York Times bestseller a few days after it was released.
A Personal Enforcer
Oprah Winfrey also hired a personal enforcer to protect her interests and, in some cases, punish her tormentors. Just ask Scott Shepherdson, the Chicago-based attorney who acted as her bodyguard for nearly a decade. In a 2014 interview with Law&Crime, he described her as follows: “She’s a 5’9″ woman with attitude who happens to be one of the most popular, if not the most popular, celebrity clients I’ve ever had the honor of representing. She’s got a lot of enemies, but most of her enemies are afraid of her. A lot of people want to bring her down, but they’re very afraid of her. The people around her are the ones who are protecting her.”
One of the many interesting things about Oprah Winfrey is that although she is unquestionably one of the most famous and powerful women in the world, she actually relaxes a lot. In fact, her lawyer scolded her in 2014 for being too relaxed, advising her to get back into the habit of protecting herself. Apparently, it’s something that she has gotten out of habit.
A Mind Like Mine
In 2016, Oprah Winfrey published a New York Timesbestseller, All Things Considered, which is essentially a collection of her podcasts. Since then, she has constantly updated and released new books, like My Life on the Road and What You’ll Never Believe About Me. During an interview with the Times in September 2017, she described her mindset after publishing her first book: “Sometimes I think my mind is like a computer that won’t turn off. I have so many thoughts and ideas and projects that I never feel like I’m doing enough. So, to honor my own brain, I re-read a favorite book every day and listen to a podcast about current events every week. If I doze off on the sofa once in a while, I think it’s all part of my genius plan.”
In that same interview, she discussed the origin of her mindset: “I think a lot about where I come from because I feel like a lot of what I do is in the spirit of who I am. I am who I am because my parents and grandparents raised me to be confident and comfortable in my own skin. I don’t really have any other explanation for it. Even when I was a little girl, I never felt like I didn’t know what to say or do. I just felt like I was meant to be, you know, and even now, I feel like I’m just continuing with what was started so long ago. Whatever it is that I do, I do it with my whole heart, and I try my best to do it well.”
Resolutions For the New Year
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the idea of not dieting in the New Year is completely crazy-making. Most people, myself included, try to lose weight as soon as possible in the new year because the idea of not being able to eat what you want is incredibly frustrating. However, for those of you who are curious about how Oprah Winfrey did it, here’s her 2017 New Year’s resolution, taken from her Instagram account. Remember: Everyone’s body is different, and what works for one person may not work for another. So, you may want to consider what will make you happy and try to incorporate more of that into your New Year’s resolutions. For example, maybe you want to focus on your spiritual side this year, or you want to take up a new hobby. The point is to set yourself up for success in the New Year by making resolutions that you know you’ll keep.