The Wisdom of Oprah
Filed Under Motivation · Tagged:
Oprah’s latest weight gain ordeal has been a field day not only in
the eyes of her fans, but also in the fitness industry. I want to
mention a few things.
1. With all her money she could have any expert in the world help
her, but she still has to take responsibility and do the work
herself. Don’t even think about using money as an excuse,
obviously, you don’t have to be rich to lose weight.
2. Oprah shows us by example that quick-fix or overly restrictive
diets don’t work. Do you recall the famous show/picture where she
has a wheel-barrel full of fat representing the 67 pounds she lost?
She had lost the weight on a liquid protein diet. “I had literally
starved myself for four months — not a morsel of food,” Winfrey
recalled in 2005. Her weight has continued to yo-yo for 20 years
since that diet.
3. Oprah also mentions her future goals are to no longer be thin,
and to be strong, healthy and fit. What does that mean? If she
weights 200 now, is that healthy but not thin? How much is a
healthy weight for Oprah? What measure of strong are we talking
about? Is fit walking around the block one time or 7 without
feeling overexerted? Goals need to be specific and measurable.
4. The bad news is, she let her fans down. She could have been such
a positive leader in helping the rampant trend of obesity. “I
definitely wasn’t setting an example,” says Oprah. She was not
accountable, and continues, “I was talking the talk, but I wasn’t
walking the walk. And that’s very disappointing to me.”
5. Oprah’s ordeal illustrates how critical it is to take time for
your own wellness. Everyone is busy, and certainly Oprah has shown
us how much energy she has put into building her empire, and that
doesn’t come without hard work.
She said she hit rock bottom when she wanted to skip out on a
taping with Cher and Tina Turner, “I felt like a fat cow, I wanted
to disappear.” She continues in the latest “O” magazine, “I’m mad
at myself” “I’m embarrassed, I can’t believe that after all these
years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my
weight. I look at my thinner self and think, ‘How did I let this
happen again?’” Do those words sound like they came from a happy
person?
If you fail to take care of your own needs, you will ultimately be
of little use to your job, your relationships, or anyone else you
are trying to take care of. If you have a health problem and you
aren’t doing anything about it because you are “too busy” or don’t
want to be held accountable, take time now before it becomes an
emergency.
That’s all for now, be well,
Lauren
I started working with Lauren because my health was failing and my Mother's health was on the worst decline I had ever experienced. If, I had not taken the route to get a personal trainer recommended by my physician and be lucky to have met Lauren, I probably would have been taking prescriptions to manage all the challenges. As my training progressed and the kind words of support from Lauren kept coming, I got stronger and have managed better with my Mother as well.
Great article, and its wisdom applies to all of us.
We have to put ourselves as our first priority if we are going to impact others. I think it boils down to having enough discipline to create a habit – for both eating wisely and exercising. As we all know, habits are hard to break – so why not create some good ones. Your article has given me motivation to create some good habits of my own.
Keep up the good work, Lauren.
Harriet Meyerson
Thank you for posting Harriet. I received more comments from this article than any other, but everyone emailed me directly. I would like to share some of the comments, anonymously of course, and where appropriate, my response:
“This is so timely and really makes one think. What a great example to use”
“I’m still keeping up with you and am thrilled to see your ’smarts’ in using this current content for discussion!”
“Actually what she also said was food is her drug and she admitted she is a food addict. Why would you put any more pressure on her to solve her problems alone than a heroine addict? Addictions are much more complicated than simply ‘making the time to take care of yourself’. It doesn’t take long to have a binge. Do you expect any addict, even if they are famous to have to be ‘the face of the disease’ for the public. I wouldn’t. The minute the addict stops working their ‘program’ for even a minute they will be off the wagon as Oprah said. She didn’t let people down. If anything she showed courage to admit her addiction and admit she can’t do it herself.”
My response:
I think you raise an excellent point. I do think that Oprah’s problems are a food addiction, just as an anorexic has food problems. As she is the “Oprah” I am sure the expectations on her are extremely high, maybe even contributing to her stress and comfort eating. She chooses to be “the face of the disease” for her public.
I think in many ways her professional support team may have let her down by not holding her accountable, after all, she’s Oprah, and maybe they didn’t want to rock the boat and lose that status of being part of Oprah’s team.
I never said she should solve her problems alone. I said she needs to take responsibility and be accountable. Ultimately YOU are responsible for your own health, and getting support and accountability from others is not shirking your responsibility. We all need support from others and part of that support is accountability. You need to do it on your own AND not by yourself!