With Oprah Gone, Who Will Be the Face of Yo-Yo Dieters?
Julie Clark Robinson on 24 May 2011 at 5:00pm
For 25 years women have given themselves a break in their day and tuned in to not only see what Oprah has to say, but how she looks. Be honest…that’s part of it, isn’t it? When she lost 67 pounds in 1988, Oprah captured the attention of overweight women everywhere who were looking for a mentor. You could almost hear “If she can do it, so can I” ring out over the land. Sadly, mighty Miss O put every ounce of that weight back on over the years, lost some, gained more back…and so it goes.
Yo-yo-dieting may just get you into those size 10 jeans for a nanosecond like it did for Oprah when she jubilantly wheeled 67 pounds of fat onto the stage in front of her live audience, but she will be the first to tell us (and has) that deprivation is not our friend.
“Goal weights can be demoralizing if they are not sustainable. We all have a weight we would like to be, but that weight may not be realistic. Better to be happy at a healthy, sustainable weight resulting from a good diet and exercise,” advises Dr. Brent Moelleken, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.
Women everywhere will bid a slightly frenzied adieu to Oprah tomorrow as the final episode of her show airs. Something tells me that we won’t be in withdrawal for long.
Did you identify with Oprah as she struggled with her weight through the years?
Photo Credit: Wikimedia and Oprah.com
Kirstie Alley, definitely. I personally look at Kelly Osbourne and Kelly Clarkson too in the "weight struggles" department. (I don't mean that in a bad way at all... just as someone who has also had ups and downs with my weight.)
Kelly O. is such an inspiration because she managed to keep her DWTS weight off and still looks great! Hopefully Kirstie follows in her footsteps
Kelly C definitely lost weight after her Idol win, but I don't really notice that's she's fluctuated too much?
She's gone up again. She looks completely normal and healthy, just not for Hollywood.
Google Suggest recommended "kelly clarkson fat" when I started typing her name. Very classy, Goog.
I have to say, one of the main reasons I loved her on Idol was because she was talented, beautiful and confident, but not stick thin. Her initial weight loss was almost a disappointment to me because she had been such a role model... but confident or not, what woman wouldn't lose 10 extra pounds if she could? :)
There's no doubt that Oprah is loved by millions! Her weight struggles have been a part of her "voice" to connect to her audience and that is what this blog was intended to touch on.
I really didn't think this read as overly negative -- rather that part of her attraction is that many women can relate to her struggles with weight. And that has been a big contribution to many lives. She is so successful regardless of what size she is. Oprah used her public weight struggles to point out how yo-yo dieting can be both ineffective and harmful, as Julie relates with the comment from Dr. Moelleken.
I was thinking the same thing...Kirstie Alley is someone whose yo-yoing has drawn me in in a more "I truly care" kind of way. She looks amazing and I really think she'll keep up with exercise and eating right...she's gone up and down so many time, I think this is the time that sticks!
Kirstie Alley? For her sake I hope she keeps off the weight she's lost on DWTS, but... I'm gonna be realistic about those hopes.