Oprah Winfrey Says She Weighs 200 Pounds: Claims Her Thyroid Condition Made Her Afraid of Exercise

Talk show diva Oprah Winfrey has admitted that she now weighs 200 pounds. Winfrey reveals her weight in the upcoming January '09 issue of "O" Magazine. (The Oprah website has published an online advance copy of the cover story, titled "How Did I Let This Happen Again?", accompanied by a shorter piece, The Truth About the Thyroid.)

In the article, Winfrey says she's "fallen off the wagon" in terms of healthy living, and "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?'"

Winfrey also details her struggles with an out-of-balance thyroid and how the condition made her develop "a fear of working out." She says she's added 40 pounds (see photo right) to her frame since she weighed 160 pounds in 2006 (see photo left).

"Yes, you're adding correctly; that means the dreaded 2-0-0," Winfrey writes. "I was so frustrated I started eating whatever I wanted — and that's never good."

Winfrey's weight has yo-yoed through the years, and she famously lost weight on a liquid diet, then regained the weight. Winfrey seemed to have finally won her battle and had her weight under control with diet and exercise for several years, when, during the spring of 2007, Winfrey reported that she developed an underactive thyroid problem.

Controversially, Winfrey suggested that she had chosen diet and stress reduction as her thyroid treatment approach, and emphasized that her dietary regimen relied heavily on soy products, antithyroid goitrogens which are known to aggravate and worsen thyroid conditions in some people. Winfrey did an episode of her show with Dr. Christiane Northrup, during which she again controversially signed on to Northrup's belief that thyroid problems develop in women who suffer an energy blockage in the throat region, and result from a lifetime of a woman's 'swallowing' words she wants to express. More recently, Winfrey reported that she was going on a several week vegan dietary "cleanse," but the diet included tofu, tempeh, soy sausage, soy milk, soy yogurt, and soy products on the menu nearly every day, sometimes more than once. Oprah did not report any weight loss on this diet. To date, Winfrey has not reported receiving any medical treatment, or taking any prescription medication, for her thyroid.

In January 2009, Winfrey will be running a week of special Oprah shows, dedicated to better health in the New Year, and is expected to launch the week with a January 5th show where she will talk about her own weight battles.

THYROID POLL: Why Do You Think That Oprah Winfrey Has Gained 40 Pounds in the Two Years Since She "Blew Out Her Thyroid?" -- Take the poll now TALK ABOUT IT: Share your thoughts on the Thyroid Forum

For more information and my analysis of Oprah's article, read, The Six Reasons Why Oprah Winfrey Doesn't Have to Weigh 200 Pounds. And don't forget to look back at Oprah Winfrey's thyroid struggles and issues in 2007 and 2008:

• Oprah Winfrey's 21 Day Cleanse Diet: Will It Help Her Thyroid/Weight?
• Oprah's Thyroid Causes Weight Gain, Fatigue: Are You Suffering Too?
• Why Thyroid Patients Should be Grateful to Oprah Winfrey
• Dr. Marie Savard: Women -- Including Oprah --- Must Take Charge of Their Own Thyroid Health
• An Open Letter to Oprah's Viewers: Thyroid Disease is NOT Your Fault
• Oprah Talks About Her Thyroid Issues on October 16, 2007 Show
• What Do We Know About Oprah Winfrey's Thyroid Problem? / September 17, 2007
• Oprah Winfrey Has Thyroid Disease: "I Blew Out My Thyroid" Says the Daytime Diva -- September 10, 2007

_{Photos: Oprah, Dec 2008, Katy Winn/Getty Images Entertainment; Oprah, Feb 2007 Mark Mainz/Getty Images Entertainment}