For years, Oprah Winfrey turned to food to relieve stress and reward herself. She reveals the mindful changes she has made to lose weight for good.
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00:00 As you gain the weight, knowing that everyone wanted you to go the other direction,
00:06 people made bets with you on national television, you wanted to go in the other direction,
00:09 what do you feel? Is it pure powerlessness? Is it anger?
00:14 Well, I think that anybody who has, not somebody who just has like 10 or 15 pounds to lose,
00:21 I don't know, I've never been that person, but I think for anybody for whom it has been an ongoing issue in your life,
00:27 where you actually use food as an emotional repressant or suppressant, as I have done over the years,
00:36 I would eat when I was happy, I would eat when I was sad, I would eat when I was tired,
00:40 I would eat when I didn't know if I was tired or happy or sad, to decide, am I tired or happy or sad?
00:44 And then, even during the show years, people would ask me, you know, did I get stressed from the show?
00:53 I never felt stressed, because what I realized is I ate the stress.
00:58 And even now, I have to work at not eating the stress.
01:01 And as I learned more, after we started doing shows together, oh, don't have a bowl of chips on your desk,
01:09 have some almonds. Well, you eat a bowl of almonds and see what happens.
01:13 That'll do it too.
01:14 That'll do it too. So you can eat as many as you want.
01:17 I remember switching out the bowl. I didn't get the desired impact.
01:20 Yes. So I, over the years, have learned how to manage that thing, even now.
01:28 I get a phone call, you got to do your taxes, you got to, there's a little anxiety feeling that comes
01:34 that could be satiated if I just had a few chips.
01:40 You know, I would feel a little better in the same way that I think an alcoholic probably feels like
01:45 if I take this sip, something eases, something calms there.
01:50 And now, I will just feel that feeling. I've actually been standing in the cupboard,
01:56 looking at the pretzel, thinking, I want a pretzel right now.
02:01 But I'm already up to my point limit. What am I really feeling?
02:05 So now I ask myself this. What am I really feeling? What is this really about?
02:10 And what else could I do to ease this right now, instead of reaching for the pretzel or reaching,
02:15 because I always like crunchy things, you know.
02:17 So, why didn't you quit? Why?
02:21 Oh, because I believed. I always believed I would get to this point.
02:25 And I know anybody who struggles with weight, you've felt this.
02:28 You're smart, you're really intelligent, you're great at your job, you're good at your business,
02:34 you're great with your friends, you can manage all of those things so well.
02:38 Why is it this one thing? What is this thing that I can't conquer?
02:44 And I always believed that I would live to see a way to balance it.
02:50 That I would live to do that.
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