Weight Gain Confessions - Oprah is Not Alone

You've probably already heard about Oprah Winfrey's recent weight gain confession. After getting down to her slimmest weight (160 lbs) in 2005 she has gained back 40 lbs. In her confession article, How Did I Let This Happen Again? Oprah admits she feels embarrassed and confesses that a combination of health issues (hyperthyroid and hypothyroid) and a habit of eating for comfort have tipped the scales for her. Mary Shomon, About's Guide to Thyroid Disease, offers advice to Oprah in her blog post The Six Reasons Why Oprah Winfrey Doesn't Have to Weigh 200 Pounds.

Mary has great advice for anyone dealing with thyroid disease, but how about the rest of us who struggle with weight changes simply due to age-related slower metabolism? One thing I do have in common with Oprah is that we are both the same age, we were both born in 1954. However, our weight issues are very different. Oprah has battled with being overweight for years. Fortunately, I have never been overweight. I was a skinny kid. Even as a young adult I was slender. Middle-age metabolism changed all that. I began getting meat on my bones. But, even with the extra padding my weight has always fallen into the normal range indicated in various height/age/gender healthy weight calculators.

I haven't experienced yo-yo diet gains and losses but I will step up and confess gaining back all the weight I lost on the South Beach Diet I followed religiously back in 2003-4. The SBD was the one and only diet I ever did. I was very focused on reaching my goal weight (135) and with the encouragement of friends, family and my About.com readership I was very pleased with the outcome. I put myself in the public eye with a low carb diet diary documenting my progress. It took me from September 2003 to January 2004 (four and a half months) to lose those pesky 15 pounds, but I did it. Hooray! I reported my South Beach Diet Success on January, 24 2004.

What Happened?

Here's my confession: My body didn't stay at 135 for very long, within a few weeks after reaching my goal I continued to fight it out with the scales, my weight compromise finally settling in at around 138 to 140 pounds. Not too shabby. It stayed around there for about a year or so before it started to go up again. Almost five years later most mornings the scales read between 150 and 152. Truthfully, I have grown tired of trying to convince my body that it needs to weigh less. I've called a truce with my body. If it wants to weigh around 150 pounds I'm okay with it, but if the scales tip toward 155 I slap my hand whenever sugar or bad carbs makes a move toward my mouth.

I simply became weary of focusing on that elusive 135 number of my youth. What I really didn't like was my poofy tummy. Other than that the extra padding doesn't look or feel bad. To alleviate the fatso belly problem I now take enzyme supplements before bigger meals to help neutralize gasses and aid digestion. It helps! Sometimes the body wants what it wants. Sometimes that thing is a cookie, or some other not-so-healthy food. I don't give it to its cravings when it is being unreasonably greedy (hungry). But, mostly, I no longer want to fight with a body that kinda has its own mind. January is just around the corner, a month when New Year Resolutions and Diet trends are historical. My resolution in the coming year is to honor my body and in turn honor myself.

• My Stomach is Too Big
• Body Images: Self Acceptance and Loving Yourself
• Tips for a Healthy and Balanced Physical Body

Oprah photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Stringer - Getty Images, scales image (c) photos.com