Transcript

Serena Williams and Oprah on Deciding to Take GLP-1 Medications

From Oprah · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 7 min · 12,425 words · 194 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Serena Williams and Oprah on Deciding to Take GLP-1 Medications", an episode of Oprah published January 13, 2026 (1 h 7 min, about 12,425 words). It mentions 8 people, works and ideas, including Enough, Dr. Ana, Julius, Serena Williams, GLP-1 medications.

What this episode is about

Serena Williams and Oprah discuss their personal experiences with weight management and the impact of GLP-1 medications on their lives, highlighting the broader societal issue of obesity in America and the newfound sense of liberation and vitality these treatments can provide. They emphasize the emotional struggles surrounding weight and the hope that these medications offer to millions facing similar challenges.

Key takeaways

  • 74% of Americans grapple with weight issues; it's a cultural epidemic, not just a personal struggle.
  • Obesity is a disease, not a choice: science says genes, hormones, and biology hold the keys.
  • Much like alcoholism, societal stigma clouds understanding of obesity; perception vs. reality often diverge.
  • The revelation: Obesity has been misunderstood for decades—let's pivot from blame to informed compassion.
  • New GLP-1 medications signal hope; the war on obesity may finally have a winning strategy.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Enough, Dr. Ana, Dr. Ana Yastaster
  2. – 20:00: Enough, Serena Williams, GLP-1 medications
  3. – 30:00: Enough, Serena Williams
  4. – 40:00: Enough, Dr. Ana, GLP-1 medications, Zepbound
  5. – 50:00: Enough, Julius, Dr. Ana
  6. – 1:00:00: Enough, Dr. Ana, Zepbound
  7. – 1:06:47: Enough, Dr. Ana, Julius, Serena Williams

Notable quotes from "Serena Williams and Oprah on Deciding to Take GLP-1 Medications"

  • A choice. It is not caused by a lack of willpower or inherent laziness or you not doing enough. It is a disease. And this is one of the most astonishing revelations of my lifetime I have to say. So I want to introduce you to Dr.
    about Enough · at
  • You weren't even thinking about it. You describe in enough that the discovery of the GLP-1 medications is similar to the discovery of penicellin and insulin. Why are these medications different than anything we've ever experienced before?
    about GLP-1 medications · at
  • We've watched Serena Williams win championships after championships. You all know she is the GOAT, the greatest of all times. She is an elite world class athlete, working out every single.
    about Serena Williams · at
  • So, I went on Zepbound. It's been eight months. I've lost 52 pounds.
    about Zepbound · at
  • That was Dr. George Orrigas who says that. So I want you all to meet now Julius Graham. Julius is a family member. He is Steedman's nephew. So, I've known him for many, many…
    about Julius · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Dr. Ana — Person · 7 mentions · first at
    This is one of the most astonishing revelations of my lifetime I have to say. So I want to introduce you to Dr.
  • Julius — Person · 7 mentions · first at
  • Serena Williams — Person · 5 mentions · first at
  • Dr. Ana Yastaster — Person · 1 mention · first at
    This is one of the most astonishing revelations of my lifetime I have to say. So I want to introduce you to Dr.

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • Row — Company · 2 mentions

Products & tech

Concepts & topics

Full transcript with timestamps

But I love to dance. I can drop it. I got knees like Megan. Now, would you like to see?

I would love to see. Okay. Okay. I'll be like, hi everybody. Thank you for joining me on the Oprah podcast. So great to be here with you who are watching and those of you are listening. and great to be with this fantastic audience in New York City. So, I am really, really, really excited for this episode because I have been waiting to share with you all the details of how my life has just opened up in ways that I could never have imagined. Okay. I feel strong. I feel vibrant. And I feel more connected and alive than I have in decades, in decades. And I can honestly say I feel liberated. I feel a sense of freedom.

And the reason I'm so excited to share this is because just like me, I know that 74% of Americans, that's almost three4ers of us in this country, share the same struggle, being overweight or living with obesity. And besides cancer, did you know this that besides cancer and heart disease, this is the defining health crisis of the modern age? And for the first time, there actually is real hope. So if you're one of those hundreds of millions of people or you love somebody who is one of the hundreds of millions of people struggling with their weight because of obesity, maybe this rings true for you. I can say that almost for as long as I can remember, weight has been a source of shame and embarrassment for me. In fact, I can remember the very first time I was embarrassed by the idea of weight. I' I'd gotten a scale at the Kmart and I was in the hallway standing on the scale and I my father passed by and he

says, "No need to you weighing yourself because you know you're going to be big. You're going to be big and no matter what you do, you're always going to be big." He says, "Have you seen your mother? have you seen your mother and your mother's sisters? And he tells the story. He says, I had your mother and your mother's sisters in the back of my Buick and I could hardly drive off with my Buick because they were so big. And I remember that moment and I carry that with me throughout my life. You're going to be big. You're going to be big.

Remember your mother. Remember your aunts. And about three years ago, that core belief that I was destined to be big started to shift in the most profound way when I learned that for so many of us, obesity is a disease. The science is now clear. Obesity is not a choice. It is not caused by a lack of willpower or inherent laziness or you not doing enough. It is a disease. And this is one of the most astonishing revelations of my lifetime I have to say. So I want to introduce you to Dr. Ana Yastaster. She is an endocrinologist and professor at the Yale School of Medicine. And hi Ana.

Hi. Hi Oprah. For 15 years Dr. Ana has been at the forefront of the research on the new GLP1based medications. And now she has written a book and I tell my weight loss story in the book. And the book is called Enough. Enough: Your health and weight and what it's like to be free. So my hope is that this book will help all of you who are on your own weight journey. Whether you are taking the new GLP1 medications or not, it is the book that I wish I had when I'd started and wish I'd had long ago when I didn't even know that obesity was a disease. So welcome back to the podcast Dr. Ana.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Uh you have been studying this now for decades and this is the thing that struck me that you all who've been studying this have known that obesity was a disease at least for the past 10 years.

Yes. Yes. Yes. We have actually longer than that. Okay. Longer than that. Longer than that. Okay.

And how did we all miss the memo? Well, it's one thing for a medical association to declare obesity as a disease, right? So, the AMA declared obesity as a disease in 2013. The WH declared it as a disease in 1948. And actually, we already knew that obesity was a disease back in Egyptian times. It's another thing to say that it's because of biology and to understand that there's an a biology that is driving that obesity. And it wasn't really until the mid 1990s with the discovery of leptin, which is a hormone made by our fat, that we started to understand that hormones communicate with the brain and that can lead to obesity biology. The the other part of it is the new medicines. The new medicines actually opened up an entire new world in terms of helping us to understand the biology of obesity. So until we had effective treatments, there wasn't necessarily a way to treat that obesity. And so they were key in helping

us to understand the biology which is why obesity is a disease, not because an association declares it to be.

Yeah, I I get that part. I So we what we all want to know and for you to explain in as layman's terms as possible um why it is a disease. Now, the very first time I heard this, I likened it into cuz I know there are a whole lot of naysayers and a lot of people who want to believe that it isn't, even though the science is saying it is, but you know, I've been through this. I've lived long enough and done conversations long enough that I remember in the very early days of doing the Oprah show like in like in 1986 1987 the very first time we did a show on alcoholism

and doctors were saying it it is alcoholism is a disease the audience all the people although we did not have social media at the time were like oh no just put down the bottle why can't you just stop drinking people did not understand yeah

that There are some people who are genetically prone for it being a disease and that everybody who drinks is not an alcoholic. But there are many people who drink and because of what alcohol does to their bodies because of their genes is very different than people who just So is it the same thing? Lots of people are eating in the world. Not everybody is carrying the propensity for obesity.

Yes. Not everybody is carrying the propensity. Although as you pointed out uh 2/3 or 3/4s of us actually are. So if we had been born a 100red years ago all of us would likely weigh less. So somebody born 100

well because of our obesogenic environment. So an environment that is filled with ultrarocessed food, lack of physical activity, lots of stress, lack of sleep, all these things lead to the development of obesity. they confuse our biology and our biology is doing the best that it can to adjust. Um, but if we had been born, let's say somebody was supposed to be normal weight 100 years ago, fast forward to right now, they may actually have overweight or be overweight. If somebody was supposed to be overweight 100 years ago, if they were born now, they may actually have obesity. And that's because our environment changed much more quickly than our biology.

because our biology evolved thousands of years ago, hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Okay. So, is it a gene? Is it a hormone? Is it a something within my body that's not in Reese Witherspoon's body?

So, I love Reese and I go to Reese because the first time you told me this and you were saying, "Well, it's our environment." I say I said Reese Witherspoon lives in the same environment.

Yeah. Yeah, she does. She actually lives in the same neighborhood. She does. She does.

And Reese does not have this problem. Yeah. Um, and you may walk your dogs together. Um, so genetically she may have genetic thinness and I don't know I I don't know uh the details of of Reese Witherspoon, but she may be more likely to be resistant to that environment, but most of us most of us are not. Most of us end up gaining weight. Now, in terms of the genetics of it, for most people, it's not just one gene. There are people who have monogenic so single gene forms of obesity but for most of us it's polygienic. It's it has to do with our family. So as your dad had had pointed out um so if if our parents have obesity we are more likely to have obesity. Um so there's many genes that are involved but it's true some people are more resistant to that environment than others.

Okay. Over the years I think I've gained and lost and gained and lost probably you know hundreds of pounds. Yeah. And everybody has seen me pull out the wagon of fat and I thought that was the end of it. And then I ran a marathon and then I've done Weight Watchers. I've done hundreds of diets just like many of you have done hundreds of diets. And I know so many of you feel as I felt like your body is fighting against you.

And in the book Enough, you talk about us all having an internal thermostat. And mine I think is set at 211bs.

Yes. And I say that because my body is always when when I first went on the did the fast back in 1988 and pulled out the wagon of fat. I started out at 211 lbs. After I ran the marathon, put the weight back on.

I went back to 211 lbs. 211 seems to be the set point for me between 211 and 218. My body is fighting to get to 211. Why is that?

Your your body's biology is extremely strong. Extremely strong. I see that she is. Yes. Yes, she is. Yes, she is.

She's a tough old girl. And she's a tough old girl who wants to be 211. Yes. And I don't know anybody else who has more grit than you do. I mean, you have more grit than someone who has scaled Mount Everest. You have tried everything. You have dieted. You have run marathons. It's just like you said, you have so much grit. And yet, you cannot overcome this. And that's because we cannot willpower away the biology of obesity.

Okay. This is the most important thing to know for everybody who's naysaying and doesn't really get it yet. Your body is always fighting to get back to a certain internal thermostat.

Yeah. And for all of us, that thermostat is different. As I just said, mine seems to be between 211 and and 218. You all are all thinking about what your number is, right? Because you always, no matter what, end up back in in in in that in that range.

And I can explain it with an analogy. So, we can think about a house and a house has a thermostat. We don't really think about it. It's just set to a certain temperature. Let's say 70° F. And when it is hot outside, what happens? The AC turns on. We don't think about it, right? When it's cold outside, what happens? The furnace turns on. And ultimately, that temperature is 70° F. It's just there. Your body does this with so many different things. It does this with body temperature. So, for example, body temperature 98.6. Are any of us sitting here thinking to ourselves, I must keep my body temperature 98.6. No, we're not. If we're cold, like we are right now, we shiver.

Yeah. If we are hot, then we will sweat, right? So, we keep it there. It turns out our body does the exact same thing with fat. It has this amount of fat in mind. And for Oprah, that amount of fat somehow equates to about 211 pounds. So, what does that mean? When Oprah diets, when she exercises, when she does all the things, all the things, what happens is her appetite increases. Her appetite increases and her body says, "Eat more and burn less. Be more efficient with the energy that you have." In the same way, what our body does is actually when we gain weight, it does the opposite. It turns down our appetite and it helps us burn more. But the way that we are built is to actually always want more. And the reason why we always want more and why our body doesn't think that it has enough is because we are built for survival.

And so we don't want to starve. So every time Oprah tried to lose weight, her body was like, "You're starving. You better go eat something else. You better conserve your energy. Do not lose that weight. I do not want

Is that what the food noise is?" That's what the food noise is. That's exactly what the food noise is. And and for those of you who have never experienced food noise because you live in a thinner body and you don't have obesity as a disease or as an issue for you, please explain what food noise is because I remember talking to somebody and they were like, "What do you mean? What do you mean food?" Oh, I know.

Oh, you don't know what it is. Okay. Okay. So, food noise is a manifestation of that biology of that striving to survive. So basically what happens is if we are living below our um set point or our enough point. So again in Oprah's case 211 pounds. What happens is her body's like well we got to find a way to eat more. You got to eat more. If you don't eat more we're going to die. So constantly she may walk by the kitchen and be like is there something for me to snack on? Is there something is

I call that that grazing thing where you're just standing in the pantry. you're standing with the refrigerator. You don't even

you just you and so food noise is a manifestation of that biology. It is persistent. It is disruptive. It is intrusive. It really takes our attention away from all these other things that we could be doing. And any time that somebody is living below their enough point, they may experience food noise.

But here's the thing. Here's the thing. The moment I took the first GLP1, I mean like the next day, the food noise subsided and I thought, "What the living hell is going on here?" Because all these years, I always thought that those of you who do not suffer from this, have not had obesity or the experience of it. I always thought you all were just stronger, that your willpower was greater, that you that in spite of all the things I've been able to do in my life, that some many of you have that thing that allows you to not to think about food and

then I realized you weren't even thinking about it. That's right. You weren't even thinking about it. You describe in enough that the discovery of the GLP-1 medications is similar to the discovery of penicellin and insulin. Why are these medications different than anything we've ever experienced before?

Yeah. Well, there are these moments in medicine like the discovery of insulin or penicellin. These medicines taught us about the diseases. They taught us about the biology and they save millions of people's lives. And that's exactly what these medicines are doing. They're teaching us about the biology just as we talked about. And they're going to save millions of people's lives. And they already are. And here's why. Because obesity in and of itself is a disease that affects so many of us. But obesity is also associated with over 200 other diseases. 200. So diseases like diabetes, like heart disease, certain types of cancer, hypertension, high cholesterol, all these things. And what is the number one killer of Americans today? It is heart disease. It is heart disease. And if you are a woman and you have obesity, your risk for developing heart disease is 50% higher. And if you are a man, it's 70% higher. And if you

already develop type two diabetes, it is 90% higher. So if we can effectively treat obesity, we can treat 200 other obesity related diseases and literally save lives.

Well, I think there isn't that's really I think there's still u I think there's still a lot of confusion around how and why the GLP-1 medicines work. the this book goes into great detail uh that I know is going to help a lot of you on the journey uh be able to wrap your brains around this. Can you explain it briefly how it works? How cuz you think it's working on your stomach, it's not. It's working on your brain.

Yeah. Yeah. So, what happens is that um our body wants to survive. And so, it sets this in Oprah's case and in many many people's case, it sets a higher enough point. Our body doesn't think it has enough. So, it's always striving for more, for more fuel, for more fat, for more energy to store.

That's why you called the book that. Yes, that's exactly why I called the book that. I woke up with the idea for the title shortly after the idea of for the book came up and it, you know, it really perfectly captured the essence and that's because our body doesn't think it has enough. Oprah's body doesn't think it has enough. And the medicines re-calibrate. They lower the enough point so that your body knows it has enough. Enough food doesn't need anymore. You just you just are you've had enough. The other reason why it's called enough is because we have so unfairly and tragically blamed people for having a disease that is not their fault and that is not their choice. This is about biology. This is about having a disease. And so we've had enough shame and blame. The book

that's what the enough meant to me. Enough. enough like enough. We've had enough.

Yeah. So, this is what I know for sure. Uh that some people, no matter what you do, you can't lose the excess weight. We've watched Serena Williams win championships after championships. You all know she is the GOAT, the greatest of all times. She is an elite world class athlete, working out every single day, eating healthy food. Even she could not win the battle until now. Come on out here, Serena Williams.

23time Grand Slam champion, the goat Serena Williams says her struggle with weight began after giving birth to her two daughters. In August 2025, Serena announced that she lost 31 lbs on a GLP-1 medication and is now partnering with the teaalth company Row to share her story.

Well, this is the thing. when you came out for row, I went, "Holy Lord Jesus and all your disciples,"

I felt that that was a seinal moment and I was like so proud of you because I knew that you were going to get a whole lot of, "Oh, how dare you and what do you mean and what was that like for you that the the day that you came out for row?"

Um, I just felt good, you know, first of all, you know me, I don't listen to the noise. I'm like, get in line. There's a very long line.

Go all the way to the back and you're going to be a long time before I hear that complaint. But it made so much sense cuz as you were saying, I'm an elite athlete and I loved hearing what you were talking about cuz all that stuff makes so much sense. And I think everyone's personal body is different. Yes. And like the food noise, like all the benefits that the GOP ones can have. I just feel like for me, I just felt totally different. And I'm literally like my last my last match at the Open, I literally was working eight hours a day in the gym training and I never could lose an ounce. In fact, I feel like I may have even gained weight.

Wow. Wow. And it was incredible how my body looked even though I was putting in hours and I'm talking we're in the summer in Florida putting in hours and hours and hours of training and I was eating like

that's when I said Lord Jesus you know that if Serena Williams who's working out eight hours a day

literally cannot lose weight something's up. The biology is I think it's biology and I think also when you have kids maybe that biology changes. But I feel like a little changes and then you just learn so much about the GLP1s and how much they're affecting your body with the different proteins that it's doing and

Yeah. And it's just So it did change for you after having your first child. I Yeah, absolutely. It did change for me. Yeah. I couldn't lose weight the way I used to.

Yeah. And it was actually virtually impossible. Yeah. Yeah. With eight hours. I mean I I can't even imagine. and your workouts. We've seen your workouts.

Yes. My workouts are insane. A professional athlete. I was actually playing a professional sport.

Yes. So, I felt Drop the mic, y'all. That's it. I felt it so important to tell my story cuz I felt like a lot of people could relate to that.

And I loved when you shared your story because for the very reason you are the most amazing athlete

and all of time of all times. But I couldn't beat that weight. Yes. couldn't beat the weight. The one opponent I could not defeat

is the weight. Yes. So, it was so exciting to work with Ro and then they really wanted with them, they really wanted to tell a story. They didn't just want to just single out like me. They really wanted to tell a story about so many people were dealing with what I was dealing with. And

I read that you were initially skeptical of the GLP1. Absolutely. Because it's like the skinny shot and like it's a shortcut. And so for years I didn't well not for years but for a long time I didn't do it and I didn't want to do it. Yeah. And I thought like I'm not gonna take the shortcut, you know? I'm I'm gonna work harder. But then eventually I was like I I've tried everything. I've tried every diet. I've tried every workout. I've tried walking for hour. I would go to Europe and Paris and I would just walk for hours and the 20,000 steps a day like every single thing, you know, and nothing was working. Or I would get So this was killing me backstage. I would lose the weight, but my body liked to BE AT A CERTAIN WEIGHT AND THAT WAS SO EYEOPENING for me. I was like, I feel like I didn't know that.

Enough point. Yes. I was like there and it's it's so weird cuz it's like whenever I lose weight, it's like all of a sudden I'll get even hungrier and I'm like my And when I reach a certain weight, it wants to go back to the other weight. And I'm like, no, it's your biology. That's your biology.

You get hungrier. And guess what? When you're playing those amazing tennis matches, your body's burning less. It's more efficient. So, it's making you eat more and burn less

because it wants to keep you at that enough point. Listen, and and I had enough of that enough point.

That's right. That's right. So, what made you change your mind about trying the medications? Well, honestly, um I've heard a lot about this medication, about the GLP1s, not only for weight loss. So, that's the original reason I got on it because I was like, listen, first of all, I do want to lose weight, but there's also other benefits. I don't know if you can share those benefits. But anyway, I thought there I saw I read there's lots of other benefits in the GLP. I'm so excited to read your book because there are so many more benefits from GLP1,

but I was like, let me at least try those benefits and maybe I can lose weight with it. But

I would like to say again, everyone's body is different. So, I don't know how you guys all feel.

I didn't lose you lost weight. You the food noise stopped for you. You said instantly.

Yeah. It stopped like the next day a month or two for me. Really? Yeah. And I don't know if anyone else had that, you know, experience, but a couple of my friends are like, "Oh, I've been on it for a month and I've only lost like three pounds." I'm like, "That's okay. I I actually probably lost one pound."

Um, so I think everyone's personal body talk like I'm like, "Talk to me about that. WHY WHY EVERYBODY LOSES DIFFERENTLY?" I I know somebody that just started, they lost a female who lost on the lowest lowest lowest dose lost 13 pounds in one month. That is highly unusual. I hear that there are super responders to this medication and there are low responders. There are some people who respond really really strongly to it and other people don't.

And that's cuz there's different types of obesities. There's not one type of obesity. There's different types of obesity. We just haven't figured

I had the tough time. You have the tough time. You have the tough but you responded which is really wonderful. And likely what what happened with you is you probably needed a higher dose. You got to start at the low dose. We'll talk about side effects later, but we got to start at the lowest dose and go up.

If you don't start at the low dose, everybody, we will talk about side effects later, but if you don't start at the low dose, that's why a lot of people were having major side effects in the beginning throwing up, all of the gastrointestinal issues come when you take too high of a dose and you don't gradually move into higher doses.

So, it's really good because it sounds like you started at at the appropriate low doses. You go by the book. Got to go by the book. Got to go by the book. And then you go up and you probably just needed to get to that higher dose. It just takes time. But that's a good thing. The weight did not come on overnight. We don't want it to come off overnight. We want to do it slowly. We want to do it well. We want to maintain all that wonderful muscle mass, right? We don't want to lose it all at once. So, this is very good. This is very good. Yeah.

Good. So, you you you've been now taking the medications for nearly a year. What's changed for you? So, my life, I feel happier. I mean, I feel like I have more energy for my kids. Um, I have a I just feel like I can do more. Don't laugh, but I love to dance. I can drop it. I got knees like Megan now. Would you LIKE TO SEE? YES, I like to see. OKAY.

WOW. So great, you know, but seriously, it affects my joints in a like my joints are so much lighter and so much better and I can I'm like, "Oh my goodness, I just wish I had have done this while I was still playing." Like it would have made such a big difference for me in my career.

Come back. I could. But yeah, so it's just as I skip over that. Okay. It was it's just like it's affected me like I feel physically so much better. I feel more alert and it's just to be able to do things that I could never do. Like even when I was playing I could never do that at my highest because I realized it was extra weight that my joints were carrying.

And like I I can go to the clubs now. We saw you. We saw you listen during the Super Bowl doing the thing we did. True.

I hear I hear you. you you really want people to understand and I think this is so important that the medications are not a shortcut. I mean, first of all, I think that's why I was so proud of you because for you, Serena Williams, the greatest of all times to say you were having problems and now you understand that it was because of your biology and your enough point for you to not to be able to conquer the weight means it's it's it it's it's truly biological. Yeah. And it's so relatable because so many people as we see are dealing with this. Obesity is a real thing and the more I read about it, the more how it's just going to help so many things.

Like you were talking about heart disease, which is the number one killer killer of Americans and it's just

13 types of cancer, diabetes, all these different things. Well, but yeah. Yeah. I love the way the way I I loved I love the row ad where you said, "I don't take shortcuts."

Yes. I don't. You don't. And so I thought that was another thing and I loved how Ro wanted to put this together because I've never taken a shortcut in my life. In fact, I would go the longer way to make sure I was the best, to make sure I did the extra work, to make sure I did the most. And so for me, and that's why it took me a little bit to want to start on the GLP one because I thought, well, is this a shortcut? And it really wasn't. It's just if anything, it's just a shortcut to better health. And that's just the way to look at it.

And and it's a way to get healthy. If you had diabetes, we wouldn't say, well, I'm sorry, you can't have any insulin. You got to do all these things.

We wouldn't say, "Let me try to do without the insulin as long as I can." Exactly. let me concentrate really really hard and make my blood sugars normal. We would never say that to a patient. Why do we say okay for the rest of your life control every morsel of food that you're eating. Control every movement that you're doing for the rest of your life. Why would we ever do that? Let's treat the biology. Let's treat the biology just like we treat it for any other disease. So this is absolutely not a shortcut. This is a way to treat your disease.

But I hate that we weren't looking at it as a disease. We were looking at it in a different way. But if you do change how you look at it and change the conversation, this is why this conversation is so important. I'm so glad we talked about this cuz I'm like we have

I told you we was have to do something, you know, and so it's about having these types of conversations and educating people that this is a disease now treat it.

Yes. And you're a huge part of that obviously. So is Oprah. Yes. Shade, what did you want to say?

Oh my gosh, Shireena. I was on the subway on my way to work when I read the article about you being on the GLP1s and I immediately signed up with row while on the train because given that you are the goat and your career is evidence of that. I just knew I could see myself in you and just know that it's been working. I mean since August I've lost over 20 pounds.

Wow. And as a psychologist by trade I've always appreciated how you've just showed emotional strength and vulnerability throughout your career. It's really helped women like myself and my clients be able to understand that like resilience is not about, you know, not meeting challenges, but really meeting yourself with self-compassion and grace. And while being uh with row on these GLP1s, I've just had so much compassion for myself. I mean, I was working out four times a week doing hit workouts.

I love a hit workout. Yes, I love, you know, it messes up the silk press, but I love it. But, you know, I wasn't seeing any results and I still had cravings. And then once I started the GLP ones, I'm still doing the HIT workouts four times a week. I still have energy to show up and do that. So, it's just been Thank you so much.

Doesn't it make the workouts that much better? I That's what I've noticed. My workouts have improved like exponentially.

Absolutely. And my knees like I'm not going to drop to Well, just in case you want to. But even with running, I'm noticing my my joints and knees are not, you know, feeling as tight and heavy and sore.

Yeah. And and there are, you know, we think there are anti-inflammatory effects. So, it's carrying less and it's the anti-inflammatory and that's, you know, that's where a lot of the research is now because patients are sharing with us what they're experiencing. So, already two examples right here. Food noise, the joints, the anti-inflammatory effects. So, we're learning from all of you. We're literally learning from all of you.

Yeah. Thank you. Well, and don't you feel freer? Don't you feel freer? I feel freer. I feel I feel better. I have more confidence. Not that I The thing is, it's not that I didn't have confidence before cuz I did, but it's just it's just different. You know what I mean? It just it just heightens and that and it's like that self-love. It's like you have it, but then it just

comes out in a different type of way. And it takes away things that you didn't know that you were feeling or you were subconsciously feeling because of the extra weight that you had on you that you try. You said you would do four walk workouts a day.

Yeah. Yeah. And like how you weren't losing the weight. I can totally relate. You look great, by the way.

Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we know you have a busy schedule. So, thank you for stopping by.

Thank you. Thank you for having me so much, Serena. Greatest of all time. Nice to meet you.

The greatest of all time. Thank you. Thank you so much. See you later. See you.

Take care. Bye, everyone. Thank you. Bye, Shireina. So, uh, I want to bring in this audience who have questions. Elizabeth,

hi Oprah. Hi, Dr. Ana. Thank you so much for including me in this important conversation. Um, I've struggled with my weight throughout my whole life. And then I entered the realm of pmenopause

where my body just continued to expand, especially my midsection. And no matter what I did, I could not contain it. It just kept stretching and stretching and stretching. And so

which makes you even more prone to heart disease does it not like women who carry weight carry carry the weight in the middle carried it there and it kept on going with a mind of its own. So anything like I said anything I did just wasn't working and um I've heard of GLP1s and when Oprah you shared your experience and success with GLP1 and a dear friend and co-orker of mine had a had a profound effect on her life. I said, "I gotta give this a try." The alternative is what?

So, I went on Zepbound. It's been eight months. I've lost 52 pounds. Wow. What's even more exciting when someone sees me and they were like, "Wow, you've lost so much weight." I was like, "I don't have high cholesterol anymore." That's right.

That to me is like gold. I My cholesterol's been high for so long. It's finally normal for the first time.

My A1C is normal. Inflammation. What inflammation? It's It really has. How's your blood pressure?

Life life-changing. And blood pressure. I've That's good, too. I mean, just everything has been when I got my labs, which now labs to me, that's like a rock star. My labs are great.

Yeah. I wear it with a badge of honor cuz I have three daughters and I want to lead by example and show that things are possible.

Yes. So, and the food noise when after the first day of trying it, I was like, "Wow." Yes.

I didn't know what food noise was till that voice was gone. Yes. And so my question is back to food noise. Like why do some people have food noise and some people like my husband does not have the food noise?

Yes. Yes. Yes. So first, thank you for sharing your story. It is one that we hear so much. Perry menopause is a time where people gain weight and where women start to carry more fat around their bellies just like you said and that can cause diabetes. It can cause all these different things that you're talking about. So, I'm so glad that you are getting healthier, that you are feeling healthier and that you're feeling great in terms of the food noise. Um, so it really depends. So, some people just don't have it. But people who live away from their uh set point, from their enough point. So your husband may not be living away from his enough point. He may be living exactly where his brain wants him to be. His brain wants him to carry a certain amount of fat. That's where he is and that's where he stays.

For you, you were working at trying to decrease your weight to to lose some of that fat. And so let's say you were 15 pounds away from wherever you were going to be. Your brain was trying to pull you back up. And a great way that your brain, your brain's super smart. It's like, uh-uh, you got to eat more. You got to eat more. So, it was manifesting that biology of not having enough to bring you back up to where it wanted you to be. So, the farther away you are from your enough point, the more food noise you are likely to have.

Thank you. So, Carolyn, Carolyn's in our audience. Carolyn, tell us your story and your question.

Yes. Um, I have struggled with obesity my whole life. Um, I was three years old when a doctor told my mom that I should go on a diet because I was on the high end of the weight scale. So, it's just something that has always been with me. Struggled with the binge restrict cycle throughout my teenage years. When I was 25, I hit 401.6 pounds and decided that I was going to have gastric bypass surgery. So, I did at uh 25 years old in 2020. And in that first year, I lost 180 pounds.

Incredible. And I felt amazing. And then for the next year, I felt like that food noise was coming back.

Yeah. And I wasn't losing any more weight, even though I wanted to lose more. Yeah.

I just felt like I was fighting my own body on a day-to-day basis, just to even stay where I was, not even to lose more weight. Yeah.

And then I found these GLP-1 medications. Heard about them on social media. Um, and I've been on Zetbound for 3 years. It's changed my life. I've lost an additional 60 lbs.

I feel so much better in myself and have so much more freedom. Like I didn't realize how much time was spent thinking about food

and now I can go about my day and not think about what am I going to have for lunch? What am I going to have for dinner? What am I going to have for a snack? Am I still hungry? Do I need to eat this? Like

just so much time and energy was spent on what I was going to eat. And then why am I not enough? Um why am I not doing enough to to change my weight?

Yeah. Um, and the title works no matter. Absolutely. Very good title. I see it works for everyone. Yes.

And so I understand that with the weight with your mind and your body, it sort of, you know, settles on this certain weight.

Yes. And why would it do that in the sense that like why would it settle on a weight that's not healthy for you? And is there a way to ever change it? Yeah, that is such a great question. So, thank you. Your story is incredible. Um, you have persevered. You've tried all sorts of different treatments for your obesity throughout your entire life. You developed obesity at a very young age. For people who develop obesity at a very young age, so less than 5 years old, there's likely more of a genetic component. So I don't know you know obviously your your history and your medical history and everything but likely there's a stronger genetic component for you than for other people.

Um there are many patients who require beriatric surgery and then medications afterwards. So uh around 12 to 18 months after buriatric surgery we can start to see some weight regain um and and it might be disease progression meaning your your body would have continued to gain weight and the the medications really help with that just as they have helped you. They again they recalibrate they lower that enough point even more and that is why you have more freedom from that food noise. That's why you're not thinking about food all the time.

the question of why um why our body allows this. I think that the the the desire to survive is so strong that our body our brain specifically has to make this decision. It makes the decision well do I store more fat so that I don't starve so that I survive no matter what. No matter what I survive I survive. I survive or do I decrease that enough point and potentially risk not surviving? There is an upper limit. Meaning that if there wasn't because all of us eat enough that we would actually all weigh over a thousand pounds, right?

There is an upper limit, but that upper limit it's it's not clear why it's set so much higher than for other things in our body. But it's a great question. I'm so glad that you're persevering and I'm so glad that all these things have helped you. Um you seem like you're doing great. Yeah, I think the most important thing for everyone to know who suffers from from obesity, uh, and it was always a hard word for me to even use because it's been so stigmatized that we didn't even want to use the word obesity or obese to describe ourselves. um but anybody who suffered from it, I think the most important thing to understand and particularly this book that you've written um enough is that it's not your fault.

That's right. It's not your fault. I heard another doctor uh recently in Australia say that genes uh load the gun

and the environment pulls the trigger. Yes. And I got you get that right. Genes load the gun and the environment pulls the trigger. Yes. And depending on how your genes are loaded into the gun that is you and the environment that you're in, you get the body that you have. And so I think to actually understand that that was Dr. uh George Orrigas who says that. So I want you all to meet now Julius Graham. Julius is a family member. He is Steedman's nephew. So, I've known him for many, many, many, many, many years and have been through many, many, many, many weight loss programs with him. He's now lost 64 pounds on a GLP-1 medication. His story is also featured in Dr. Ana's book called Enough. And Julius, you said that many years food was your best friend.

Explain why. Well, I used food to cope. I um I didn't know how to survive without it. I I just uh from an early age when I was stealing cookies from a relative from the cookie jar where they had to hide the cookie jar. Hiding food under the bed.

Hiding food on the bed. Can I tell this story? Yes. So Julia Julius lived with us for a while. Julius lived uh in Chicago uh with Seb and I for a while. And one day we were in the kitchen talking. Remember this? We're talking and we were talking about great snacks. And I said, "You know what I loved? I used to love that Fig Newton commercial where they say, "Darn to I like Fig Newton's." And I said, "Boy, would I love a Fig Newton right now." And Julia said, "You want some fig newtons?" Honestly, he takes me to his bedroom and under the bed are Oreos, Fig Newton's.

True story. I mean, Cheetos, Red Hot Cheetos, Ruffles, every I mean, it's like a store under there. And I went,

but I was just like, "What is going on in here?" Oh, no. Yeah. So, I realized as I got older that I was actually addicted to food. I I tried every diet. Went to rehab for food addiction. Did OA overeaters anonymous. Did diet weight loss centers from as early as my freshman year at in college. I tried everything. I I tried all the diets. And the problem with all that was I started to take on the identity of like something's wrong with me. I'm not enough.

I'm broken. I'm wounded. And that affected every area of my life. And so I'm so grateful for these GLP1s because it saved my life.

Saved my life. Gave me a life. Tell them about the story about your grandmother.

My grandmother? Uh, okay. She wants me to cry. No, I don't want you to cry. I want you to tell the story because I thought this was a siminal moment for you.

Yeah. Um, so for a long time in my life, I had been hiding and felt invisible. Um, and so my grandmother, I got a call that she wasn't going to make it. My grandmother raised me from a from a baby and I got the call that she wasn't going to make it. And I told myself in my diseased mind and my biology mind um my addict mind that I just need to lose 5 lbs, you know, before I go to see her before she passes away.

And how heavy were you in that moment? I was probably in the 300s. And I had so much shame and so much uh self- torture and you know just so I didn't want to go home. I didn't want anybody to see me. I was embarrassed. I grew up with all the weight the weight issues and I felt like I would be teased and they would still say, "Look at him. He's still not enough enough." And so anyway, I said, "Let me book my flight." So I booked the flight. I said, "I'm going to need five days because I can lose a pound a day." And as if five pounds mattered when you weigh 300 lb, nobody would have cared.

So the night before I left um I got a call and the co you know the call the call was your grandmother you know she's gone that morning I was leaving supposed to leave you know that morning that that very morning. So I've never forgiven myself for that. Um, I was too late. And I I just I've carried that. I've carried that for many years. And it's good to hear and it's nice to hear that it wasn't my fault because I felt so I tortured myself about that. The woman who raised me from a baby, who took me in and raised me, I I I didn't see her before she passed away.

And I I made that I also included that into my identity of oh now you're just not a good person. You didn't even see your grandmother before she passed away. And so I've lived with that. And

but as you're sharing that story, Julius, I can hear other people sniffling and I can hear other people thinking about how you've allowed weight in your own life to hold you back from something that was really important. Lots of us have not shown up in the way that we needed to show up in our lives because for one reason or another you wanted to lose 10 pounds or 15 pounds or you didn't feel like you were enough to be there in that moment. So I really do, you know, you and I have talked about this a lot. Hope that you come to some peace about it understanding number one the weight wasn't your fault. And also I I I I was I was sharing with Julius. I said it reminds me of how many times I've gone to the doctor. Anybody else done that? And you like take one foot off the scale when you're being weighed and if you're 211 lbs, like 218 is not going to make a difference in what the number really is. But you think that it

is in your mind. If you're three or five pounds less that it's going to make a difference. You think if you're 300 lb and I lose 5 lbs, it's going to make a difference to somebody. And it doesn't. And I and I I think it's really appropriate that you said in my diseased mind. Yeah. I I was thinking that way. And you were at first reluctant. You shared with me you were reluctant for the GLP ones too because

well I thought it was the shortcut like Serena said. I I I was taught to grind it out and willpower it out and discipline it out.

And I was the guy who spent four to six hours in the gym as well. And so I could never work out enough. And then something really struck me. This woman here who is the hardest working person I know,

the most disciplined, the mo who has all the willpower, who has all the grit, as you said,

if she can't do it, how how am I going to do it? How am I going to do it? I I didn't stand a chance. So, that clicked for me, but it took a while. It took a while.

And so, what has happened now that you've been on the the medications? What has it been like for you? I mean, my life is just opened up in a way that has never opened up. I'm fully alive, fully engaged. My relationships are better. Everything in my life is just exponentially better.

You write and this is enough that self-lame is one of the most pernicious effects of this whole disease and shame is it. Yep.

Yeah. But your story is, I mean, when I heard it the first time, it's it's heartbreaking. And so many of our patients, so many people with obesity, that's exactly what they experience. And it's so unfair. It is so tragic. Why have we blamed people for this long? It's about biology. And now you know that. And you know, I hear in your words now the freedom that you feel. And I wish we had these medicines hundreds of years ago or decades ago.

We do too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that you didn't have to I'm kind of ticked off that since 2000 uh since 2013. Y'all have known

we haven't we It's 2023 when I catch up. We did we did have medications and we still have them. They're not as effective as the ones that you're taking now. We still use them. Um, but we didn't have as effective medications yet. So, I'm grateful that we have them now. I'm grateful that we can help patients. We can help Julius.

We can help our patients. Thank you. Thank you, Julius. Thank you. You know, I love you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, I love you.

We have been through it. We have been through it. We have been through it. Tim Tim is a Tim is a high school teacher and lacrosse coach. Bravo to you. I know we need so many more male teachers right now. What is your question for Dr. Ana?

Hi, thanks for having me. I appreciate to be part of this conversation. Um, so my my number was like 220. I was carrying 220 for years which was overweight for me.

That's your enough point. That was my enough point. Yeah. At 5'8 and a half was a bigger number than what I have liked. So several years ago had about a six-month window of pretty heavy family stress. My mother had a stroke. Brother had major heart surgery and my other brother was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. So I kind of ate all that on and uh got up to 246. So that was about a little over a year ago. So a friend of ours had real good success with the program and I knew my my father died of a heart attack years ago and had four previous heart attacks and a stroke as well. So, I knew the heart thing was a real threat. So, uh, went on Zepbound, lost, I'd say, was a super responder. I dropped in a hurry.

I dropped 60 probably in five months, hit 70 by 6 months, tapered the dose, got to where I am now, which is 185. So, my question is now that I'm at a good weight, my blood levels been good. Um, that blood pressure is really good.

Great. Um, you know, do I have to stay on it forever? Can I can I even lower the dose more without going back up?

Yeah. And if I do have to stay on it, you know, what are some long-term effects? Yeah. You know, from that as well.

Great question. Yes, that's the question we want. That's the question. Um, and this is probably one of the most common questions, if not the most common question that we get both from patients and from healthcare providers. And at the crux of it that the the baseline is obesity is a chronic disease. It's a chronic disease. It's a lifelong disease. So we need to treat it chronically. We need to treat it lifelong. And this is also why we don't call the medicines weight loss medicines. Right? It's not about weight loss per se. It's about maintenance. And what the medicines do is not weight loss. They recalibrate. They lower the enough point so that you your body wants to carry less weight, wants to carry less fat. So that's exactly what happened to you when you lost all that weight. Your enough point came down and the weight followed. Now what do we want to do? We want to maintain. We want to

maintain that new enough point. So we want to maintain that new weight. What would happen if we would stop it? Well, the enough point, your enough point would go back up. And what happens when the enough point goes back up? Guess what? You chase it. You go right back up. So you regain the weight. So for most people on average, they regain the weight. You mentioned blood pressure. Okay. So let's say you were taking a blood pressure medication and your blood pressure came down beautifully, wonderful. What would happen if you stopped taking the blood pressure medicine? Blood pressure would go back up and we're not surprised. It's the same thing with these medications. So right now what we're finding is in order to maintain that weight reduction. In order to maintain that weight, you have to keep taking the medicine. In terms of the dose, you know, we're working all these things out. We're trying to figure

out what the best thing is in terms of maintaining. right now. Just like for other diseases, the medicine that worked for you, the dose that worked for you is likely to maintain, but there could be some variability.

Yeah, I tried I tried to beat this, remember? Cuz I said, "No, I'm going to beat it. I'm going to prove to you that I can do it without it." And so I went for like a year uh took myself off the medications for a year, last year,

and I gained 15 pounds. And then I said, "Your enough point went back up. Am I my enough point?" I And I was doing all the things. I was still trying to maintain the same amount because I was like, I'm gonna prove her wrong. Uh, I'm gonna I was doing all the same things. I was working out and I was like, "Okay, so I'm walking 3.5 miles a day. Now I just need to walk. I'm going to add to five miles a day. Then I'm going to add to six miles a day. Great. Great. Now I'm going to not eat need eat just one meal a day. I'm going to eat one smaller meal a day." And and I and I put the weight biology is like, "Uh-uh. I'm not listening to that. I'm gonna

And I stopped myself before I said, "I see where you going, girl. I see where you going.

You heading back to 211. You're heading back there. You can't will power that biology away. You just can't. It's just It's just so powerful. It's just so powerful.

Yeah. And I was able to keep the weight for like a few months and I was like, "No, Dr. Ana, I'm doing really good." And she'd check in and say, "How are you doing? How you doing?" I'm doing really good. And I was like, "Well, I gained three pounds this week and then now I gained two pounds this week." So I tried. I tried. Yeah. and I put myself back on in August.

And then to to to to your second point, the long-term side effects. So, uh these medications GLP-1 receptor agonists and and GLP-1 GIP receptor GLP-1 receptor agonist have been used for the treatment of diabetes for 20 years. So, we've been monitoring for side effects for long-term side effects for 20 years. Can I say we know what's going to happen after 30, 40, 50 years? No. With millions of people taking medicines, will everything always be good? No. There's nothing in life that is all good. So, we have to keep on monitoring and looking for things, but right now we're not seeing any long-term detrimental side effects. Now, there are things that come up. In terms of the most common side effects of these medications, they are gastrointestinal.

Um, so nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and and sometimes vomiting. Those are the most common. But the best way that we can not have those side effects or at least mitigate those side effects, lessen them, we mentioned before, which is to start at the lowest dose and go up very very slowly. We have to start at the lowest dose. So for you, so your body gets used to it. Your body gets used to it. And that also means that let's say you were going to pause, right, for any reason or stop them for any reason um because of shortage or cost or anything else. If you if you pause or stop them for any reason at any time, you have to start back at the lower doses.

More than two weeks, right? It and it depends on the medicine, but yes, two to three weeks. Um because because of the

I stopped for a year and then you got to start at the lowest dose. You got to start back at the lowest dose again because otherwise if you go up too quickly, you're more likely to have nausea vomiting diarrhea constipation. So start low and go slow is really the best way to go. And that takes communication with your provider. and your provider should know that. There are also things that that that patients can do to help mitigate those side effects. So, they're they're fairly simple. So, it's not eating past the point of fullness, watching out for which foods may exacerbate your symptoms. So, for a lot of people, it's fatty foods. And then the last one is eating smaller but more frequent meals.

So, those three things really help in terms of mitigating side effects like nausea. Additionally, drinking enough water really helps. If we're dehydrated, one, our kidneys are not happy, and two, it can actually make nausea worse. And then the fifth thing that I think is so so so critical is if you're having side effects, tell your provider. They're there to help you. They're there to work with you and they're going to figure it out. They're going to say, "Maybe you need a lower dose for a little bit longer and then we'll go up. Maybe we can try this, you know, another way of eating for a little while and that will help you." So, they're there to help you with those side effects. I'd say if you're on the medications, and listen, I'm not just trying to promote your book. Uh, but if you're on the medications, this book is really going to help you. If you're thinking about the medications, this book is really

going to help you because I have found that a lot of the providers, they're just getting used to the medications themselves. They really don't know how to advise people. That's what I've discovered. And and what I'll say is, you know, when I went to medical school, it was the late 1990s. We didn't have one lecture about obesity. Uh these medicines didn't exist and we didn't know about the biology of obesity. Leptin had just been discovered, the the hormone that your fat makes that communicates with the brain. So, we didn't have that education. So, in a way, we're playing catchup. We're playing catchup to educate ourselves to then be able to help our patients. And again, these highly effective medications have brought this on. Right now we have an effective safe way to treat um obesity and and we have to

obesity and the 200 other other obesity related diseases. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, Patricia, you had a question.

Yes. So when I saw you hold up that book called Enough, I immediately thought of you saying to all of us all these years, you are enough.

So thank you for that. Um I'm going to be 48 this month and I've spent 30 of those years on a diet. I started on Weight Watchers when I was 16 and I got to the point where I just didn't think anything was going to help. Pmenopause COVID etc. etc.

And to be very honest, I was aware of these medications, but I was afraid to take them. Very skeptical. I really didn't think they would work.

Yeah. And then I heard Miss Winfrey was taking them and they were working and I thought, "Okay, well, maybe I could be brave."

Call me Oprah. Actually, thank you, Oprah. So, when I heard Oprah was taking them, I thought, "Okay, I I can be brave and I can try this." And much like Elizabeth, um I had terrific success. I've lost 60 pounds. And more importantly, my cholesterol also went down by 60 pounds. And being a person who was diagnosed with high cholesterol at the age of 11, that was remarkable.

Wow. More importantly to me, I am built with the genetics of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure. They're all loaded in

Yes. my genetics. Yes. And so I've been fighting that my whole life. So what I'm most curious to ask you is, do you think that these medications can prevent obesity?

Yeah, that is an amazing and incredibly forwardthinking question. Um, we are not there yet. We're not there yet. Hopefully within our lifetime. Um, I'm about your age, so hopefully within our lifetime that will happen. Right now, we have tested the medications in people who have obesity and who have overweight with all of these different things that you're you're mentioning, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, all those things that you're predisposed to genetically. We don't know whether they're safe yet in people to prevent that obesity. I think you know going forward we may look at that but right now we don't know and this actually brings up a really important point. These are medicines so there's a risk versus benefit ratio that we have to think about. There are side effects like we talked about and so these are not weight loss drugs. They're not quick fixes. These are medications.

And so we always have to think about the risk versus benefit. We know right now the benefit of treating um patients with obesity to prevent all of these obesity related diseases is clear. There are many studies coming out about heart disease, about preventing diabetes, about um treating knee osteoarthritis, about obstructive sleep apnea. All these things are coming out. Um we do not yet have studies to look at obesity prevention. but in people who have a genetic a high genetic predisposition like we've heard from you from Elizabeth. Um those are things that I think we'll look at in the future. Great question.

Great question. Yeah. So the reason why I'm doing this even though I know I'm going to get a lot of hateration for it is because I just believe that these medications should be accessible to everybody.

I agree. I see how much they have changed my life. I have been in the struggle for a very long time. All of you who've watched me over the years know what that struggle has looked like. Up and down and yo-yoing and yo-yoing and yo-yoing, feeling bad about myself, feeling shame, all that. And I just want everybody else to be released from that.

And to be released as young as possible, I think of all the years and time I wasted.

Yes. I waste it feeling embarrassed, feeling ashamed, feeling like um even though I am Oprah and all that that means and it's a pretty good thing. I will say that. But walking into a store

Yeah. and sensing that thing when the people just say, "May I show you the handbags? May I show you the gloves? May I show you the shoes?" you know, uh, feeling like you don't belong in this store because you know that there's not one single thing in here that's going to going to fit you. So, no amount of money, no amount of success, no amount of fame can can can change that. So, I am grateful that the medications have arrived in my lifetime. And I think about all the people who I I I've known who could have benefited from them. You know what I think about a lot? I actually think a lot about Luther Vandross. And those of you who know Luther know that he had the same struggle up and down, up and down, up and down. And the other day I was listening to Luther and I was thinking, "Wow, Luther, if you you just hung in there, you would have you would have been able to

be around when this came and I know that he would have benefited so much from it." So, what do you what do you hope people take away from enough the book?

Yeah, I mean, this book is about compassion. It is about hope. It is about biology, understanding and freedom. And bottom line is obesity is not your fault. It is not a choice. It is not about willpower. It is about biology. And it is a disease and it's a treatable disease. And now we have effective it's now treatable. And now we have these highly effective safe medications that can treat obesity. and in so doing treat over 200 obesity related diseases. So what that means is that by treating this one disease one patient at a time we can transform the health and lives of millions of people.

We can transform the health of our nation and of the world. And I do think that that's enough.

Oh that is good. good button there. Thank you all for sharing your stories. Uh Julius, thank you for being so open, so vulnerable. I think a lot of people are going to remember that story and think about how you have used weight in your life to hold you back from being the most that you could be, from serving the best you could serve, for showing up the way you needed to show up. Thank you so much for being

open enough to do that. And yeah, and I want to thank Oprah. Yes. Because she's been the most vulnerable. She's been the most shamed, the most blamed for something that has never been her fault. And she has turned her pain, her silent pain into something so wonderful for all of us. So, I thank you. I thank you.

Well, this is what's amazing to me. Thank you for saying that. But I I live with the philosophy that everything is better when you share it.

Everything is better when you share it. And I've had that philosophy since I was living on a dirt road in Mississippi and we only got candy once a year. I would hold on to my candy till my cousins came because it's a lot better to say, "Ain't this good?" than to than to then than to eat it all by yourself. And so once I discovered this and I I I remember doing a show many years ago uh talking about weight and gaining weight, lose weight, and I said, "Y'all, if they ever invent a pill, if there's ever a cure, I'll be shouting from the mountain tops, I'll be telling everybody." So I'm now telling everybody, telling everybody about enough. Thank you, Dr. Ana Yaser.

Thank you. Her book, Enough, Your Health, Your Weight, and What It's Like to Be Free is available now wherever books are sold. A big thank you again to Serena WILLIAMS and all of our guests. See you next week. Go well, everybody. You can subscribe to The Over Podcast on YouTube and follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. I'll see you next week. Thanks everybody.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Serena Williams and Oprah on Deciding to Take GLP-1 Medications"?

Oprah Winfrey (Guest), Dr. Ana Yastaster (Guest), Serena Williams (Guest), Julius Graham (Guest), Tim (Guest), Patricia (Guest).

What is "Serena Williams and Oprah on Deciding to Take GLP-1 Medications" about?

Serena Williams and Oprah discuss their personal experiences with weight management and the impact of GLP-1 medications on their lives, highlighting the broader societal issue of obesity in America and the newfound sense of liberation and vitality these treatments can provide. They emphasize the emotional struggles surrounding weight and the hope that these medications offer to millions facing…

What is mentioned in this Oprah episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Enough, Dr. Ana, Julius, Serena Williams, GLP-1 medications, Zepbound. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Serena Williams and Oprah on Deciding to Take GLP-1 Medications"?

The episode runs 1 h 7 min; the transcript is about 12,425 words in 194 timestamped sections.

More from Oprah

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.