Oprah Winfrey’s weight loss has had people buzzing for weeks, and the legendary host has admitted to using prescription medication. The 69 going on 70 star looks incredible, but she is also making it clear that she has been doing her work to stay fit.

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Winfrey has been in the public eye for decades, and her weight loss fluctuations have always been under a microscope, occupying her brain. Talking to PEOPLE, the Weight Watchers spokesperson and investor said, “I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.”

Winfrey credits exercise, intermittent fasting, and weight loss medications, which she said she was recommending to people before she got on it. “I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way,” she told the outlet. “I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people. And particularly myself.”

She began using pharmaceutical aid after a taped panel conversation in July called The State of Weight. The conversation with weight loss experts and clinician made her realize she’d been blaming herself for being overweight when it’s something she can’t control. “Obesity is a disease. It’s not about willpower — it’s about the brain,” she told the outlet.

Winfrey consulted a doctor and was prescribed a weight-loss medication that she uses “as a tool to manage not yo-yoing.” “The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for,” she added.

What else is working for Winfrey

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Winfrey has been on her weight loss journey for two years, getting into gear after knee surgery in 2021. The billionaire started hiking every day, setting new distance goals for herself. “I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends,” she told the outlet. Winfrey said it made her feeling stronger, and more alive, and she often shared moments from her hikes on Instagram.

In addition to hikes, and pharmaceuticals Winfrey has changed the way she eats. The media mogul eats her last meal at 4 pm, drinks a gallon of water a day, and uses the “WeightWatchers principles of counting points.”

“It’s everything,” she told the outlet. “I know everybody thought I was on it, but I worked so damn hard. I know that if I’m not also working out and vigilant about all the other things, it doesn’t work for me.”