So once again, Oprah is making headlines about her weight. It seems Ms. Winfrey has gained back 40 pounds she lost and has revealed that exercise has taken a back seat to her very hectic life. Wow, there’s a revelation, life got in the way. I’ve never heard of such a thing! But the truth is that Oprah is dealing with what thousands of women and in some cases men deal with every single day. It’s just that hers is a bit more public. Somehow, when you have money and power I guess that’s supposed to exempt you from the weight issue. Clearly, it doesn’t.

Oprah is a perfect example of, no matter how much money you make, how popular you are, how lovely and powerful you may be, nothing can MAKE you skinny, nothing can magically make weight disappear, there is no magic, no “woo-woo” that money or status can buy. Even with her entourage of health and fitness experts (which by the way are all men), she can’t seem to figure it out. But in my humble opinion, she’s been given a lot of bad advice. There is no one better to understand a woman than another woman. As someone that once dealt with obesity, I get it. You’ve got someone that’s been fit their entire life, telling you to “get your act together.” Well, the reality is if you don’t have the “athlete mind” and you’re being taught like an athlete, you will never succeed. I know that because I’ve been through it.

It’s unfortunate, but what I have seen with Oprah I see everyday in my business as well as in the thousands of newsletters I receive from women all over the world suffering from the frustration and embarrassment of weight. Further, if women (or men) are successful in other arenas of their life, the fact that they can’t lasso their “ideal” weight becomes their biggest source of frustration and ironically, effort.

I am here to tell you that I have the secret, yep that’s right. I have the ever elusive answer to permanent weight loss. It’s not in the form of pills, secret formulas or ancient secrets, nope it is simply the voice of experience.

Can I tell you how crazy I get when I read all these articles that promise 50 pounds in 6 weeks, or 30 pounds in 30 days? I don’t like shows like the Biggest Loser and I think diets are hazardous to women’s and men’s mental and physical health. Why? Because all of that garbage is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Those false ads and claims have us believe that something that is impossible can be done by anyone. Not only are those false or deceiving infomercials, advertisements or television shows, they are playing people for fools and Oprah is not free from that kind of deception.

Here’s the reality, here’s the secret- shifting paradigms. In other words, it’s shifting the weight loss mindset, shifting the focus from weight to health. That’s right, stop paying attention to weight loss. Think about it, if weight loss was REALLY the reason people wanted to “get thin” they would do it. People need the right thing to motivate them to change, permanently. My friends,weight loss clearly is not the greatest source of motivation. So what is? Well, it’s something you need to explore, but bottom line it begins with