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\nOprah Winfrey used to view exercise as a punishment before completely transforming her lifestyleThe media mogul now feels \u201csluggish\u201d if she doesn\u2019t work out or do some form of movement every dayIn a new PEOPLE cover story, Winfrey admits that she doesn\u2019t recognize the woman she\u2019s become\u2014but she\u2019s happier and healthier<\/p>\n
Oprah Winfrey<\/a> admits she doesn\u2019t even recognize herself lately, but she\u2019s loving the new woman she\u2019s become.\n<\/p>\n Ahead of her 72nd birthday in January, the media mogul reflected on the transformation she\u2019s made with her approach to health and her relationship with exercise.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Winfrey struggled with her weight for decades before understanding that she suffers from obesity and needed help. She ultimately turned to a GLP-1 weight-loss medication two and a half years ago but recognized that she also had to commit to the necessary lifestyle changes.\n<\/p>\n For Winfrey, working out used to be seen as a chore or a punishment. Now, it\u2019s an essential part of her routine, spending an hour and a half or two hours every day focused on exercise.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI do some form of movement at least six days a week. And on the seventh day, I rest,\u201d she says in PEOPLE’s new cover story.<\/a> \u201cThe routine is, I try to do something that involves physical, strenuous movement every other day. And on the days when I’m not doing that, I do resistance training.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now<\/a>!\n<\/p>\n Oprah Winfrey working out.<\/p>\n oprah winfrey\/instagram<\/p>\n One form of cardio Winfrey often turns to is hiking, sharing that she\u2019s gotten to a point where she\u2019ll sometimes wear a 10-lb. weighted vest during those long hikes.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI can’t even believe the woman I am now. I’m actually putting on a damn weighted vest,\u201d she quips.\n<\/p>\n The former talk show host\u00a0\u2014 who shares her journey in a new book with obesity expert Dr. Ania M. Jastreboff, Enough: Your Health, Your Weight and What It\u2019s Like to Be Free<\/a> \u2014 even makes sure to prioritize working out when she\u2019s traveling.\n<\/p>\n \u201cFor every city that I’ve been in, I’ve gotten a schedule of where we can hike, and then gotten pictures of what the gym is going to look like before I get here,\u201d she says. \u201cThe fact that exercise is a part of the plan and not what restaurant we’re going to, I don’t recognize the woman who’s planning the trip based on where we can exercise.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t recognize that woman. But she’s a happy woman now,\u201d she adds.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Oprah Winfrey hiking.<\/p>\n Oprah\/Instagram<\/p>\n Winfrey says that even those closest to her have been in awe of her transformation in recent years.\n<\/p>\n \u201cEven [Gayle King<\/a>], the other day when I was like, \u2018Look, got to go work out. Sorry, got to hang up.\u2019\u00a0 She goes, \u2018Who are you?\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n Winfrey\u2019s hairstylist of more than a decade, Nicole Mangrum, tells PEOPLE that she\u2019s also noticed the shift in her mindset.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I come in the mornings to start her hair, she\u2019s already on the treadmill,” she says. \u201cWe were in Melbourne doing touch-ups backstage and she was tired because we had been doing a lot, and she was just like, \u2018I’m going to just do some pushups to wake up.\u2019 I was like, \u2018What? You’re doing pushups?\u2019 In the past, I never saw her doing pushups.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a life commitment to health\u2026 She\u2019s looking better than she\u2019s ever looked and more confident,\u201d Mangrum continues. \u201cTo see her at 71 be so strong, I’m just really, really inspired by her\u2026It\u2019s magnetic.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Oprah Winfrey PEOPLE cover.<\/p>\n Jamie Green<\/a><\/p>\n