“My favorite breakfast because I love bread.”

 

And her love for bread not slowing down her diet, Oprah now announcing her 26-pound weight loss while never depriving herself of her favorite thing. 

 

“I don't deny myself bread. I have bread every day.”

 

No denying Oprah's longtime struggle with her weight trying for years to stay slim. 

 

“It is amazing to me that I can't lift it, but I used to carry it around every day.”

 

Now she is turning to weight watchers and its calorie counting point system to finally lose the weight and keep it off. And she says it's working. Tweeting this week to her 30 million followers: “Eat bread, lose weight. Whaaatttt?” #ComeJoinMe. But eating bread every single day? 

 

“The grainiest, nuttiest seed bread.” 

 

Nutritionist Maya Fellers says it is possible to lose weight while eating bread, but warns not to get carried away. 

 

“Don't be afraid of carbohydrates. Just know what you're eating. When you pay attention to the portion size, you can continue to lose weight.”

 

She says read the label, anything with the words “whole grain” or “whole wheat” is best for weight loss. The queen of talk now hoping her new weight loss message will inspire others. 

 

“If not now, when? I feel that way and I know millions of other people feel that way.” 

 

For Good Morning America, Abbie Boudreau, ABC News, Los Angeles. 

 

A lot of people talking about this, so we're joined now by ABC News senior medical contributor Dr. Jen Ashton. What do you think, 26 pounds, eating bread every day? How did Oprah do it?

 

Well, when did bread become like crack? I mean, it's not…

 

For some people it is a beloved treat. 

 

I know, but let's go back to the basics here. First of all, to lose weight, you need what we call a negative energy balance. And data has shown you need to cut between 500 to 750 calories per day. This goes back to in versus out. You need to burn more than you can consume. 

 

Simple math.

 

And again, what you consume as long as you're under that caloric deficit, of course, there can be bread there. So to me this is not shocking. 

 

Okay, so it's not shocking but how do our viewers take this information and use it in their own lives? 

 

Well, listen, I mean you know I'm getting a master’s in nutrition so I have literally analyzed the data. 

 

When you're not birthing babies…

 

Right…working at the vicious bread. So I've analyzed basically every single diet, the data, the science, the metabolism behind it. And I will tell you that almost every diet that restricts portions and reduces calories will work dramatically in the short term. The key is that after two years most diets fail. So it's about moderation. It’s about finding what works for you and it's about keeping that off. In general health wise, the Mediterranean diet is probably the most well-rounded. That’s kind of the gold standard, but anything can work.

 

You and Dr. B. Always say that -- the Mediterranean Diet, so all breads are not created equal. 

 

Right. Listen, if you want to eat bread in moderation, you want to try to go for something that's a whole-grain sprouted bread, when you flip that over and look at the ingredients, that's what you should look for. White bread, you know, doesn't come this way in nature so I would say “no”, but you want to enjoy what you eat and a French baguette toasted, maybe dipped in morning coffee. 

 

Oh my god, Really? Oh, you just lost me. No, you lost me with the coffee…

 

… or wine.

 

Smothered in butter, garlic bread…I mean, there’s so much we can cheer. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Cheers. We can have our bread and eat it too. And Jen will take your questions throughout the morning, tweet her @DrJAshton or post the question on GMA's Facebook page. I couldn't resist.