Ms Weiner, 37, has appeared on Oprah, written books, made countless speeches and TV appearances and was, by all accounts, a happy, successful size 18.
Writing in Glamour magazine, she describes how her life changed after a wakeup call at the launch of her second book, Life Doesn’t Begin Five Pounds From Now.
During her talk, a stranger brashly called out from the audience ‘How can you honestly tell us you love your body? You are obese.’
It was a jolt to the system – after all, writes Ms Weiner: ‘My weight hadn’t stood in the way of my meeting gorgeous men or succeeding in my career. But I couldn’t remember the last time I had been to the doctor.’
After suffering from an eating disorder in her teens, she stopped looking at weighing scales – and it had been 16 years since she had weighed herself...