The View’s Sherri Shepherd is showing off her new bod on the cover of the latest issue of OK! Weekly. In the magazine, the talk show co-host reveals how she lost 41 pounds the old fashion way: diet and exercise.

She publicly stated on The View that she would be going on a diet and working with a personal trainer to knock off the weight she gained back after losing it the year before, upping the ante with promises of appearing on the live show in a bathing suit. Ms. Shepherd definitely kept her promise and now she’s telling her story!

“I lost weight last year and started gaining it back because I wasn’t exercising,” Sherri explains in the new issue of OK!. “I said to my producer, ‘Why don’t we do something where I tell people ‘Let’s do it together!’ and maybe [up the ante with] a bathing suit. The minute I said that, I was like, ‘Gosh, I should take it back because I really want M&M’s!’ But I had to do it. Then all of sudden I had all these people doing it with me. I’d Tweet about going to the gym and how hard it was, and followers would write and say, ‘Sherri, I’ve lost two pounds!’ I thought, ‘Okay, people are getting into this.’”

To help get her into swimsuit shape, Sherri enlisted the help of trainer Don Scott — who she refers to in her Tweets as the “Evil One” — and he spared certainly didn’t give her any slack because of her celebrity. “What I hate is when trainers say, ‘Okay, lets do 15,’ and then you get to 15, and they go ‘10 more,’ She recalls about her time in the gym. “It has taken every mental thing I have to get to 15, so don’t put another 10 on me!”

Now Sherri’s focus is on maintaining her weight, without the trainer. “It’s just mandatory that I find something I like that I can really keep up,” she explains. “I just started this trapeze class that strengthens the arms, and tennis I love. I’m taking salsa lessons.”

In addition to her time in the gym, Sherri — who openly admits that she’s “not a cooker” — slimmed down with the help of delivered meals from Fresh Diet, including Turkey & Green Salsa Quesadillas, Pan-Seared Sea Scallops with Ginger Jerk Sauce, Salad Niçoise and Cinnamon Pear Cheesecake. “It’s freshly cooked and they delivered it in the mornings so I would just eat that,” Sherri explains.

But even with all this great food, there were still times when desire’s seductive head would pop up. “Sometimes I just said, ‘I don’t want tilapia anymore; I can’t even deal with salad. I want M&M’s and Ruffles,’” she confesses. “But the difference was I was gonna get back up and go to the gym and keep my commitment. I never once felt like I deprived myself.”

SOURCE: OK! MAGAZINE