Jenny McCarthy Opens Up About Weight Struggles

Jenny McCarthy (STEFANIE KEENAN/WIREIMAGE)

LOS ANGELES – It’s hard to imagine that Jenny McCarthy was ever anything more than her uber-petite self, but the starlet can certainly empathize with those who feel a little bad about their figures

“I was 211 pounds when I delivered my son, so I know what it is like to be obese and fat and miserable,” McCarthy told Tarts at Oxygen TV and Ubisoft’s launch of “Your Shape” at West Hollywood’s Hyde Lounge on Wednesday night. “I’m 5’6 so it was a tough thing to carry around; losing it is something I’m very proud of.”

So how did McCarthy do it and what’s her stay-slim secret?

“It took me a good year to fit back into my jeans, but it’s all diet and exercise. There is really no magic pill; they are the two things you absolutely have to do to maintain good shape. In my 20’s I didn’t really have to worry as much but now I’m past 35 I notice that I have to workout. It’s a mandatory thing,” she explained. “I eat a lot of soups and salads; I puree a lot of vegetables because there is still protein in vegetables. I love spinach salads with nuts so it’s mainly vegetables and when I PMS I notice I need extra protein so I eat fish. Exercise is bikram yoga and treadmill running like ‘Hamster’.”

And although McCarthy shot to fame as Playmate of the Year some 11 years ago, the 37-year-old would love to bare her bod for the men’s mag again… if only they would ask her!

“I would absolutely pose for Playboy,” she quipped. “I would be so flattered if they asked me, it’s probably not going to happen but I think I want to do it again.”

Speaking of which, McCarthy (not surprisingly) had her breasts enlarged for her initial Playboy shoot but several years later had them reduced to save time and money.

“Women have to get their ‘tires rotated’ so to speak every ten years so I never had them fully removed, but I had them taken out and replaced only because I couldn’t fit into normal dress sizes,” McCarthy added. “I had to buy dresses in a bigger size and have them taken in so I just decided to get them taken down a bit. The boobs got a little droopier because of it, so there is a yin and yang to everything. But I feel better in my clothes.”

And although her figure seems pretty flawless, she wouldn’t mind swapping shapes with one particular Hollywood hottie.

“Right now I want Lady Gaga’s body,” McCarthy added. “I’m obsessed.”