After losing a whopping 50 pounds, Rosie O’Donnell is looking and feeling better than she has in years.

During a recent interview with Access Hollywood, Rosie opened up about what it took to reach her weight loss milestone, and how she currently feels about herself.

Rosie did undergo weight loss surgery, but it was not the gastric bypass that most people are familiar with. “I had a thing called the vertical gastric sleeve. It’s very different than when you think of bypass surgery. It’s newer,” Rosie explained.

“They remove two-thirds of your stomach but everything else stays intact, and as a result of that you can’t hold as much food. But the very interesting part is that in that other two-thirds are where all the hunger hormones live.” she continued. “There’s a technical name. It starts with a g, it sounds like gremlins… that’s the biggest surprise, is that you’re not hungry, right?”

Rosie also gives herself credit for losing the weight, as she did not rely solely on the surgery; she also adhered to a strict diet and exercise plan. Although it is a slow process, the combination has led to her losing nearly 50 pounds of body fat. “[I’ve lost] 44 pounds. Almost 50 pounds,” Rosie said. “Some days it’s 46. It’s a lot slower than it was at the beginning.”

While she doesn’t feel sexy yet, she says she does feel much better about herself. “Sexy? No,” she added. “No, I feel better that like my tummy’s not in the way, you know, when everybody’s naked. But no. I feel maybe less shame a little bit.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons