Wendy Williams details her 50-pound weight loss

NEW YORK, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Wendy Williams detailed her 50-pound weight loss on Monday's episode of The Wendy Williams Show.

The 51-year-old television personality answered questions about her weight on the after show, telling fans she shed the pounds through a combination of exercise, dietary changes and sheer willpower over three years.

"Slow and steady is the name of the game," she advised viewers. "It's not going to happen overnight. I no longer believe in fad diets, crash diets. I don't believe in diet pills. I don't want my heart to race and pop out of my chest."

Williams stays trim by doing "lots of cardio" and Pilates, and abstaining from refined sugars, dairy and eating after dark. The television personality said the most effective motivation came from simply telling herself, "Just stop eating so much."

"I'm 5 foot 11, 165 pounds, and I love my body at this point in my life," she told People magazine of her road to self-acceptance in August 2014. "My first diet was in the first grade! Tuna fish and mustard with yogurt on the side. Weight was a big thing for me to overcome."

Williams has hosted The Wendy Williams Show since 2008, and was nominated for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host at this year's Daytime Emmy Awards. She will also host the forthcoming series Death by Gossip on the Investigation Discovery channel.