The "Nashville Star" winner talks about her amazing 70-pound weight loss and what landing a recording contract will mean to her.

"I am just a mom who is working hard and had a dream and that dream came true last night," Melissa Lawson told ET the morning after she won the "Nashville Star" title and the opportunity to record an album under the auspices of John Rich.

Despite finishing in the bottom two several times at the beginning of the competition, the 32-year-old mother of five boys says, "In the end, it was one of those things I really appreciated, because it helps you not take any single moment for granted. It helped me to really enjoy and take in every moment from then on, because you didn't know if you were going to go home or not."

Winning "Nashville Star" isn't the only life-changing event in Melissa's life. Seven months ago, Melissa weighed close to 298-1/2 pounds.

"I saw the 300 mark coming and I freaked out," she recalls. "And I pulled my back out and it laid me up for four days. I realized I had to do something. Not just for me, but for my kids. It was quite selfish of me to choose food and non movement over playing with my kids. More importantly, I was teaching my children terrible eating habits. We were eating fast food two or three times a day. I just made the decision we were not going to do that anymore."

Melissa has since shed 70 pounds, but even so she says she is interested in proving that country music is about songs and the voice, not the size jeans you wear. To that end, she tells ET, she will have input in her upcoming album.

"John [Rich] and I are going to be doing some writing together," she explains. "I want to be able to sing music that comes from my heart. Obviously, I have a lot of fans out there that voted for me and like me for a reason. I want to make sure that continues to come across when we release it."

In the meantime, Melissa and her husband have put their house up for sale with plans to relocate to Nashville, so she can focus on her music. Her husband, also a musician, is prepared to take over more of the parenting responsibilities, but Melissa says they will always practice what she calls "Team Parenting."

As for the boys, they were thrilled that their mom won, but for their own reasons: "They just wanted to see the truck we won," Melissa says with a laugh. "They were all about the truck. They were, 'We did it. Yeah! mom. Let's go see the truck.' They were climbing all over that thing, fingerprints everywhere."