Mo'Nique , who has always declared herself as "fat and fabulous," talks about why she felt compelled to shed 40 pounds.

The 5-foot, 6-inches tall actress/comedienne, who admits to having weighed as much as 262 pounds at one point, tells Jet magazine that she made the decision after a conversation with her husband of three years: Sidney Hicks.

"I decided that I had to get some of that off of me," she tells the mag. "Sid and I had a conversation. What he said to me was motivation. It was so gentle and sweet and he wasn't judgmental. He said, 'Baby, that's too much and I want you for a lifetime.'"

No one had ever challenged Mo'Nique to lose weight in quite that way, so she decided she had to do it, so she could be here to enjoy her family. As the pounds melted away, speculation began that Mo'Nique had had gastric-bypass surgery, but she tells Jet no way.

"I'm so scared of needles," says the mother of three, including 3-year-old fraternal twins. "Baby, for them to take blood from me, it's a production. This was truly making the commitment to watch what I eat and commit to working out. I stopped eating red meat. I want to say to big people, 'Let's be healthy big people.' Everybody can't be a size 0 or 45, but let's be healthy.'"

Mo'Nique says she currently tips the scale at 224 pounds, and she hopes to get down to an even 200.

"By American standards that is still considered obese," she says.

For more on Mo'Nique's weight loss and her new BET TV show, as well as her critically acclaimed role in 'Precious,' pick up the new issue of Jet, on newsstands today.