Kirstie Alley Talks Yo-Yo Dieting on Oprah

Kirstie Alley was back on Oprah yesterday, but this time she didn't show up in a bikini. Since her big weight loss reveal in 2006, Alley has gained back all the weight she lost, plus 10 extra pounds. "It's not that I don't know there are consequences," Alley said of her unhealthy habits. "I just don't want there to be consequences."

So what happened? For one, she quit her job as Jenny Craig spokeswoman. No longer the famous face of weight loss, she let her guard down. "I'm going to cut myself some slack," Alley says she told herself. "Big mistake." (Our own Fitz says you should give yourself two pounds, tops. After that, it's time to get serious again.) Jenny Craig weighed Alley all the time, because legally, says Alley, "You have to weigh what you say you weigh." Without that in her life, Alley said she just let herself slide.

So what's it like to be a famous actress, weight loss spokesperson and yo-yo dieter? Not so much fun. Alley tells a harrowing story about trying to avoid the paparazzi, until one of them shouted at her, "Fat ass. Turn around so I can shoot you." And she also confessed that fellow Jenny Craiger Valerie Bertinelli's reveal was really painful for her. "I was dying," said Alley. "There's no comparison in my reveal to hers."

But Alley's anxious to get back on track. This fall or winter, she hopes to reveal her own weight loss plan. "I'm really sorry for all the people I let down," Alley told Oprah. "I really want to inspire again." Though Alley had only good things to say about Jenny Craig, she said that she's just hard-headed and needed to "crack the code" on her own.

Alley hopes to be "ripped" by November, but Oprah wouldn't let her commit to another show just yet. "I want you to do it in your own time and do it in a way that's good for you. I don't want you to, on national television, set yourself up for November," advised Oprah.

"February," Alley retorted, in a hurry to get fit.

Alley's following pretty standard fitness advice by sharing her intention to shape up. That's even a good idea for people like you and me. It just makes your weight loss plans more real. But I kind of think Oprah's right. It seems like Alley is using public pressure as her primary means of motivation. If I had a date with Oprah -- especially a date in a bikini -- you can bet I'd starve myself too. But Alley clearly hasn't learned that weight loss shouldn't be the goal, changing unhealthy habits into healthy ones for the long term will help her lose the weight and keep it off.

Then she can visit Oprah in a bikini anytime she wants.