Melissa McCarthy has always been a favorite of mine. I started watching her when she played the hilarious Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls, and her career has been steady ever since! Being a plus-sized woman like McCarthy, I've always admired her ability to change the conversation when it comes to her body. An advocate for body positivity, McCarthy has been outspoken about how weight should never be a defining factor.

I'll be up, I'll be down, probably for the rest of my life. The thing is, if that is the most interesting thing about me, I need to go have a lavender farm in Minnesota and give this up. There has to be something more. There are so many more intriguing things about women than their butt or their this or their that. It can't be the first question every time, or a question at all. It's like, "˜Can you imagine them asking some of these guys I work with, 'How do you keep your butt looking so good?' It would be like, "˜What the f***are you talking about? Why are you asking about the shape of my butt?'

McCarthy has lost and gained weight over the years, and she's used her experience to start her own plus-sized clothing line. It's something she's wanted to do for a while, but it finally came to fruition in 2015.

"I've been every size in the world, but after I was a size 12, it was, like, apparently I'm 'done' dressing," McCarthy said in an interview with Chelsea Handler. "Women don 't stop at size 12. I feel like there's a big thing missing where you can't dress to your mood above a certain number. My line is all sizes, because I was like, 'Women don't stop' "” I don't know why I would stop at a certain size; that seems odd to me."

But even though she's comfortable no matter what size she is, McCarthy, like the rest of us, still wants to shed some of the extra pounds she has. After some hard work, it's clear that her regiment is working, because McCarthy is looking slim in her new movie trailers.

The Transformation

McCarthy has two new movies coming out soon, Life of the Party and Can You Ever Forgive Me? In both trailers, her weight loss is extremely apparent. Even at the People's Choice Awards, McCarthy was looking lean on the red carpet.

In her film Life of the Party, McCarthy can be seen wearing a form-fitting top while talking to her on-screen daughter.

The comedienne is also starring in a new film called Can You Ever Forgive Me? where she plays writer Lee Israel. The role is a departure from McCarthy's comedic roles, and requires a more serious tone. In the preview, you can see McCarthy's slimmed face, even though her figure is covered in baggy clothes.

So what is McCarthy doing to get these results? According to multiple sources, the Oscar-nominated actress has been following a keto diet, which is a low-carb, high fat and high-protein diet. She also took up martial arts before her film Spy, which she credits for helping change her mindset.

"I truly stopped worrying about it," she explained to Life & Style. "I think there's something to kinda loosening up and not being so nervous and rigid about it that, bizarrely, has worked. It may be the best thing I've ever done. I feel amazing."

But despite her transformation, McCarthy is still going to advocate for body positivity among all sizes.

"My message is that as long as everybody's healthy, enjoy and embrace whatever body type you have," she said. "There's an epidemic in our country of girls and women feeling bad about themselves based on what .5% of the human race looks like."

So what exactly does the ketogenic diet entail?

The Diet

The keto diet, as it's most commonly known, is a pretty common diet these days. Focusing on high fat and low carb foods, it can be extremely effective when followed properly. When you add in healthy fats to your diet, it sends your body into a state of ketosis, which helps your body burn fat for fuel.

"This enables you to tap into greater energy reserves, improves your moods, and allows you to burn excess body fat," says author Maria Emmerich.

People often think that diets can be restricting and that you're stuck eating "rabbit food," but with keto that's not always the case.

These are some of the approved foods on the keto diet list:

• Seafood
• Cheese
• Avocados
• Meat and Poultry
• Eggs
• Coconut Oil
• Nuts and Seeds
• Berries
• Butter and Cream
• Dark Chocolate

It's not really that limiting when you think about it. A diet that allows you to eat cheese, butter, and cream can't be that bad, right?

The keto diet is also proven to work. In multiple studies done across the UK, patients who followed the keto diet lost, on average, between two and three times more weight than those following calorie-restrictive low-fat diets.

But it doesn't just help keep your weight under control. The keto diet can also:

• Decrease your chance of heart disease
• Slows down the growth of cancerous tumors
• Reduce symptoms of Alzheimer's
• Reduce seizures in epileptic children
• Reduce symptoms of Parkinson's disease
• Reduce insulin levels
• Improve acne

It's long been thought that fats are a terrible thing to put in your body, but it's become more and more obvious that it's just about adding the right fats to your diet. Celebrities like Megan Fox, Halle Berry, Kourtney Kardashian, Lebron James, Tim McGraw and Gwenyth Paltrow are all self-admitted keto followers, and swear by the positive effects of the diet.

We love Melissa McCarthy no matter what size she is, but we're happy to see that she's sticking to her goals and having a great time doing it! I'd rather kids look up to someone as real and as open as her, than someone who has been turned totally fake by Hollywood.