Marissa Jaret Winokur "Much Happier" After 20-Pound Weight Gain: "You Have to Love Yourself"

After dropping more than 60 pounds last year, the actress is over strict dieting and hours in the gym

Marissa Jaret Winokur is 20 pounds heavier and couldn't be happier with her curvier figure!

Last year, the 41-year-old actress lost more than 60 pounds while following a grueling diet and fitness plan. But these days, the former Dancing With the Stars contestant is giving herself a break when it comes obsessing over her body.

"I decided I wasn't going to work out 12 hours a day, live on 1,200 calories and be miserable and not kind to my family," Winokur recently told People while promoting her new film Muffin Top: A Love Story. "I'll tell you, I am much happier since I put a little weight back on."

She's not the only one: Winokur says her 6-year-old son Zev is also happy his mom isn't always in the gym.

"My son is like, 'Oh, yay. She's not off to work all the time,'" she told the mag. "I would say 'I'm off to work' and go to the gym all day. I worked out every second of every day and ate nothing but whole proteins and vegetables. There was no happiness in that. You have to find the happy medium."

However, Winokur says it took her years to finally realize she didn't need to be stick-thin to be happy.

"On the inside I would be thinking, 'If I lost 10 pounds, I'd be a lot happier.' But I've started to change my view," she revealed. "I got to the Promised Land where I was skinny and there was no water or gold. There was nothing extraordinary. My life didn't change. What is more important is the emotional management of it all. It has nothing to do with your size. It has to do with how you feel. You have to love yourself now, not 5 pounds from now."