Star Lite!

01/05/2006 at 12:00 PM EST

Barbara Walters recently took a look at her cohost Star Jones Reynolds on the set of The View and told her, "You're getting too skinny." Says Reynolds: "To hear someone say that to me? The funniest thing in the world." Reynolds, 43 – who weighed more than 300 lbs. in 2003 – credits "a medical intervention" for helping "jump-start" her 150-plus-lb. loss, but she won't talk specifics. "I will not be the poster child for a particular method," she says. "Only your doctor can tell you what will work for you." In her new memoir-cum-self-help book Shine, she does detail her struggle with obesity and shares her gospel on being the best you can be. Husband Al, 35, a banker, thinks she's there. "Half of the woman I fell in love with is missing!" he says, but "I'm proud of her." An exclusive excerpt follows.