Hot topic: Sherri Shepherd's slim new body!

After months of dieting and exercising, she fulfilled her promise to walk out on stage in a bathing suit on Thursday's The View.

Walking on stage to "I'm Every Woman," Shepherd, 42, proclaimed, "I feel really great. I just wanted to show people that you don't have to do anything crazy. You just have to make some choices and exercise and the weight will drop off. I hope some folks were inspired."

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Since May, she has lost 5 inches from her waist and 10 inches overall. (She didn't reveal how many pounds she shed.)

Barbara Walters said her colleagues "were very proud" of Shepherd, who celebrated by indulging in ribs and M&Ms that exec producer Bill Geddes brought her as a treat.

Dieting hadn't been easy, Shepherd told Usmagazine.com in June. She had been eating "a lot of grilled chicken, a lot of salad, a lot of water," she said. "I'm miserable!"

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In terms of exercise, she told Us, "I do a lot of stairs, a lot of planks, a lot of squats, a lot of treadmill, a lot of screaming -- and I do it four times a week."

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Though the work-outs were intense, she told Us, "I have a lot of energy."

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