It’s sundown at one of Sydney’s trendiest eating spots and the beautiful people are starting to arrive for dinner, parading along the harbour foreshore in their fashionable finery.

Only a year ago, Magda Szubanski, comedian, actress and all-round good woman, would have felt self-conscious in such a setting; not necessarily out of place, but certainly not one of them, blissfully unaware of what it is like to feel trapped in their own body.

In pictures: Magda Szubanski

Tonight, however, dressed in her favourite new skinny jeans, a jewel-embellished top and funky black jacket, she blends in with the glamorous types seamlessly. She knows it and what’s more, she enjoys it. For the first time in a long time, Magda is beginning to forget that she was once overweight and on a terrifying road to an early death. She lost 10 kilos on her own, then a further 26 kilos after joining Jenny Craig.

“When I am sitting here I feel the same, but then I catch a glimpse of my reflection and I realise I’m not,” she says, grinning.

“Now, I am forgetting how hard it was – the amount of physical and emotional energy I used to spend getting through a day, how much it weighs on you literally and emotionally, how terrifying it is feeling being so out of control and powerless. Losing the weight has been bumpy, but, oh my God, I’m glad I’ve done it. I can’t tell you how great it feels.”

In pictures: Magda the model

It has been five months since The Weekly last caught up with Magda and, once again, the change is remarkable. Her body is more toned and her skin and eyes sparkle with good health, but it is the lightness in her general demeanour which is most noticeable – like a load has been lifted from her psyche.

Athough she has sustained her goal weight of 85 kilos (maintaining such a reduction is the real feat in long-term weight loss), ironically, Magda says she feels in danger of putting it back on again – now more so than ever. She says she feels wobbly – and not in an excess-of-jiggle way. It’s her innate sense of cockiness that has sent her confidence into a spin and she’s finding it a real challenge to keep it at bay.

“I am definitely now at my most vulnerable and it’s scary,” she explains. “It is fascinating how you try and outsmart yourself time and time again. When I’m on my own, I can get over-confident about food and think I know more than they do [the Jenny Craig experts who have helped her weight loss]. The next thing you know, you’ve put on three kilos. It’s the old pattern. You think, ‘Oh, three – that’s not much to put on, that’s fine’. Then it’s five kilos and you think, ‘Well, it’s still not that bad’. Then it’s 10 kilos and, well, you consider you’ve certainly weighed a lot more and then it’s 20 kilos and so on.”

Your say: What do you think of Magda? Do you think she is inspirational? Have you had a weight loss battle? Share your thoughts below...

Read more from this interview in the January issue of The Australian Women's Weekly out now with our bumper celebrity cover.