Lisa Lampanelli weight-loss pics: 'Celebrity Apprentice' star loses 80 pounds

Comedian Lisa Lampanelli's weight can no longer be the punchline of her own self-deprecating jokes. The "Celebrity Apprentice" competitor who once said a cop pulled her over for "DWF ... or Driving While Fat" has lost 80 pounds and trimmed down to a size 12.

"I feel so much healthier," Lampanelli tells In Touch Weekly.

To drop the pounds -- at her heaviest she was 248 -- Lampanelli underwent gastric-sleeve surgery, a procedure that removes a large part of the stomach and leaves behind a small "sleeve."

"Crazy diets, good diets -- you can't name a diet I didn't do," she says. "Finally I said, 'I've tried it all, and there's no shame in taking the next step.' The doctor who ultimately did my procedure explained that obesity risks are much greater than the risks for this surgery."

Lampanelli's stomach will stretch out eventually, but she's keen on keeping the weight off.

"The size I am right now is the size I was always meant to be," she says.