Valerie's latest public challenge is a revealing one—wearing a bikini in a national commercial. "This is something I said I would never do," she says. "Last year at this time, I was adamant."

As Valerie's body began to change, so did her attitude toward a two-piece. "I started thinking: 'Okay, what's wrong with wearing a bikini? I look better than I looked in quite a few years, so why not? What am I afraid of?'" Eventually, Valerie agreed to bare her bikini bod in a Jenny Craig commercial.