How Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting Scored This Bang-ing Body

She may be one of the highest-paid women on television, but The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is also one of the most down-to-earth. Case in point: What other celeb would admit to keeping entire drawers full of candy in her bedroom or that she has to buy jeans in three different sizes? Extreme punctuality-not to mention an endearing tendency to give TMI-is just another one of Kaley's refreshing anti-Hollywood traits.

Another is the fact that she works hard for her body and isn't afraid to admit it. You won't hear "Oh, I just look like this naturally" from her. Asked how she got in the ridiculously toned shape you see on our cover, she confesses, "I've never worked so hard to look good for something in my entire career. But I didn't starve or kill myself with exercise. I went slowly, and it paid off." Get the scoop on everything Kaley learned along the way.

On the workout routine responsible for her killer body: "It took years for me to figure out what my body needs and that what works for my friends doesn't necessarily work for me. Doing yoga five times a week has transformed my body. I love being toned and having muscle; it's so sexy and beautiful. And I owe it 100 percent to yoga. I go to a place called CorePower Yoga. One morning I'll take the Hot Power Fusion class, which is an amazing calorie burner. Or I'll take a Yoga Sculpt class, where we wear three-pound weights during yoga moves. The sculpt classes include 20 seconds of mountain climbing or jumping jacks between the poses, so I get cardio, too."

On realizing eating like your husband is a recipe for disaster: "As I've gotten older [Cuoco turns 30 in November], I've had to change my food intake. My husband, Ryan [Sweeting, a professional tennis player], eats so much. When we first got married, it was so much fun to eat like him. We got into this habit we called the bedtime snack. The drawers next to the bed were filled with candy. Eventually, I realized it was mindless eating. I was just doing it because he was doing it, and it was adding hundreds of calories I didn't even think about. So I cut that out. Our refrigerator and pantry have completely changed, because we don't eat crap anymore. No more soda, chips, cereal; we had boxes of stuff that only a 4-year-old would eat."

On the importance of cheat days: "I have to have a cheat day. I know when I'm being good all week long that come Sunday, I'm going to lie by the pool, have a drink, and eat some pizza. Then I wake up on Monday morning and I'm all ready to start the week again. I'm just going to be in a bad mood all the time if there's no light at the end of the tunnel."

On the personal payoff: "It doesn't sound like a lot, but I lost six pounds in the last three months. That's a whole jeans size, and we all know how good that feels! I'm the type of girl who's always had to buy jeans in three sizes because I never know what my body is going to do from one day to the next. Everything, from the inside out, has completely changed for me. And now, when I look into the mirror and see the positive changes, I don't want to go back to what I was doing. Especially when my husband is like, ‘You look amazing!'"

For more from Kaley, pick up Shape's October issue, on newsstands September 15.