A year ago, Mama June shocked the world when she revealed her newly slim figure after losing almost 300 pounds. The reality star documented her transformation for the WE tv series From Not to Hot, and has managed to keep the weight off — which came as a surprise to her own daughter!

“[I’m proud] because I was not expecting her to keep the weight off,” Alana Thompson (aka Honey Boo Boo), 12, told Life & Style in an exclusive interview. “I’m not trying to be rude, but I wasn’t expecting her to keep it off.” Mama June chimed in, “A lot of people didn’t [think I could keep the weight off], so me showing the world a year-and-a-half later that I’m still small, still not gaining any weight back but a few pounds here and there — that’s what life is. People gain weight, people lose weight. I’ll never go back to what I was.”

What does Mama June look like now in 2018?

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The journey, though successful, has been far from easy. “Honestly, I’m not going to say I’m perfect all the time. In the last year-and-a-half, I’ve gained a few pounds here and there and just doing what I do,” the 38-year-old explained. “Especially these last few months… it’s been an emotional roller coaster, just ups and downs and taking things one day at a time — it’s been really hard for me to not get in the gym.”

But the mother-of-four is using herself as motivation. “Y’all are seeing me the way that I’ve always seen myself,” she told Life & Style. “I want to prove to the world that if I can do it, anyone can do it because trust me, I’m not one to stay on track.”

Mama June Before and After Photo:

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June in 2013 (left) vs. 2017.

As for her diet, June admitted she falls off the wagon from time to time. “Sometimes it will be a fat girl cake day, then somedays it can be baked chicken, baked pork chops, and things I’m supposed to be eating,” she shared. “Anyone who diets knows that it’s an emotional roller coaster.”

In Season 2 of From Not to Hot, June follows in daughter Honey Boo Boo’s footsteps by competing in a beauty pageant. “It’s just something new — I mean, why not start a new adventure?” she said. “There’s a lot of new stuff this season I think people are gonna get shocked about. Y’all are gonna see me in a whole different light, like, ‘Oh my God! Mama June stepped outside of the box.’ I think y’all are gonna be like, ‘What are you doing?’ This whole thing has been a crazy experience for me because I promise you — the pageant world is very cutthroat… Haters are motivators.”