'The Help' star Octavia Spencer wins SAG Award, loses weight

Actress Octavia Spencer was thrilled to win a Screen Actors Guild award on Jan. 29, 2012, but now has another goal: to lose 15 pounds.

"I am not healthy at this weight," Spencer, 41, acknowledged backstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.

"Anytime you have too much [fat] around the middle, there is a problem." (check out the full SAG Awards winners list here)

Slams Ageism, Sizeism

While The Help star insists that youth-obsessed Hollywood should be more accepting of larger women, she admits she's working out and dieting to lose weight.

"Our society has told [women] and continues to tell them that when you reach a certain age, you are no longer valuable," says Octavia, who's nominated for an Academy Award.

"When your each a certain weight, you are [no longer] valuable. I feel for the overly-thin women as much as I do for the overweight women. It has to change."

Still, Spencer wants to trim down, but doesn't aspire to be the Hollywood holy grail of a size zero.

"I'm working out with a trainer," says Octavia. "I'm not trying to be a thin mint. I'm just trying to be healthy and look good for me, so another 15 pounds will be fine."

Spencer is nominated for an Oscar for her standpoint performance in The Help. The 2012 Academy Awards airs live on ABC on Feb. 26.