Jillian Michaels on exercising her staying power

(CBS News) Having exercise equipment in your home doesn't do any good unless you use it, which is where the "biggest winner" in the home fitness business comes in. Ben Tracy has tracked her down:

Jillian Michaels says it's a bit embarrassing to see her face and name on all of the products in her office.

"It feels so cheesy, like the Andy Warhol photo of yourself on the wall," she told Tracy.

But it also makes her feel something else: "Sometimes I'm, like, this room is not big enough. We should be doing more."

"More" might as well be Michaels' mantra. She's the biggest name in at-home exercise, a bestselling author, and a ferocious force for fitness on the reality TV competition, "The Biggest Loser."

She's now at the point where people consider her a brand.

"Oh, I definitely think of myself as a brand," Michaels said. "But I'm not going to sell you any false promises, and you may not like the message. You may not like the things I'm saying. But at the end of the day, you're going to like the end result."

Her direct approach is now legendary. It's "tough love" that often seems to lack the "love" part.

When asked if what we see on "Biggest Loser" is an accurate representation of who she is, Michaels replied, "It's an incomplete representation of who I am. There are plenty of tears, there are plenty of in-depth, heartfelt moments. But the yelling makes better TV."

"How has the persona you've developed on reality TV hurt you?" Tracy asked.

"Wow. Okay. I've always wanted to shift into a daytime medium, But everybody who's kind of in charge of that daytime medium doesn't really know me, doesn't really watch the show, isn't that familiar with what I do, and just goes, 'Oh, she's the girl that screams on TV. She's unlikeable.'"

Yet plenty of people DO like her. She's released 15 home fitness DVDs, selling 8 million copies. She's written six diet and fitness books, secured countless product deals, and is about to launch a nationwide speaking tour.

Michaels now heads a multi-million-dollar exercise empire, but says she has no time to actually exercise. "I honestly haven't been to the gym, because of my schedule, in several weeks," she said.

"I don't think people are going to believe that," said Tracy. "They picture you at home in your gym eating kale all day."

"Oh God, no," Michaels said. "I practically drank wine out of the bottle last night, I was so stressed out. And I had to,like, handcuff myself to the couch to not have ice cream for dinner."

At the office Michaels has business partners who handle the numbers, but she clearly is in charge of quality control.

"The baby blue is not working for me."
"That's so cheesy. It only works if you're a rock star."

With so many fitness products on the market, she's concerned about exhausting her image, of competing against herself. "Do you worry about diluting the brand?" Tracy asked.

"Without a doubt, I do," she replied.

There have been some failures. Her own TV show, "Losing It With Jillian," was a loser in the ratings and quickly cancelled. In 2010 Michaels was sued four times for endorsing diet supplements that contained allegedly dangerous ingredients. The suits were eventually dismissed.

Yet overcoming adversity is nothing new for her. Michaels' childhood in Santa Monica, Calif., was anything but the picture of happiness -- or fitness.

As a teenager, she said, she was 5'2" and 175 pounds. She viewed herself as "the ultimate loser."

"I had a huge nose, acne, braces, overweight. I had no friends. My parents were going through this horrible divorce," she said.

Martial arts got her into the gym, and she became a personal trainer. At the age of 28, she opened a sports medicine clinic in L.A. Two years later, she landed her role on "The Biggest Loser."

"Having been in that place of feeling, like, weak, lazy, pathetic -- I have no sympathy for it, I have no tolerance for that, because it isn't true," Michaels said. "And I don't think I'm doing the person any favors. And that's where I'm like, 'I don't want to hear it. I don't want to know your story. I don't want to see any of your victim mentality. Shut up and get on the stairs and climb,' because I know that they can."

Michaels now enjoys her California life with her partner, Heidi, and their two young children. She's trying to model her career after women with staying power: Jane Fonda, Maria Shriver, Suze Orman, Oprah.

When asked where she sees herself on her trajectory, Michaels replied, "In my personal life, I feel like I'm in a really good space. In my professional life, I'm never satisfied. I'm just not satisfied yet."

For more info:

• jillianmichaels.com
• "Slim for Life: My Insider Secrets to Simple, Fast, and Lasting Weight Loss" by Jillian Michaels (Crown) | Audiobook | eBook
• "The Biggest Loser" (NBC)