Jane Lynch**'s secret to staying slim and trim this holiday season**? Wife Lara Embry's home cooking!

Married to psychologist Embry since 2010, Glee actress Lynch, 52, appreciates Embry's time in the kitchen more than she knows. "She's a wonderful cook. She cooks all the time which is why I've been able to lose a little weight the last couple of years," admits Lynch, who plays tough-as-nails cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester on FOX's series.

Down "10 or 11 pounds," Lynch said "bye-bye" to the bread basket -- and ate more meals at home with her family in an effort to slim down. "[I'm] eating real food -- good ingredients -- and eating in," Lynch told Us Weekly at the Dec. 3 ACLU/SC Bill of Rights Dinner of her secret to success. "I was single for a long time and I'm not a cook, so I ate out all the time."

Lynch -- who did not come out to her parents until she was 32 -- tells Vogue magazine her mother was impressed the actress was swapping vows with a doctor. Embry, on the other hand, jokes that her own "mom's expectations were very low. She was OK with the fact that Jane had gainful employment!"

In the time since tying the knot, Lynch has won over Embry's daughter Haden. "I make her sound like the Dalai Lama," Lynch has said of her stepdaughter, 11, "but she's a pretty exceptional kid. She's just like me!"

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Jane Lynch: Marriage Helped Me Lose 10 Pounds!