Buddy Valastro Says His ‘New Year’s Resolution’ Is to Book His Last Surgery for His Hand Injury.Photo:Jonah Rosenberg
Jonah Rosenberg
Buddy Valastrostill has one surgery to go following his hand injury in 2020.
TheBuddy Valastro Cake Dynastystar had five surgeries to fixhis right hand after it was impaled with a metal rodwhile he was fixing a malfunction with his home bowling alley’s pinsetter. Valastro, whose hand is nearly fully recovered, spoke with PEOPLE aboutthe last surgery he’s been putting offthat’ll help correct his grip.
“I got one more just to get [my] finger straight," he says. “I can’t get that finger over to the other side. But listen, I’d say I’m about 95%, which if you saw the spikes from my hand, you’d be like, ‘Holy cow.'”
He adds: “You can’t even imagine how bad it was. I feel very lucky that I’m able to do what I can do, especially it’s my dominant hand. So knock on wood, I feel like we’re in a good spot.”
With his busy schedule, theCake Bossstar says it’s been tough to find the time to book the surgery.
“I know I’ll need about three weeks of downtime [for post-op recovery], so that’s the only thing. But I’m going to make it my business to do it in 2024. It’ll be my New Year’s resolution,” he tells PEOPLE.
Buddy Valastro hand injury.Buddy Valastro/Instagram
In April, the dad of four revealed to PEOPLE that he lost nearly 40 lbs. in just 9 months after hitting his heaviest following his hand injury.
“After COVID, I was just home — doom and gloom — and eating. I mean…COVID was just miserable in that way,” he said at the time.
In March 2022, he said he knew something had to change in his day-to-day routine. “I just woke up and I was like, ‘This is almost the heaviest I’ve ever been,'” he added.
Buddy Valastro Says His ‘New Year’s Resolution’ Is to Book His Last Surgery for His Hand Injury.Kenyon Anderson and Evan Jenkins/A&E
Kenyon Anderson and Evan Jenkins/A&E
Through intermittent fasting and portion control, the Carlo’s Bakery owner is down 35 to 40 pounds.
“It took me nine months to lose weight, and I’ve been maintaining it now because I lost it nice and slow. It wasn’t a crash diet or anything like that,” he said. “I just tried to be more disciplined during the week.”
Valastro has learned “when to say no” to food — which is not something he was used to doing as a young kid.
Buddy Valastro Says His ‘New Year’s Resolution’ Is to Book His Last Surgery for His Hand Injury.Vincent Tullo/A&E
Vincent Tullo/A&E
“Growing up in an old-fashioned Italian house, you didn’t eat until you were full, you eat until you couldn’t even move. And you were gorged,” he said. “And that’s the way I would eat all the time. And once I started to shrink my stomach and stop when it’s time to stop, you feel better.”
Despite building several businesses, shows and restaurants surrounding food, the father of four says they’re the reason he stays active.
Buddy Valastro with the Wicked 20th Anniversary Cake on his A&E show.Jonah Rosenberg
“I have to do tastings and stuff like that, but I’ve always been active. I’m always on my feet. I’m always flying around the factory. I’m still up 6:00 a.m. on the floor working,” he said. “So I’m not an unactive guy.”
Valastro added two new A&E shows to his workload:Legends of the ForkandBuddy Valastro’s Cake Dynasty. While the former showcases Valstro traveling the country to explore iconic restaurants, the latter goes behind the scenes of his Carlo’s Bakery business and family life following his TLCCake Bossfame.
“Cake Dynastyis where my life is now, it’s 14,15 years later. My kids were babies at the time. Now they’re all older and starting to come into the family business,” he told PEOPLE of the new series.
“So there’s the succession part of the business…we don’t just make cakes, we have 14 bakeries and seven or eight restaurants and food concepts, 75 vending machines…So it’s less about making one giant cake, it’s more about how do you make 18 cakes a minute."
source: people.com
