INTERVIEW
Valerie Bertinelli's bikini body at 48
October 23, 2009
Francine Kopun
FEATURE WRITER
Two years ago, sitcom star Valerie Bertinelli weighed 172 pounds. In April, she appeared on the cover of People magazine, in a bikini, at just a month shy of age 49.
Her first memoir, Losing It, described the battle to lose weight. Her new book, Finding It – And Satisfying my Hunger for Life without Opening the Fridge, takes on the topic of how to keep weight off.
The Star spoke to her by phone at her home in California. She will be at Indigo Books Manulife on Oct. 30, at 7 p.m., to sign books.
Q: What do you weigh?
A: This morning I was 130.
Q: So you weigh yourself every morning?
A: Yeah I do. I get up, I brush my teeth, I use the loo and then I get on the scale. Keep myself honest.
Q: What did you have for breakfast this morning?
I haven't actually had breakfast yet, but I'm going to slice some heirloom tomatoes, lay them in a teaspoon of olive oil that's heated on the pan – I've been having this breakfast for the past three days because it's so yummy – then pour egg whites over the tomatoes and do some salt and pepper on that. Let it set and then some fresh-grated parmesan cheese, about 2 tablespoons, then I'll fold it over and then flip it over so that the tomatoes are on top and then another tablespoon of parmesan.
Q: Are you still eating Jenny Craig food or have you developed your own food schedule?
A: Jenny calls them meals on your own. I do definitely still eat Jenny Craig. In fact, I'll probably have a turkey burger for lunch because that's what I've been craving, and they have the best turkey burger.
Q: You mention parenting meant cooking when you were growing up?
A: Cooking is love. Cooking is your parents, and that's how you feel love. It can be warped sometimes when we use it in a way to soothe ourselves, when it becomes destructive, but I love food, I'll always love food. And I enjoy learning new recipes.
Q: How do you keep track? Do you write it all down?
A: Some days I feel a little bit more secure than others, so I don't write it down.
Q: You did talk about emotional eating in your book. What is that?
A: It's when you use food to comfort any emotion that's not given a voice, basically. When I want to suppress emotion or not feel something, I'll use food.
Q: It sounds as if emotional eating would be a very difficult thing to overcome.
A: It is, and I think that's why so many of us are aces at losing weight, because if there's a goal, there's something to look forward to. When you're in maintenance, it just doesn't have the same "oomph," as losing weight. It's a different kind of struggle. This is the first time I've kept it off as long as I have.
Q: You write that between 92 and 95 per cent of those who lose weight on diets end up regaining those pounds and then a few more within five years. So five years is really the test?
A: Yeah, I guess so. So I'm still in it.
Q: So how worried are you? Oprah had a spectacular weight loss and gained it back. Kirstie Alley as well.
A: I don't want to walk around in fear. I'm trying to make it seem less and less important in my life, so I can concentrate more on being a better person.
Q: How do you deal with the battle fatigue?
A: I'll have little petulant fits sometimes. It's just about viewing it differently. Instead of it being: `I have to be vigilant. I have to behave and be a good girl,' I just want to enjoy what I'm in right now and take care of myself. It's about finding that balance, and that seems to be the most challenging thing.
Q: What's your exercise regimen?
A: Before I broke my toe dancing, it was running at least 3 miles, four times, five times a week.
Q: You seem to have had a poor body image, even when you were a younger woman. How did that happen?
A: I didn't like who I was inside. I didn't like anything I saw on the outside. I just didn't like myself. I learned all this through age. In my thirties I was pregnant and I had Wolfie and I began to think outside of myself more.
Q: How has this affected your career?
A: It's kind of brought me a whole new career of public speaking. Hopefully, the talk show will get up and running, too.
Q: Which brings me to my next question: What's next?
A: I'm really hoping for this talk show in January. I would still love to do a sitcom. That's my first love.
Toronto Star