How Buddy Valastro Lost Nearly 40 Lbs. After Hitting His Heaviest Post Hand Injury (Exclusive)

Buddy Valastro's 2020 bowling alley injury didn't just affect his hand, but also his weight.

The Cake Boss star, 46, opened up to PEOPLE about how he's feeling after losing nearly 40 lbs. in nine months and the lifestyle changes he made in order to slim down.

Valastro — who had five surgeries to fix his right hand after it was impaled with a metal rod while he was fixing a malfunction with his bowling alley's pinsetter — says the injury along with the COVID-19 pandemic had him overeating and feeling sluggish.

"After COVID, I was just home — doom and gloom — and eating. I mean…COVID was just miserable in that way," he says.

In March 2022, he says 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 says.

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 says. "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.

"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 says. "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.

"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 says. "So I'm not an unactive guy."

Instead of grabbing "a bag of potato chips and eating half of it" at 10 p.m., Valastro tries to finish eating for the day by 6 p.m. And when his wife, Lisa, makes dinner, he'll eat "one or two" large spoonfuls of pasta instead of "four big scoops."

"The real trick," he says, though, is his large daily water intake. "I try to pound seven or eight bottles of water a day. You're always peeing! But it is good for your skin, too."

He adds: "If you drink a lot of water, you can't eat as much. So it's kind of just changing your habits, and you make it your job."

Valastro, who opened up in 2018 about losing 35 pounds on a diet program called Optavia, admits that maintaining his goal weight is a perpetual struggle since "food is so good."

"Weight is a constant battle, man," he says. "It's always going to be there. It's not like it's going to go away." But he's optimistic: "I feel like I'm in a pretty good place now. So I'm happy. And just doing the best I can."