MEITUS: Pam Anderson's recipe for losing weight

By Marty Meitus, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 12:05 a.m., March 26, 2008
Updated 05:53 p.m., March 26, 2008

I've known best-selling cookbook author Pam Anderson for years, but when I saw her photo on her new cookbook, I did a double take. Anderson, author of The Perfect Recipe, has lost 50 pounds.

The transformation is even more stunning in person. When I meet her at Panzano's, I can't stop saying, "Ohmigosh," which could be annoying, but Anderson is getting used to it.

"It's good to have people notice you in a good way," she says.

The weight loss is dramatic. Anderson was tipping the scale at almost 200 pounds on her 5-foot-4-inch frame. Now 51, she made life decisions about losing weight and how to keep it off, which she writes about in her new cookbook, The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great (Houghton Mifflin, $27). The book is not a diet or a self-help book but a collection of recipes for treating yourself well and "eating great."

Given that her cookbooks involve testing recipes over and over, it's not surprising that Anderson has struggled with weight issues. Six years ago, she was invited to teach a cooking class at the Greenbrier resort, in West Virginia, and she had an epiphany. She went to an exercise class and "I walked into a mirrored room and I looked at myself and I said, 'There's no finessing this.' "

As a constant yo-yo dieter, however, she couldn't put thought into action. "I had decided that I would never diet again. It was too painful to gain it back, so I had to find a way to change my life."

Still, it took two more years. She'd just taken care of the move to a new state with her husband, a minister, just as both her daughters were leaving the nest. "I thought I was insulated from the empty nest because I had a successful career and the kids weren't the only gig in my life. But I realized when they left that I wasn't very happy. I was starting to feel old and spent."

She sought out a doctor and a therapist and began the work of "getting at the heart of why I was eating more than I needed," she says. "The biggest thing was coming to the conclusion that I was shouldering too much. This generation got to go to work, but they never got rid of the (responsibility) of the other things. I worked really hard and food was my treat.

"I needed to put myself first in that healthy sort of way."

She equates it to "putting on your oxygen mask before helping others."

It took her eight months to lose the weight, exercising twice a day and making changes big and small. She stopped picking at others' plates while clearing the table. She no longer grazed while cooking, instead setting three bites aside for taste-testing. She also stayed away from one food: "I don't have a sweet tooth, but potato chips are an addiction. Put a bag in front of me and I can't stop until they're all gone and I'm sick."

These days she exercises once a day. She eats a sweet with afternoon tea - on this day, she eats a bit of a fig tart. She also eats a handful of nuts with a glass of wine before dinner.

The weight loss has improved her health, and her daughters are following her lead. "One of the best ways to help children is to model good behavior. . . . I felt badly that I hadn't done that before."

Most of all, she's learned to trust herself again, even when that internal voice is nagging. "I feel comfortable. This body reflects who I am right now. . . . I'm not saying this is for everyone. You have to do what works for you."