First step: Single mom shares how she lost 98 pounds

Jenn Frye didn’t want to be “that kind of mom” – the kind that sat on the bench at the park while her kids played, stuck there because she was out of shape and unable to keep up with the youngsters.

The key to her turnaround, which has seen her lose nearly 100 pounds: the first step.

“Find out where you want to be, make a plan to get there, and take that first step,” said Frye, a nurse and single mother of three, who has gotten off the bench, literally, to outlift the guys at the Waynesboro YMCA, to climb mountains, to run 5Ks, and to plan her 40th birthday present to herself, four years from now.

“I’m going to walk the Appalachian Trail,” said Frye, whose first steps came with a pedometer that tracked her progress and modestly cuts to her caloric intake.

The first 40 pounds came relatively easy. Actually, for Frye a lot of it has been easy. At least she sells you on how easy it all is.

“I’m on autopilot now. This is every day for me,” said Frye, who balances 12-hour shifts as a nurse with raising her children and a diverse exercise and activity routine.

Her advice to others who think they are doomed to lives on the bench: “Make goals for yourself that are smart goals, that are just outside of where you are. Because that first time that you have a goal, and you get it, that makes the second time so much easier to get it, and then the third time, it’s so much easier to get it.”

It doesn’t take “special willpower,” said Frye, just “baby steps and small successes that add up.”

“Basically all you have to do is eat less and move more,” Frye said.

The key to Frye’s approach: It needs to be fun.

“If you don’t like running, you don’t have to run. If you don’t like jogging, don’t jog. Ride a bike. Dance. I mean, there are 500 bazillion different exercises that you can do. So find something that’s fun,” Frye said.

“Don’t do something that you hate because you think it’s required. Because you can have fun and get fit. And I think that’s the biggest reason that I am successful is because I’ve found things that I love. It doesn’t have to be drudgery. It doesn’t have to be work. It’s supposed to be fun,” Frye said.

More online at www.WaynesboroYMCA.com.