The scale was never Soleil Moon Frye’s friend. But three months after giving birth to her third child, the 5-foot-1 star knew she had to warm up to it. “People would ask me, ‘Oh, when is the baby due?’” she tells Us Weekly. “I could tell they were horrified when I said I already had it.”
But despite all her efforts, she just couldn’t shake off the weight. “I’d go down two pounds, then back up two pounds. Down two, up two,” the actress, 38, admits. “It was so frustrating because nothing was working.” And nothing was fitting, either. “I tried to slip my jeans on at least 100 times. They wouldn’t go above my knees!”
Finally, six months ago, she turned to former Sabrina the Teenage Witch costar and pal Melissa Joan Hart to help her kickstart her diet. “She had done Nutrisystem and I was like, ‘Okay, I need to do this now!’” Within a week of signing up for the five-meal-a-day diet plan, Frye had dropped five pounds.
That was just the motivation she needed to keep hustling forward. From there, she set small goals for herself, each a feat of its own. “I remember being over a specific number and saying, ‘Okay, just get down five.’ When I got there, it was like, ‘Okay, now five more.”
Thanks to Nutrisystem, the Punky Brewster alum, married to TV producer Jason Goldberg, learned not only about portion control, but also how to balance her diet. The self-proclaimed carbs girl tells Us she typically eats a cinnamon muffin for breakfast, a burrito for lunch, and pizza for dinner, and then caps off the evening with one of her beloved — “I’m obsessed!” — ice cream sandwiches. Throughout the day, she’ll have snacks, too, usually a caramel bar or a protein shake.
“I’m not the person that can live on water and lemon. I have friends who go and live in the desert off of juice,” she says. “I’m sorry, if I lived on juice for a week you would have to lock me up!”
For once, though, her love for sweets and all things salty haven’t gotten in the way of her figure. Adds Frye, “I can have my waffles. I can have my ice cream. That’s far more important to me than just looking like I’m not pregnant!”
Plus, being able to sit down at the dinner table with daughters Poet, 9, Jagger, 6, and son Lyric, 11 months, sets a good example. “I didn’t want them to feel like, ‘Oh, mom doesn’t eat,’” she says. “I wanted to show them I still love my food.”
To drive the point home, she takes the kids to the farmers’ market, where they shop for organic vegetables and fruit. Then they hit the kitchen to create their own pizzas. The best part: Frye can indulge in her own Nutrisystem slices alongside the tots.
Obviously though, as a busy mom of three, she’s not always able to get to the gym. To keep the momentum going, the L.A. resident and her family ride their bikes on the beach every weekend for 45 minutes. Dance parties with her girls keep her heartbeat up, too. On the top of their playlist: Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.” Jokes Frye, “It’s on every five minutes!”
Officially down 23 pounds — and three dress sizes! — she’s back into her pre-pregnancy jeans and no longer shying away from the scale. “I went from never wanting to look at it, to it having low batteries because I go on it so often!”
While she agrees she’s now her best self, she’s still chugging forward on her journey. Up next: confidently slipping into a bathing suit.
“I don’t want to be the person that sets totally unrealistic goals,” she says of her weight loss. “But at the same time, I want to be a little scared. The idea of getting into a bathing suit used to be terrifying. Then scary. Now, I’m a little nervous but excited!”
