by Rachel Tallant
With a sedentary job and a busy schedule, life often feels like there’s no time for exercise. Still, Kristen Frano decided to make the time and commitment and earned herself 2nd place in our 2025 Lifestyle Challenge through determination, consistency, and support.
From Boston to Hockessin
Originally from Boston, Kristen Frano grew up loving all kinds of sports, including softball, tennis, and ice hockey. She still plays goalie for a recreational ice hockey team today! After finishing college in 2016, Kristen ended up in Delaware with a new job in Newark, despite knowing nothing about the state. After being here for over nine years, she considers herself a Delawarean, now living in Hockessin with her family. Even though she misses her loved ones in Massachusetts, she says, “I’m grateful to have found a community here.”
Over the last few years, Kristen says she gained a bit of weight, which started to make her feel uncomfortable and like she needed a change.
Project Zero to Lifestyle Hero
Kristen participated in Project Zero, an annual competition HAC hosts each year where the goal is to simply not gain any weight over the holidays. All who make it through the challenge without adding weight are entered to win one of several grand prizes, including entry into the following Lifestyle Challenge. She started in November of 2024 and figured it would be a jumpstart ahead of the typical new year’s exercise craze. After successfully completing Project Zero, Kristen decided to take things up a notch.
“I had heard about the Lifestyle Challenge and considered joining,” she recalls, “so when I found out that I had won entrance into it, I was so happy!” Kristen planned to set realistic nutrition and workout goals to support a healthier lifestyle.
“I didn’t feel like I needed to place in the challenge, But I didn’t want to waste an opportunity afforded to me!”
Kristen started working with Andrea Bradley as her first personal training experience and hasn’t stopped since. When Kristen and Andrea work out, they do it together. After their sessions, they started going to spin classes together, too. During their workouts, Andrea showed Kristen a lot of simple yet impactful exercises she can do beyond cardio. She describes Andrea as “a highly motivating friend who makes it all look easy!”
“I’ve never been a good runner (especially on an indoor treadmill), but I forced myself to do it because I thought that was the only way to get fit and lose weight,” Kristen explains. “It just made me miserable and didn’t make me look forward to exercising.” With Andrea, she was able to focus on more strength training techniques and core exercises. In addition to the spin classes, Kristen continued attending the BodyPump group classes that she’s been attending for many years. This combination of multiple energetic classes a week and core strength training showed real results.
Fueling Change with Nutrition, Sleep, and Support
Before the challenge, Kristen says she probably came to HAC 0-3 times a week. After working with Andrea and attending more classes, her HAC attendance rose to 5-7 days a week!
Like many, Kristen primarily works from home and found that it became easy for her to snack all day before the challenge. She says snacking was an easy way to cope with the stress she was feeling from a new role at work.
“I probably considered snacking as a ‘self-care’ mechanism; like it was ok because I was stressed out and snacking was going to help. But I’ve shifted to realizing that going to the HAC and exercising and eating healthy meals is the actual care your body needs!”
During the challenge, Kristen met with Jeannie Versagli and developed a plan that she stuck to almost every day. A good balanced breakfast with Greek yogurt and blueberries, avocado toast, and/or eggs was her go-to. Kristen also started cooking more.
“I have always liked cooking, and I generally like healthy foods like vegetables, fruit, and beans. But I’ve tried more on making those foods the focus of the meal rather than just a small part”.
During the challenge, Kristen made sure that the changes to her routine would be sustainable after the challenge. In addition to cutting out the snacking, she increased the hours of sleep she got and reduced alcohol consumption. Overall, these changes have made a significant impact on how she feels day-to-day, making it easier for her to get back into ice hockey again.
One of the main challenges Kristen faced was maintaining her diet and exercise over a family vacation at Disney World. To combat this, she tried her best to stick to her normal routine as much as possible “[The trip] made me realize that to be outside of your routine for a short time is ok, provided you stick to your core habits.” For Kristen, this was making sure she wasn’t “empty snacking”. Walking around the park also helped. Overall, Kristen learned that it’s important to plan properly beforehand because otherwise it’s easy to eat out.
Despite her efforts to make this challenge a personal success, Kristen was shocked by the results! She had tried to lose weight over the last few years by focusing on cardio and eating little calories, but the weight never stayed off, and the changes just weren’t sustainable.
“The results from the shift to strength training from cardio, combined with the reduced snacking, really surprised me.”
The Power of Showing Up
The challenge has impacted not just Kristen personally but also others in her life. She has a 16-year-old stepdaughter whom she wanted to inspire. “In a few years, she’ll be an adult out on her own making her own choices,” Kristen explains. “Through this process, I would love for her to see that building good habits early is so important, and that if you have a goal – in any aspect – you can achieve it with a plan, support, and some determination. ”She and her stepdaughter have started doing BodyPump classes together, and it’s been a fun experience for them both!
Kristen’s story is a reminder that lasting change doesn’t come from quick fixes. It comes from community, consistency, and support. At HAC, we’re proud to help people on journeys like hers. Kristen may have initially set out to feel better in her body and get back to playing hockey, but she’s achieved so much more, gaining strength, confidence, and an enduring connection with those closest to her.
