Self-esteem is this woman's super power

IT'S A BIRD, it's a plane, it's SuperJen! No, she doesn't really don a cape, but make no mistake about it, Jennifer DeClemente is a superwoman.

The petite 41-year-old powerhouse somehow manages to stay on her fitness A game while juggling the demands of marriage, motherhood, and entrepreneurship.

Forget skinny. She's fit, beautiful, strong, and confident that she can do anything she puts her mind to - including learning to roller skate at 39.

Would it surprise you to learn she was not always self-assured? She concedes that she struggled for the first 30 years of her life with the invisible shackles of low self-esteem.

"When anything got hard, I'd quit. I was afraid I would look stupid, and afraid of what people would say," DeClemente recalled recently.

She traces her feeling of inadequacy to her childhood, when, as a 7-year-old second-grader, she was sent to remedial math.

"That's when I started to feel like I wasn't good enough. The teachers teach to the smart kids. I assumed that I was not smart and was always a C student," she says.

As she grew older, she hid in the background, never ruffled feathers - and anesthetized her pain with sugar, chocolate, and daily scoops of ice cream. As soon as she graduated from high school, her weight blew up.

"When I was 19 I went from 125 to 145 [pounds]. I would gain and lose, and lose and gain, and that began my yo-yo dieting. I peaked at a little over 170, and I tried everything under the sun: Weight Watchers, every pill out there - fen-phen and Alli [the diet pill] - and every stupid thing that came down the pike," she said.

Tired of the ineffectual diets, fearing that her health was rapidly declining and that she would be on tons of medications for the rest of her life, DeClemente finally decided to take radical action.

"After years of yo-yo-dieting, my severe addiction to sweets, and paying for yearly gym memberships that I only used for a month, I was at the end of my rope."

She decided in 2005 to do whatever it took to reach her fitness and health goals. She also decided to hire a personal trainer - yours truly - to help her get on track.

When we met, Jennifer was a classic pessimist. She couldn't do a single push-up or sit-up. Over time, and to her own surprise, she accomplished her health and fitness goals and got a new outlook on life. In less than a year, I saw her physically and mentally transform. The low self-esteem that had impeded her progress was replaced with a self-confidence that now fuels every aspect of her life.

The woman who told me, "I only meet losers, I'll never get married" met the man of her dreams, Drew Robinson, in 2006. In 2008, I was among those in attendance when the couple married at their home in Wildwood.

Next came their beautiful children, Olivia and Drew. Watching now from afar, I saw Jennifer joyously embrace motherhood - and sensibly get back into shape after each of her pregnancies.

Last summer, we ran into each other with our families at the Franklin Institute. Like teenage girls, we screamed and hugged, standing in the middle of the brain exhibit. She was simply beaming with effervescence.

DeClemente's ability to manage all of the daily challenges of life, and still maintain her health and fitness goals, is truly amazing when you consider that she runs a restaurant for a living. She co-owns and operates the Alumni Grill in Wildwood with her brother.

So, there you have it. The girl who thought she couldn't has conquered all of her fears and is now flying on top of the world.

Kimberly Garrison is a wellness coach and owner of One on One Ultimate Fitness in Philadelphia. Her column appears on the first and third Wednesdays monthly.