She Exercises, but She’s Not Happy

Leila Kenzle loves her job, playing Fran, best friend to Helen Hunt’s Jamie on “Mad About You” (NBC), but the actress hates to exercise. “I’ve got to tell you,” Kenzle, 25, confided during a recent interview, “I think that working out is the biggest pain in the butt.”

Question: But you do it anyway?

Answer: The thing that you hate the most is probably the best for you. Every time I go to yoga, I know when I’m done that it was what I needed to do.

Q: And afterward you’re glad you went, right?

A: Way after. Actually, I am glad because I have a muscle spasm in my back and the monitored stretching keeps my back elongated, more pliable.

Q: Anything else besides yoga?

A: Pilates a couple of times a week. When you walk in, it looks like a big old Frankenstein hospital with these weird tables, but it’s really cool. It combines breathing and strength and stretching.

Q: What do you eat when you’re being good?

A: If I’m being really good or just my regular life good?

Q: Regular life good.

A: If I could eat nothing for breakfast I would be happy, but now I eat Shredded Wheat or Raisin Bran. I would eat Sugar Puffs if I could and I love Irish oatmeal with brown sugar on top.

Q: What about lunch?

A: Now here’s where I’m really bad--SpaghettiOs, and it has to be with the meatballs. But if I had to eat right, I’d have a turkey sandwich. And I will tell you that I actually force myself to eat fruits and vegetables at least once a day.

Q: When? At dinner time?

A: That’s my healthiest meal. That’s when I have my vegetables, depending on what’s in my garden, like zucchini and asparagus, and I’ll have plain chicken.

Q: Do you drink water?

A: Yeah, a lot. You know what I do? I get those bottles with the squeeze tops and it’s too much fun.

Q: Do you feel pressure about being fit or skinny?

A: Sure I do, and then I try to remember who I am. I’m Leila Kenzle from New Jersey and I’ve always been really curvaceous and I think it’s great that I have a woman’s body, that I eat regular food, that I go to McDonald’s and I’m on TV.

* Guest Workout runs Wednesdays.