I Trained For A Bodybuilding Bikini Contest At Age 49

At a time when many newsrooms are shrinking, your support is more important than ever. Membership ensures we can keep covering the issues that shape our lives and communities.

While Washington spins the latest economic data and billionaires hedge their bets, working Americans are feeling the very real squeeze of rising costs and sudden instability. HuffPost reports on the real economy – the one that impacts you.

It all began when I became obsessed with a photo I saw on the Facebook page of a writer I knew. She was backstage at a bikini competition in heels and a sparkly bikini, and she held a trophy high overhead. Part of me thought she looked ridiculous with her silver eyeshadow and her deep spray tan, but her smile told a story of strength and accomplishment. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt strong or accomplished.

I was almost 50, had been parenting for 22 years straight, and was in the muddy middle of trying to write a memoir about my decade in Japan’s underbelly. My day job was running children’s yoga and nutrition classes, where not only did I teach my girls and my students downward dog, boat pose and the importance of healthy eating, I also taught nonjudgment and unconditional self-acceptance.

Bikini competitions do not fall within these parameters. Parading around on stage in a tiny swimsuit for a panel of judges went against my morals. So why was I so taken by the idea of possibly competing?

My friends were as befuddled as I was. Why not just work out? they asked. Why demean yourself in a bikini competition? I told them I needed the discipline of a trainer to tell me how and when to exercise, and a deadline that I couldn’t wiggle out of. I needed skin in the game. Someone who wouldn’t let me quit.