Pageant News Bureau - Before and after

We could have called this story "The sexy housewife." The title would have sounded too naughty for our tastes, but it would have been accurate. Jennifer Lee is happily married, she's the mother of two toddlers, and she looks as sexy as any single girl.

In June 2004, this ultra-fit Floridian was first runner-up to Miss Bikini Universe. Within days after that, she did a photo shoot for the magazine Fitness Rx for Women. Her career as a professional bikini model is picking up speed.

As late as 2003, all this would have seemed like a dream. By her own account, Ms. Lee had let herself go after the birth of her second son. Though she had once done "a little modeling" during her college years, she was no longer happy with her body.

One day she determined to work her way back to where she wanted to be. She had her husband snap a "before" photo. Then she established a goal: to compete with pride in a skimpy swimsuit. Finally, she embarked on a personal course of diet and exercise.

It worked. Within a few months, the woman Ms. Lee saw in the mirror looked very different. She toyed with the idea of forgetting about competing, but decided she had to go through with it. "I wanted to make a statement," she says, "and I wanted to look better than the high school girls."

She doesn't offer any gimmicks or magic formulas to women who want to do what she did. Her advice is to pick a plan that's right and stick to it.

Ms. Lee's next goal is to write a cookbook (with health in mind). She is already doing the research. We can almost visualize her working over a hot stove in her bikini . . .

No, that would be carrying "sexy housewife" a little too far.

Photos courtesy of Jennifer Lee

Self-made woman