By April Chong

Ursula Pong, 50

• The Chinese-Canadian has been a physical education teacher at the Singapore American School for the past 20 years.
• She is married to Marcel Daane, 44, a fitness performance coach from the Netherlands, and they have a nine-year-old daughter, Kilani.
• She is 1.64m tall and weighs 54kg.
• In January, the amateur bodybuilder and boxer came in second at the NUS Muscle and Fitness War in the body fitness category, competing against women 20 to 30 years her junior.
• She will be a participant at the International Drug Free Athletics competition in Canada in July (the physique master's category).
  

What do you do to keep fit?

I make fitness a priority and an everyday activity - just like showering or brushing my teeth. I do six days of weights training and a day of yoga every week.

When a competition is coming up, I set up a workout plan. When I work out at home, my daughter Kilani often participates by creating circuits at our home gym and acting as a timer for me.

What is your secret to looking so fabulous?

Looking fabulous is in the eye of the beholder. I have been exercising most of my adult life and the investment has paid off.

Has there ever been a time when you were not fit and fab?

I was a very active skinny kid and had a very fast metabolism. My younger years were spent working hard at putting on weight.

What is your diet like?

For the most part, I eat as cleanly as possible - lots of fruit and vegetables, steamed or grilled fish and chicken, and if I eat starchy carbohydrates, it will be brown rice or wholewheat pasta. I avoid products that have been sitting on the shelf for more than a week.

What are your indulgences?

Pizza and good quality chocolate, two things I have to forgo when I am preparing for a competition.

Do you count your calories and why?

I only do that when I am competing for an event in order to lose body fat and keep the muscles. Otherwise, I count on my natural instinct to stop eating when I feel full.

How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance and what do you do to relax?

My family is equally enthusiastic about health and fitness. Very often, my husband and I work out at the same time at night or early in the morning. Sometimes, my daughter will join us for 15 minutes.

I have a massage at least once a week either at a spa or I have someone come to my home.

What are the three most important things in your life?

Me, my family, friends and students. I guess that makes four things. It sounds really egocentric to put me first but we have a saying in our family that if we cannot take care of ourselves first, then we cannot take care of others.

Would you go for plastic surgery and why?

I would only consider plastic surgery if it was a health issue. I personally do not think there's anything attractive about a 50-year-old trying to look 20. I prefer to look like an attractive 50-year-old with wrinkles. For every wrinkle, there is a story.

Do you think you are sexy?

I do not necessarily see myself as sexy but I do see myself as a happy and confident woman which is a far more important way to view myself. That, in itself, is sexy.

aprilc@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times.