I am a Scuba diving instructor originally from Japan and a citizen of the world. I have also lived in Okinawa, San Diego, Brazil and Saipan before coming here. Due to a recent accident (April 08) I lost 5 upper teeth and I am temporarily unable to Scuba dive until I get new job and save money to get dental work done-the plastic coverup "teeth" I am wearing in pictures are not functional. Just in case you are wondering, I'm in my 40's.


Thanks for stopping by, I am ...

I am a Scuba diving instructor originally from Japan and a citizen of the world. I have also lived in Okinawa, San Diego, Brazil and Saipan before coming here. Due to a recent accident (April 08) I lost 5 upper teeth and I am temporarily unable to Scuba dive until I get new job and save money to get dental work done-the plastic coverup "teeth" I am wearing in pictures are not functional. Just in case you are wondering, I'm in my 40's.


Thanks for stopping by, I am re-writing this Spark page with a positive focus, getting back to the real me who loves life and adventure.

I originally joined Spark to get my life on track and to lose 8 lbs that I gained 2 years ago, and to get my life on track after going through long periods of bereavement that turned into depression. When I joined Spark in April of 07, I was on the couch, not eating or drinking water, shutting people out of my life, slowly killing myself by not caring whether I lived or not. I lost 7 people close to me by sucide, etc in a short period and allowed myself to sink into dakness. Somehow Sparkpeople spoke to me, the part of myself deep down inside that wanted to rise from the ashes and live again, not ony live to survivie but to live a full healthy life again.


I had once been a gym rat, I started working out to stay looking good in a bikini since I worked in one. Back then I was mostly into cardio as most women tend to be in the beginning, but I did ST circuit training 3 to 4 days a week.

I didn't lose any weight for the first 10 months on Spark-not scale weight. I did a lot of reading and research and changed my diet. I ate 5 to 7 meals a day, and increased my protein to 95-110 grams a day. I started to see my body change even when the scale weight didn't. I was still bit inconsistant and lazy when it came to my workout. Scuba diving in the hot tropical sun tired me so when I got busy with work I would skip a day or two.

Down deep inside me there was a desire to compete in a figure competition. Two years ago I had gone to Phat camp given by Ms Olympia fitness Jenn Hendershott-I had gone for motivation but I think the seed was planted then. I was posting on a local bodybuilding forum back in January and one of the organizers of a figure/body building competition e-mailed me and asked me if I wanted to compete. I told her that I wasn't ready for May 08 but I was thinking of the Nationals in October. She invited to come to a meeting where her coach (the best here) would evaluate me. I met the coach, he weighed me and checked my body fat, etc, and told me that I shouldn't have a problem. I had 12 weeks. So I made the decision to compete and this is what helped me to really make commitment to my diet and training and get me past my laziness.

In March I went to Sydney Australia to work out with Jenn once again, and a week-long capoeira workshop. It was difficult to be on vacation in a beautiful city with tons of cafes and restaurants while being on a competition diet-carrying around my cooler full of tupperware everywhere and going to the local gym to continue working out, but the inspiration from Jenn was worth it. It wasn't just about fitness or how to work out. She tells amazing stoires of amzing people who have overcome so much. One such person was a woman who is a fitness competitor who has no arms! She had to get her arms amputated as a child after being electricuted.

I came back to home and a week later I was in a capoeira accident, didn't duck fast enough and ended up getting 5 teeth knocked out. My gums were cut up badly, and I got 5 stitches on my lower lip. I remember seeing teeth and blood flying out of my mouth and thinking, "Darn, there goes my competition diet!" I got home late from the ER, I was in a lot of pain but I e-mailed my coach since I could not speak. I told him of my situation but I didn't want to quit. He told me to eat baby food, drink whey protein shakes and liqufied tofu for protein. I was given pain meds but I could not drive or work out with them so I only took them at night, took tylenol and got back to the gym after 3 days. I could no longer work because my job requires biting down on a mouth piece, and I could not even go to a dentist since I have no dental insurance. Such bad timing! I just blew all my money on a vacation thinking I'll be able to work a lot the next few months ! Plus all the money I spent on trainers, supplements, posing suits....I'm in major debt! My trainer agreed to advise me for free the rest of the tme before the competition. I tried to get another job, but most places wouldn't even grant me an interview. I must have scared them by the way I looked-and I also could not speak well so I didn't sound very intelligent. I realized that I may have to settle for minimum wage jobs that didn't require speaking. I decided to worry about a job after the competition. Some how I will stretch my money, maybe sell my diving gear and whatever valuables I had to make it through.

It was thinking about Barb Guerra, the armless fitness competitor that made me decide to go on. If she can do it without arms, what's a few missing teeth?

I turned the jobless situation into a positive by being thankful that I had the time for my last few weeks of training, which turned intense. Mon-Fri I was in the gym 3 hours in the morning and at least another hour at night. I had to do a lot of posing practice as well. During the afternoons I went to the beach for tanning since we don't have tanning salons here.

The last 2 weeks was tough but I made it through and placed first in my height class (read May 17th blog for details). When I decided to continue with the competition, I didn't thnking about placing first. My challenge was to just do it. But it sur feels great to come in first in my class!

I am now glad I went through with it. It goes to show that we create our own limitations, there are no obstacles, just challenges. we can do anything as long as we set our minds to it and keep going. So don't ever give up with anything you do. If you have even a tiny thought that you want to do something, accomplish something, go for it. Little thoughts of doubt may follow but push them aside while they are little. If you focus on your doubts, the doubts will grow and push away your dream. Focus on the dream, and the doubts will wither away. Everything starts in your mind, as thoughts. Then you move forward in action and work to made them into reality.If you don't give up, your dream will come true. Whatever it is, if it's to lose weight to get healthier, go climb a mountain, learn how to swim, anything is possible. It's not my first place medal that means anything, but my discovery of my own strength that makes this experience so amazing.

Thanks to all the Sparkers that have kept me here and helped me to become more positive and healthy. I would not have been able to do this without all your encouragement and support.

What a journey it's been, I can't believe I was depressed on the couch just over a year ago!

UPDATE OCT 29 2008

Despite my challenges (which I choose to call inconveniences) of unemployment, not being able to afford a trainer, having to discontinue my gym membership, not being able to afford supplements, still not having teeth to eat solid foods, rainy season preventing me from getting a base tan, sometimes not having money for proper food intake, and burning my foot a week before the show, I still competed and came in 2nd place in the Nationals. The ironical thing is that I was worried about losing some muscle mass from not being able to work out with heavy weights since I lost my gym membership but I lost to someone who had much less muscle definition....

I was told by one of the judges that I should consider body building, so that is my next goal, put on more muscle mass and at least locally compete in the body building division. Hope to eventually compete of island. It seems like in most places figure competions still look for more muscular women. Maybe not IFBB. I plan to build a physique that I would be able to cross over from light weight body building to physique and figure, but the idea of not having to wear heels and fuss with hair and make-up is very appealing. Flexing, posing , doing a posing routine and pose down also looks like more fun than just coming out like a model and smiling doing quarter turns.

If you have a dream, go for it!
Nothing is impossible,
and "can't" is not an option.

"O atleta de fisiculturismo, normalmente é um solitário que dedica 24 horas do seu dia ao esporte apesar de não treinar mais de uma hora no ginásio. O esporte é tambem o seu descanço, todas as suas refeições diarias e demais procedimentos que ninguem poderá fazer por ele. Solitário estará On Stage, Talvez este seja o mais solitário e radical dos esportes, afinal é o limite do desenvolvimento físico o qual o atleta carrega 24 horas. Ninguem fica escalando uma montanha ou saltando de pára - quedas o dia inteiro e dia após dia." Waldemar Gumarães.

Update-Sept 09

I was able to gain 14 lbs of lean mass during the off season!! I am buff and loving it, especailly on my upper body. Leaning out is much slower, but I actually look like a body builder now! I love my delts, big arms and muscular back!! I set my mind and I did it!! No supplements, just vitamins and a bit of whey protein! Lots of carbs, tons of bananas and beans!!! 2000-2500 calories!! It was fun, can't wait to do it again!!

Read More About DIVEGODDESS (Updated November 26)

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