51-year-old woman says she looks better in a bikini now than she did in her twenties
![At 51, Laura Heikkila has more body confidence than ever before. [Photo: Instagram]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/3riUmPBRQ4yKeHkmIWAbDQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02Njk-/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/EQVlLst71JxbfUc.8Qn0Gw--~B/aD03NTY7dz0xNDA0O2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5cefbd982500005500dbd4de.jpeg)
A mum in her fifties says she is more body confident than ever now, particularly when it comes to wearing a bikini.
“I have better muscle tone than in my 20s and 30s,” Laura Hikkila, 51, tells Yahoo UK. “I would say that looks better.”
A size four (UK size 8), the influencer and holistic health practitioner, who comes from California, US, showcases her toned body and rock-hard abs on her Instagram account.
Her turning point came in 2002 when she had her daughter, Jayden, now 16.
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“I made the change in my lifestyle because after I had my daughter at 35 I found it more difficult to get back into shape and I wanted to set a good example for my daughter,” she tells us.
Despite being happily married to husband Jay, 49, for 20 years, Hikkila also receives a lot of attention from other men on social media – “I get a lot of attention from younger guys on my [Instagram] page”.
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However, she says her aim is to inspire others to follow in her example.
“The purpose of my page is to inspire women to never give up and take back control of their bodies as they age,” she says.
So how does she do it? In a post to her followers, Hikkila revealed she changed her eating and took up strength training a year after she gave birth in order to transform her body.
Her diet, meanwhile, is based around “anti-inflammatory” eating including paleo protein pancakes, green smoothies and large salads full of vegetables.
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She also eats organic meat and fish, and brown rice.
As for her vices, she admits to enjoying the occasional glass of wine of pizza in the name of balance.
For many celebrities in their 50s, age is just a number.
Elizabeth Hurley, 53, regularly defies her years modelling her eponymous swimwear collection, Elizabeth Hurley Beach.
Meanwhile, Salma Hayek, 52, has no qualms about stepping out in revealing cut-out swimsuits.
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