First of all, I want to thank everyone who entered to win a copy of Stephanie Dolgoff’s New York Times bestselling book, My Formerly Hot Life: Dispatches From Just the Other Side of Young.

I loved how so many women said that they were still hot. So it looks like a lot of you have not lost it and if you misplaced it, you are reclaiming it.  I lost mine on the # 6 train going uptown, so if anyone spotted it, please call me. I am offering a reward.

Our winners are from New York and CA. Sorry, middle states – next contest will include 3 books so you won’t feel ignored.

Our first winner is Sheryl Dluginski from New York City. Sheryl is a the owner of Generations Fitness, a holistic fitness consulting company whose purpose is to help people improve their quality of life through better health. Sheryl talks about being a formerly formerly Hot:

I am formerly, formerly hot. I lost my hotness for a few years there somewhere between 34 and 40. Then something happened when I hit 40 and I almost magically became bold and beautiful again! It was almost like I was in a tunnel there for a while and then suddenly, boom, there’s the light at my 40^th birthday. My outer appearance didn’t change really. But my attitude and self-image did. Something big inside me clicked and I came to realize that, damn it, I’ve been around the block quite a few times now. I’m wise and wonderful and I love my body just the way it is. And anyone who disagrees… well that’s just all it is…they disagree. And that’s their thing. I’ve come a long way, baby, and I look back with pride and forward with excitement. And I’m grateful for every single moment I have in this realm to leave my mark and have some fun. And guess what, that makes me HOT! Ever since this new realization took hold, the ogles from construction workers are back, the attention from bartenders is back, but now it’s a bit more respectfully done. And the more proudly I parade my scantily clad softer belly and bigger butt around the bedroom, the more my husband seems to enjoy it! So, the truth is, as clichéd is it may sound, hotness comes from the inside. That’s why I am formerly, formerly hot.

Thanks for the opportunity to share.

Our second winner is Charlene Snyder Ross from CA. Charlene is a writer and blogger, who has a wild and wicked sense of humor. Parts of her answer nearly melted my screen, but that is what happens when you are hot.

I think I first realized I was “formerly hot” in my late 30’s or early 40’s (yeah, I’ve crossed the dreaded line to mid 40’s).  All of a sudden men didn’t look at me anymore as I was walking down the street.  They didn’t even glance in my direction.  I’m not talking about oogling or whistling or cat calling, which is disgusting, I’m saying they didn’t even look. They took no notice of me whatsoever.

Hello, here I am, over here!  What does a girl have to do to get a man to look at her and smile, walk down the street topless?!

I mean okay, I’ve never really had the greatest body – my boobs are on the small side and my thighs are on the big side, but I’m not fat. Yes, I call myself fat, but that’s like saying my husband’s an ass or my daughter is a brat – I’m allowed to say it, but you’d better not.  I work out (on occasion).  At 5’8” I can still fit into my size 8 jeans (as long as they haven’t come out of the dryer recently and are properly stretched).  I try really hard to keep up with proper root maintenance on my hair.  Why aren’t you looking at me?!

Whenever my ego needs a boost and I need to stop feeling like a “formerly” and start feeling like a “currently” again I call my girlfriends for a little GNO.  I put on a really good push-up bra to make it look like these two saggy pillows I used to call breasts before I nursed two children are actually something someone would want to see.  I take out a deep dark brownish shade of lipstick and paint it all over my still-full lips.  I find a low cut, long flowing tank top to accentuate the cleavage my push-up bra has magically produced and hide the little tummy and wide hips my children have also gifted me with.  I make sure the tank top is blue to bring out the color of my eyes just in case my cleavage isn’t as hot as I think it is.  I replace my flip-flops with heels.  It would truly make me tired to have to do this every day.

When we get to the restaurant I ask the 21-year-old-curently-hot-hostess-with-the-superior attitude for a table with a cute waiter.  She will inevitably look at me like I’m crazy.  I don’t care what she thinks – she’ll be formerly hot and need a push-up bra for her overly nursed boobs and a little Nice N’ Easy root touch-up every three weeks one day too.   I know this because I used to be her.  Of course I was a cocktail waitress, not a hostess and made 5 times what she did so there!

(I’m sorry, was that a little bitter?  What I meant to say about the hostess-with-the-attitude was God bless you and your youthful beauty, may it last you for the rest of your life.  Even though I’m not Greek I enjoy Greek food and a good Greek superstition, so let me spit on your face to ward the evil spirits of mid-life-former-hotness away!)

Where was I?  Oh yes, the waiter…

If the waiter is good he will know by the way I bat my eyes and tilt my head, when I ask him, “What do I want?” that if he flirts with me he will get a good tip.  Sure, it’s a bit like hiring a male prostitute to say all the right things, but who cares?  For 90 minutes a hot young waiter is looking into my blue eyes with an occasional glance at the push-up-bra-cleavage.  I am currently hot once again.

Then I take my tipsy ass home and have crazy sex with my husband.  In his eyes I am forever a currently and nowhere near a formerly.  Even when I take the push-up bra and dark lipstick off.

A copy of My Formerly Hot Life: Dispatches From Just the Other Side of Young is being sent to the two lucky winners.  And for those of you who did not win this time,  Stephanie’s book is available at Amazon and at other fine booksellers around the country.

Thanks again for the great responses and I hope the book will remind you that staying hot is our birth right.  With or without Spanx holding everything in.