Sandy Williamson shares her journey from obesity to anorexia to becoming an IFBB judge

If you're at a bodybuilding show with women's competition, there's a good chance you've heard the voice of Sandy Williamson. The head judge of the NPC and IFBB Pro League is usually the one who calls the poses of all female divisions at the major shows, including the Olympia. While her presence on shows is almost expected at this stage of her career, it may come as a shock that she was obese as a teenager.

“I had a very difficult upbringing,” Williamson admitted. She recalled that she once weighed over 250 pounds. Although she committed to losing weight while in nursing school, nutritional science was not as advanced as it is today. Although Williamson lost significant weight, she found herself at the other end of the extreme.

“When I graduated nursing school three years later, I weighed 72 pounds,” she said. The change was so drastic that doctors even thought Williamson might have leukemia. Although she struggled with anorexia, her then-husband took her to a bodybuilding show in 1980. That's when Williamson's focus on wellness and the course of her life changed.

“We went to a show in Philadelphia not knowing it was the first Ms. Olympia,” she recalled. "I saw Rachel (McLish) and all the girls walking out. Then when they got dressed and came out to talk to everyone and I saw Rachel, I was at the Y that Monday morning."

Although women couldn't weight train at the YMCA during this time, Williamson would eventually get into iron pumping with mentor Candy Csencsits and has been bitten by the training bug ever since. At this point she was given the opportunity to judge a show for the first time.

"Candy asked me if I wanted to judge and I said, 'I work full time as a nurse and I'm trying to get pregnant, I was married, I don't have time for this.' After some persuasion, she agreed.

“I actually fell in love with judging,” she shared. Little did Williamson know after watching the historic first Ms. Olympia that she would be judging the competition herself and naming the poses for many great champions over the years, from Murray to current Ms. Olympia Andrea Shaw.

Sandy Williamson talked more about judging and what the judges are looking for in this season's competitions. Watch this and all episodes of Femme Flex Friday www.wingsoftstrength.net. Episodes air every Friday at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Don't forget to follow @femmeflexfriday on Instagram.