Kirstie Alley's Bikini Promise

Almost a year after she promised Oprah Winfrey that she would appear in a bikini, Kirstie Alley is ready to make good on her promise.

Why did she take on such a challenge in the first place? "I'd like to prove to myself and maybe other women my age that there can still be good years ahead of us. Maybe even the best."

It was a promise she took on with the support of her kids, son True, 14, and daughter Lillie, 12. "I said to my kids, 'Can I do this? Will I embarrass you?'" she recalls. "They were laughing about it."

"The most important reason I want to wear a bikini on Oprah, however, is because if I, a 55-year-old woman, can look even halfway decent, imagine how all of you could look in a bikini," she writes in her Jenny Craig Blog. "Hell, I'll never look like Giselle, I never did! But maybe close to Bridget Jones or a Dove girl or something that is just fine and healthy and happy, with no surgery, no lipo and no drugs – that's saying something!"

How has she done it? "I'm walking vigorously (hiking) every morning for one hour on these big ole hills by my house. Then I try to get in an afternoon workout of weights, circuit, palates or yoga. The a.m. thing is like clockwork, the afternoons are hit and miss. But that's my goal this week: two times a day for five days a week until I do the show."

Source: PEOPLE