Lynda Lippin aka the ’Pilates Goddess’ has been teaching Pilates for over 20 years. She also happens to live and work in what many including myself would consider Paradise.  This is her story her journey to lose weight, overcome health challenges, and to look and feel her best. It was not always easy, most journeys aren’t, but Lynda kept at it. Her ultimate success, spirit and boundless energy is both motivating and inspiring. 

Lynda approaches all exercise, energy, and body work as healing. Her nurturing yet demanding style of teaching allows clients to move past their thresholds of body, mind, and spirit and embrace newfound strength, flexibility, coordination, and energy.

Lynda is currently in Residence as the expert Pilates and Fitness Teacher at the A-List COMO Shambhala Retreat at  Parrot Cay in Turks and Caicos Islands.  She writes several blogs and is active in social media.

I have been teaching Pilates for 21 years and was overweight (OK, fat) for a good 15 of those years. In the past year I lost over 30 pounds and am in great shape (better than my 30s). If you wonder how I lost the weight read on!

In high school and college I was not really into exercise, but did want to be as skinny as possible. I grew up chubby with two overweight parents, so eating normally was not really something I knew about. To control my weight I simply cut my calories to about 600 per day and exercised like a maniac. In graduate school I began a regular exercise program including Pilates and weight training, so I was pretty much able to eat anything and be OK.

Then my hormones changed. At 27 I had severe endometriosis and adenomyosis (both inflammatory pelvic conditions) and was in a lot of pain. I ate out of depression and slowed down on exercise due to pain. Then I went on GNRH Inhibitors like Lupron® which put me into chemical menopause, followed by a hysterectomy that put me into full menopause. My GYN gave me Premarin for hormone replacement and I went on with my life, but I couldn’t lose weight.

I would lose and gain, lose and gain, lose and gain until I couldn’t take it anymore! Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, low fat, low carb, Sugar Busters, blood type diet – you name it and I tried it.

But through it all I learned a lot about the body, about fitness, about biomechanics, and about chronic pain. This understanding drew clients into my Pilates studio. They all felt better and many lost weight, but my scale would not budge.

Finally I went to my doctor crying in frustration, and she checked my hormone levels only to discover that I had way too much estradiole (what is in premarin) with almost no progesterone and no estriole. The first 2 weeks where I simply stopped taking Premarin and started a low dose of DHEA were life changing. I had energy to spare and I lost 5 pounds without any change in diet or exercise. When I saw that I was finally dropping weight I started to add in more exercise, and finally I could see the effects of the hard work.

Now at age 43 I have lost over 30 pounds and am in the best shape I have been in for 15 years. I feel better than I did in my 30s and have energy to spare. In addition to Pilates, I now do and teach kettlebell training and TRX® Suspension Training as well as bodyweight fitness and cardio.

I encourage anyone who has truly tried to lose weight and couldn’t to check your hormone levels and if needed switch to a natural bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. The difference it has made for me is incredible. Once that is situated find a good food plan and do 20-30 minutes 3 days a week of high intensity exercise in addition to Pilates for the core postural work. I offer fitness coaching as well as Pilates Audio Programs that you can load on your iPod and take anywhere, but if you can find a good local personal trainer and Pilates studio/teacher to assist you in your efforts.

Susan Sommers of Pilates Body NYC is a Pilates Instructor to those 50+ in NYC