So this year has been interesting so far. Here we are coming into October in a week and, to be honest, I'm ready for 2025. If you know me, you know I've had heavy legs and butt for a long time. Since about two years ago I've had an unusual amount of weight gain and not from my diet. I upped my workouts with rowing and power walking along with my yoga practice and nothing was moving on the scale. I also started doing the fasting thing. That didn't work. I was sick and tired of my doctor telling me (well you need to work out more). DUDE! I'm working out 7 days a week!! Ladies, I know you've heard that from your doctors too (and yes ladies only because they never say that to men). I got so frustrated. In June, I decided to go to Google. I typed in, "Why are my legs and butt so big?" and what came up just blew my mind. I have a genetic disorder called Lipedema. I got the official diagnosis too from this remarkable vascular doctor in my area named Dr Emelia Bittenbinder.

What is Lipedema you ask? According to the Lipedema Project, it's defined as:

Lipedema is a relatively common fat disorder that is often mistaken for simple obesity. Its clinical diagnosis is an adipose tissue disorder or a lipid metabolism disorder. A typical lipedema patient is a woman who struggles with large hips and legs, usually out of proportion to the rest of her body. Lipedema also appears in the upper arms. One of the hallmarks of the disease is that lipedema fat is relatively unresponsive to diet and exercise. These measures may lead to weight loss in other areas, but the size of the hips and legs remains disproportionately large.

Lipedema is both an excess buildup of fat cells in a particular area, and the expansion of those fat cells. Swelling in the interstitial fluid between cells may increase during the day in patients with lipedema, but does not usually cause “pitting edema.” Patients often complain of tenderness or pain in the fat, and report that they are easily bruised. Lipedema is little recognized in the United States medical community, and many women go undiagnosed for years.

So, what do we do about it? How can I fix this so I'm proportionally normal-looking? The first thing was getting compression wear. Talk about making someone feel old! Then the next fun-filled thing was getting measured and starting to use a compression pump. Now this contraption I can get behind. It's an amazing massage for one hour. Last is surgery. Because the medical community really is unaware mostly of Lipedema, it's hard to find a surgeon to cover it. I was lucky to find someone within my state and the surgery is scheduled.

One of the things that helps Lipedema is yoga. The doctor said I was incredibly lucky to be a yoga teacher and to keep it at bay for as long as I have. What triggers it? Menopause, pregnancy, and any estrogen-changing things in a woman's body.

Another thing that helps is diet. A gluten-free, keto diet is the best. Lots of protein too. All of which I've done for over 20 years.

This has given me some thoughts. How can I help other women with this issue (1 in every 75 women have this issue. Most with Scottish/Irish descent)? I've teamed with Leslyn Keith at the Lipedema Project to create a program for other women who have this and I'm also building a yoga teacher training too. Soon you'll see more on that.

For now, I'm excited to be a part of the Lipedema Projects Annual Conference which is September 27 - 29. You can check out the conference here.