Ricki Lake Is the ‘Healthiest’ and ‘Fittest’ Ever in Her 50s, Here’s Her Advice to Others (Exclusive)

Ricki Lake is feeling the best she’s ever felt.

The TV host, 55, spoke exclusively to PEOPLE on Thursday, May 9 at the Community Access Gala which marked its 50th anniversary in supporting homelessness and mental health in New York City.

Speaking about life in her 50s, Lake revealed she was the “healthiest and “fittest” she’s ever been.

“It's so funny that because when you're in your 50's, you're supposed to be going sort of down, it's all downhill from here,” she tells PEOPLE. “I feel the opposite, I feel the healthiest I've ever felt, the fittest and I have a beautiful partner that I share my life with. I pinch myself every day.”

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She adds, “I worked hard. I look back at my life and the ups and the downs and there's certainly been a ripple.” 

“But I don't come from a handout, I don't come from money. I really have forged ahead and taken risks and it's all worked out,” Lake says.

Speaking about the advice she’d give to others who want to live their best lives, the Hairspray

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m>star — who recently posted an image of herself rewearing a white dress from 2007 — expressed the importance of self-love.

“Love yourself first above everything else,” she tells PEOPLE. “Like honestly, come to a place of real self love and self acceptance and I think good things come from that.”

"I am not superhuman, but I am someone that when I set my mind to something, I for the most part do it,” she continues. “I have a lot of willpower. I've been big, I've been skinny. I've been 260 Lbs; I've been 120 Lbs.”

Lake adds that she feels different in her 50s as she’s not focusing on “a number on a scale,” adding that “it’s really about feeling as good as we can for as long as we can.”

Opening up about the practical steps people can take, she says, “Get out and walk. Get out and be out in nature, rain or shine. I live in Malibu. I go out in these mountains.”

“I hike them with my dog and my husband every morning,” Lake, who is married to Ross Burningham, tells PEOPLE. “It's meditative for me and it gets your heart rate going, it gets your metabolism going and it's really been a game changer.”

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