Although my original career was as an ICU nurse, and I’m not practising anymore, I re-trained and pioneered the Personal Training industry in New Zealand.

Once I left this industry, I returned to education and not only was I lecturing in sport, exercise, nutrition and health physiology. But I was so interested in how to help people change their lifestyle behaviour that I undertook my master’s studies in this area.

Then I did my doctoral studies at the Faculty of Health, Sports and Human Performance at Waikato University. I desired to better understand how women perceived their ageing and the role of exercise during the menopause transition. I am so pleased that I did!

Because what I discovered was that our menopause transition, when we go into the last hormonal changes that herald at the end of our biological reproductive years, is the time to change our lifestyle in readiness for the next 20-30 years of living we still have to enjoy.

In a different hormonal environment, what we have done in the past to manage our health, energy and our weight may not work anymore. Few health coaches and other professionals understand this because there has been very little research on the menopause transition. In lifestyle changes, we need to make to help us get ready for our future years.

Through my women’s health research, I looked at many of the symptoms that women experience during menopause. I realised that this is the time of our lives that our health can change, and our menopause symptoms may become worse. It happened to me too.

Desperate to turn around my health, weight and symptoms, I set out to untangle the menopause-mayhem jigsaw. We didn’t need to rely on traditional hormone therapies that have been used in the past. Everything I discovered is now in two fabulous programmes called My Menopause Transformation.