Blog - Samantha Valand

Exercise, Work Life Balance

We all know the benefits of exercise but when you are approaching the menopause your energy levels can plummet due to hormonal imbalances making getting up in the morning a struggle, never mind exercising.

Exercise Videos Round Up on YouTube Sept 2018

Exercise, Pilates, Yoga

Here are my latest video's on my YouTube Channel. You can click here to go to YouTube directly. Subscribing to my YouTube channel means you'll never miss one!

Starting To Exercise Again? Find or Make Time?

Starting to exercise again is not just about how you are going to exercise. It is also about finding the time and creating an exercise habit. I think there are two approaches to exercising, it’s either flexibility or fixed. Finding or Making Time Neither is better...

Stages Of The Menopause

Every woman knows she will be menopausal. However, it always happens when we are way to young to be menopausal and at not a very convenient time. As with many things in life that we do not choose, the only thing left is to choose our attitude towards the...

Starting To Exercise Again?

Exercise, Hormones, Work Life Balance

The menopause can shake up your exercise routine and not always in a good way. Lowering hormones can affect your energy levels or perhaps your sleep is interupted and your not getting a good nights rest. It is easy to think about what you ‘should’ be doing, rather than what your body actually needs.

My Favourite Books

Exercise, Food, Health, Hormones, introvert, Mindset, Work Life Balance

My "go to" book when clients are stuck. Lot's of aha moments when reading it. If you don't know where to start with mantra's there are plenty of examples here! The best introduction and explanation of Law of Attraction in a novel. ...

New Month New Moves – July 2018

Monthly Moves Inspiration for July Every month, I like to get the books and manuals out to get some inspiration of what exercises or alignments I haven’t taught for a while. It’s easy to stick with old favourites as I’m sure you will appreciate if you are a regular...

Holidays and the Menopause

Holiday, Hormones, Self-care, Work Life Balance

How can you use your holidays to help you tune back into your body? And Rest! It’s the best thing for menopause symptoms but hard to put into practice

Why is Pilates Good For You?

What is Pilates good for? There is more to Pilates than just abs exercises, it improves your posture, balance, flexibility as well as strengthen your core

3 ways to improve your Downward Dog

Yoga

This is one of my favorite poses in yoga.Mainly because it is so versatile. It is a deep stretch up the backline of the body and can also be used to strengthen to your upper body.

Is it time to take your menopause seriously?

Musings, Work Life Balance

The menopause is a phase, and that phase has many phases within. Some you will breeze through barely noticing and others will feel like walking thru mud with wellies on. The truth is we are all busy women, and we often don’t have a lot of time for looking after...

Why is it so hard to lose weight over 40?

Food, Hormones

Once upon a time, you were able to skip lunch for a few days and easily fit into your Friday night dress. Why is it so hard now? Getting older has many perks and we definitely need to refresh how we look after ourselves to age well.

3 Ways to Improve Low Back Stiffness

Ageing Well, Pilates, Work Life Balance, Yoga

Low back stiffness can occur for many reasons, but it is often because we spend so much time sitting. If you are a desk junkie, here are three simple ways to improve stiffness in your lower back.

51 Tips for a Healthy Happy Menopause

Health, Self-care, Work Life Balance

Menopause Tips Why 51 Tips? There are 51 menopause tips as 51 is the average age of the menopause! The menopause happens to every women, we don't know when exactly, but it's usually when you are too young and too busy to deal with it! The menopause is more than hot...

How to Keep a Food Diary in your Menopausal Years

Food, Freebies

You’re a busy lady, me too, it’s easy to keep a tally in our heads of what and how we have been eating. However, if the pounds are sneaking on and not coming off taking the time to keep a food diary is one of the simplest and cheapest methods to help you lose weight.

How To Practice Self-care With Work Deadlines

introvert, Self-care, Work Life Balance

Is your self-care to do list stressing you out. Does working to deadlines mean your self-care is ditched in order to tick your list? Here are some simple practical ideas for you to try, so you can continue to look after yourself and also tick your list.

End Of Year Reflections

This blog started as a quarterly, then as birthday musings and finally an end of year blog. This perfectly sums up the last 6 months for me. It has been a funny old year; it has not been a bad one. The last 6 month in particular since the August eclipse have had such...

My Favourite Books in 2017

introvert, Musings

I love reading; it is one of my favourite pastimes along with learning! Below is a list of the favourite books that I read in 2017. They are in no particular order and a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth...

Preparing for Yoga Teaching Training

introvert, Musings, Yoga

My Yoga Teacher Training course is coming up soon. I have never been on a Yoga course but I have attended many fitness courses, so I have a decade’s worth of experience to draw on. And I do love planning and getting organised! Let’s start with the practicalities of...

Never Say Never

Ageing Well, Hormones, Yoga

In the last decade of teaching Pilates I have always said that I would never teach Yoga. So, you won’t be surprised from the title when I say I have booked into a Hatha yoga course! Why now? I have been researching ageing well for the last year and discovered the...

Menopause meh

Meh is a menopause symptom that is not often talked about.

It would not be classed depression but a lack of oomph and love of life. What can you do about it?

Practice Makes Perfect?

Practice only makes perfect if you are practicing perfectly! Is any exercise better than none, even if you are doing it wrong?

Eat What Makes You Happy!

Food, Health

Enjoying your food is an important part of a healthy diet

Young at Heart

Ageing Well, Health

Want to know how young your heart is? Public Health England has created an online calculator to work out what your heart age is compared to your actual age. You can take the quiz here. It asks for your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. If you do not know them,...

Lunch Hour?

Food, introvert, Self-care, Work Life Balance

When I started working over 25 years ago, (eek) a lunch hour was not only an hour, but was respected by team members. No one interrupted you unless it was a real emergency. Fast forward to today and lunch hours are quite different. It is not often an hour....

Grit

Self-care

Working in the fitness industry has made me curious about why some people give up & why some people show up day in & out. Grit by Angela Duckworth is an interesting read.

Perfect Posture

Self-care

Everyday life has a big impact on our posture. One of the simplest daily self-care habits you can develop is an awareness of your posture doing different tasks throughout the day. When you are standing waiting in a queue. When you are working. When you on using your...

Daily Self-care Habits

introvert, Mindset, Self-care

If you are looking for some inspiration for daily self-care habits for Wise Women here is a wee list! As we get older, looking after ourselves can feel like a full time job. However simple, quick daily habits can take us a long way in helping to maintain a healthy...

When You HAVE To Change

Hormones, introvert, Mindset

Change has been on my mind as it has popped up a few times for me recently where I have had to change because of circumstances out with my control. I think it worth looking at how you react around change as it gives us a good heads up around the changes the menopause...

Carbs And The Menopause

Food, Hormones

You can become more sensitive to carbs and stress in your menopausal years. Which easily leads to an expending waistline which is hard to reduce. What can you do about it?

Quarterly May 2017

Musings

Last quarter was all about learning with three mini courses. This quarter is all about letting that information percolate and sink in. I have also been working on, online course structure and wrote about that here You may have read on my previous blogs about...

Unhurried

introvert, Mindset

Unhurried Unhurried is a word my Yoga teacher uses which sums up where I'm trying to get to just now! I am at the tail end of a summer cold. I can't remember the last time I had one, but it has been fairly stubborn and lot's of rest has been required and taking life a...

Self-care As A Business Metric

Mindset, Self-care, Work Life Balance

You will regularly review your work performance, this does not tell you how your work affects your wellbeing. Measuring your self care and work life balance

Healthy Eating In Hotels

Food, Holiday

Healthy eating when staying in hotels can be a challenge, here are some healthy tips to stay healthy and only indulge when you want to, not by accident!

Exercising For Health And Ageing Well

Ageing Well, Exercise

Most of us have grown up with the ‘no pain no gain’ mantra and exercising as only a means to manage our weight and to burn calories. As we get older, our thoughts turn to our health and ageing well. Exercise can play a big part in this but it means changing exercise...

What Makes A Healthy Meal?

What makes a healthy meal is not what I want to talk about. However, what makes a healthy meal for you is! There is so much information available to us these days, but it does not seem to help us to be any healthier. Most menopausal women struggle with both their...

Business Musings 2017

introvert, Musings, Work Life Balance

Building an online business rather than face-to-face one has had a different set of challenges. Most online educators appear to be extroverts, which I am not, I’m a INFJ to be specific! (You can take a free quiz here) I have spent a lot of time searching out people...

Exercise Consistency And The Menopause

We all know the many benefits of exercise, however it can be a challenge to maintain a consistent exercise practice when energy levels fluctuate during the menopause.

Menstrual Cycle Tracker (MCT)

Most of my trackers use the Menstrual Cycle Tracker (MCT) code. It looks like Morse code, but it's just a simple way of indicating on your trackers where in your cycle you are. Each - represents a week, there are four - to represent four weeks. Split by | which is the...

Health And Wellbeing Contradictions

Health

There is a ton of advice on health and wellbeing. It often feel contradictory and finding a balance can feel like a fulltime job. Here are a few ideas of how to navigate them! Automatic vs mindful We make thousands of decisions a day. We are encouraged to be mindful...

99 Wellbeing Tips for Wise Women

Health, Self-care

99 wellbeing tips to give you a wee bit of inspiration to blossom through your menopause. Eat protein at every meal and with any snacks. Feel fuller for longer. You cannot 'work hard' to balance your hormones. It happens when you sleep well, eat good food and take...

Eating Out And The Menopause-PizzaExpress

Eating out can feel like a minefield in your menopausal years as we are usually watching our waistline as well as our weight. It may sound like it is the same thing but in your menopausal years it is different.

Just one more

With the advent of box sets, 'just one more' is a familiar catch phrase. It is often the reason for lack of sleep due to staying up late watching box sets. Constant Scrolling through a Facebook feed or checking work email ‘just one more’ time before bedtime is the...

Will a Fitbit help me to be healthier in my menopause?

Health, Self-care

My Fitbit helps me maintain activity levels such as step count and reduces time when I am sedentary. It also helps to flag up when I am tired and need to rest a little more. We are all very good at keeping going, not so great at knowing when to put our feet up. I find it a useful tool not only as a means to help me be healthier.

Will Curl Ups Flatten My Stomach?

An expanding midriff is often the bane of most menopausal women’s life and is usually very stubborn to shift. Exercising is one piece in the puzzle that can help, but are curl ups the best exercise to flatten your stomach? In Pilates, the curl up exercise is a...

Just For You!

Mindset, Self-care

When was the last time you did something ‘just for you’? We often think it is OK to run ourselves down in order to look after others or for the work grind. We cannot show our best selves to the world when we are tired all the time, and grumpy with menopausal symptoms....

Salt And The Menopause

Health, Work Life Balance

Salt makes our food taste better, but too much of it is bad for our health. Monitoring our salt intake is one of the simplest things we can do to be healthy. We are aiming for a maximum of 6 grams per day. There is a history of high blood pressure in my family, so I...

3 Things To Pop On Your Desk Every Morning

Most of us spend a third of our day at our desk. In our pursuit of healthy living, we often need to take the mountain to Muhammad rather than the other way around. I have 3 things to pop onto your desk every day: Timer I use a timer for two reasons. The first is to...

How to start a new exercise programme in your menopausal years

If your thoughts have turned to exercising more when you are menopausal, perhaps your midriff has expanded, and because you are thinking about ageing well. Being active plays a huge role in ageing well. A different approach is required as your lowering hormones can...

6 Things To Do When You Are Feeling Rubbish

Musings, Work Life Balance

The menopause has many symptoms but we can often just feel rubbish – and yes, that is a technical term! We can feel uncomfortable in our bodies; due to menopausal symptoms that are unpleasant, perhaps not the shape we want to be in or fitness levels we want, or just...

Is Stress Always A Bad Thing?

Exercise, Hormones, Work Life Balance

We rarely read anything positive about stress. In the fitness industry, stress is also where growth happens. To become fitter we have push ourselves a little harder, adding either a bit more intensity or length to cardio session. Muscle gets stronger when we lift a...

Quarterly Jan 2017

I am a lifelong learner, which comes in handy as running my own business requires knowledge of a wide range of topics covering business, professional (health and fitness in my case) and personal development. This quarter I attended day courses for all three area is...

How long does the menopause last?

We do not choose when the menopause starts, it is often when we feel way to young for it. Knowing how long the menopause lasts helps with strategies for a healthy life.

Post Holiday Menopausal Blues

Holiday, Hormones

I have noticed when I return from holidays and breaks from routines I am a wee bit wider. I have named this 'Post holiday menopausal blues!' Last time it was around my thighs. You can read my blog about it here. This time was around my bra and waistline too. Like most...

New Year, New You? No Thanks.

I am a lifelong learner and believe personal development and growth is important. However, it always feels quite forced this time of year. "New Year, New You" always implies there is something wrong with the old you! The reality is, we are always polishing away any...

How To Manage Portion Control

The balancing act of enjoying food, while watching your waistline is a challenging task in your menopausal years. It is also one that I would rather not spend too much time thinking about and considering. This means I have made decisions about certain foods and drink,...

How To Create A Healthy Habit Using An Advent Calendar

December is one of the busiest times of the year. Having a daily reminder can really help to support your wellbeing at a time which when there are many lovely indulgences about. Mulled wine and mince pies anyone? Advent calendar are fabulous for this as our heads will...

4 Ways To Improve Your Posture

When we combine sitting for long periods of time with using technology we often do not have the posture we want. People often attend Pilates classes for this, but it is also helpful to do a little everyday to help counteract our lifestyles. 1.Relax your shoulders. It...

Drop in Pilates Classes Versus Blocks

What is the difference between drop in Pilates classes and a attending a block of them?

Quarterly Nov 2016

Musings

October was a big month for me as I finished and published my first book. As with any deadline, something's gotta give, and my Tuesday and Thursday workouts were parked in order to finish. In retrospect, I do not think I could/would have done it differently. However,...

How To Be Merry In December And Not Be Snowman Shaped In January

December is a time to eat, drink and be merry. How do you enjoy the spirit of the occasion and not end up feeling snowman shaped at the end of it? The answer is of course planning. Click here for your December’s planner to fill in. (Note: you don't need a Dropbox...

Can I Help You?

Nothing makes a women cringe more than being asked if she needs help. Whilst many of us get a lot of pleasure from other helping people, we often think we are ‘bothering’ people we ask for help or accept it when it is offered. This is not just asking people for help....

How to be healthy even if you spend your days sitting

Health, Self-care, Work Life Balance

We know that sitting for long periods is not healthy but this it is what most of us are doing for a living. How to counteract sitting all day?

Are You Planning To Get Older?

Ageing Well, Exercise

We plan our retirement decades in advance by paying into a pension. Do you think about your physical health in the same way? Most of us do not which means it is not until we ‘need’ to; we start to think about exercise as a way of improving our wellbeing and to help us...

I AM The Greatest

Sadly another giant has left us. Mohammed Ali was known for many things: champion boxer, his religion and racial equality. He was also one of the forerunners to using Law of Attraction (LOA). He is frequently quoted as saying “I AM the greatest; I said that even...

Top 5 Weight Loss Mistakes – Are You Making Any Of Them?

My top 5 weight loss mistakes that most women do at some point, myself included! How to manage and hopefully avoid them in the future

What is the best exercise to help you lose weight in your 40s?

Exercise, Hormones

This is one of the most frequent questions I get. I usually flip the question and ask if you have tried exercising before and find out why you stopped. Quick results are important; however consistency is the key to success. There are usually 3 reasons why you may...

Are You Still Wearing Flares?

Food, Mindset

Are you still wearing flares? Probably not! However the beliefs and values you have around food which were created when you were a child have probably stayed with you. The big one I remember from childhood was to clear your plate as ‘there are children starving’. I...

Is Running The Best Way To Get Fit?

Is running the best way to get fit? What are the benefits and down sides to running in your menopausal years

Is Being Healthy A Titanic Task?

Health, Mindset

I had a lovely weekend in Belfast with the highlight being the Titanic Museum. Titanic was built in Belfast so the focus was more on ship building rather than sinking! It’s going to sound a bit silly but I didn’t realise how big the ship was until I saw the Dry Dock...

What’s Stopping You?

Exercise, Mindset

I was reading about a 40 year old Mum who came third in a 10k with a time of 35:49. If you are not a runner, most people would be happy if they ran a 10K in double that time 1 hr 10 mins. The author was quite dismissive of her time because this lady holds the world...

Why I Took A Two Month Holiday From The Gym

Exercise, Holiday, Hormones

I have been regularly exercising since my 30s so for about 15 years. I am quite relaxed about taking breaks over holidays as I know my fitness and strength levels don’t really drop that much in two weeks. Any longer and I notice it negatively affects my wellbeing and...

How To Avoid Menopausal Weight Gain

Health, Hormones

On average a women may gain 5 – 7 kilos per decade as they get older. There are a few theories as to why and most relate to hormonal imbalances and physiological changes that occur as we age. Waist measurement is however the best guide to health and unfortunately...

Do You Set The Same Goals Every New Year?

Mindset, Work Life Balance

Most of us will take last year’s wellbeing goal, dust it off and roll it out for next year. Telling ourselves that this year will be different and will be the where all our dreams come true. We have missed out one important step though – reviewing why we did not...

8 simple steps from frazzled flyer to fabulous flyer

Holiday, Hormones, Mindset

When does your holiday start? Mine starts in the taxi on the way to the airport. A decade ago it would have been when I arrived at my destination but nowadays I include the travelling as part of the holiday. I have found it takes the stresses out of travelling that...

Stuff I Still Struggle With

“Eat less, exercise more” I have been studying health & the menopause for a number of years now. I know that “Eat less, exercise more” does not work for most women in their late 40s due to hormonal imbalances. Yet any time I feel my jeans a bit tighter this old...

Post Holiday Resolutions 2015

Holiday, Mindset, Musings

I always think summer holidays are a better time to review and reflect on the past year and make new resolutions compared to New Years. We are usually soo busy getting ready for Christmas we don’t have a lot of time to think about how we would like to next year to...

Post Holiday Resolutions 2014

Holiday, Mindset, Musings

Holidays are often time for reflection and thinking of changes you would like to make to improve your general wellbeing. I’m no different! During my two weeks summer holiday in France I had the following list: 1. Learn to speak French before the next holiday 2. Learn...

Does Carrot Cake Count As One Of Your Five A Day?

Yes I’m teasing, we all know carrot cake comes under the treat section rather than healthy even if they do include a vegetable! It is often difficult to find healthy meals when you are eating out. I’m sure we have all picked something from the menu that we thought was...

Love Your Heart!

Health, Hormones

Some of our goals can be challenging to complete, others are challenging in the manner of tracking them. Blood pressure falls into the later. It is one of our Goldilocks goals where we don’t want it to be too high and we don’t want it to be low either. It has to be...

Well Hello Broccoli

Food, Holiday, Hormones

Returning from a lovely week relaxing in Spain you might not be surprised to hear that my jeans felt a wee bit tight. However they were not tighter around my waist they were tighter around my thighs. Which got me to thinking, what was different in the last week? Even...

How To Declutter Your Brain

We all have such busy lives it’s hard to sometimes relax when your head is full of stuff that needs to be done.It is easy to be constantly connected to work and the internet it can be hard to unwind and relax.

She Protects Her Peace

Now and again, a quote jumps out at me and makes me stop and think. “She protects her peace” was a quote that did that last week. We often do not protect things that are important to our own wellbeing and we allow ourselves to be talked out of things if it doesn’t...

Chips Or Salad?

Food, Holiday

When travelling chips or salad are often the staple side options. Most people will comment I’m going to be good and have salad or I’m going to be bad and have chips. Or I’m going to treat myself and have chips. I find both a negative way to approach food. To start off...

I’m Too Busy To Count Calories

“I’m too busy to count calories, I eat healthily I don’t know why I’m overweight” I should no longer be surprised when I hear this statement. (I hear it often!). At some point we have decided if you eat healthy natural foods rather than junk foods you should not put...

Fitbit Tracker Review Part 2

Exercise, Health

I have been using a health watch called Fitbit Charge for almost 10 months. I bought it as I was interested in tracking my daily steps and sleep monitoring. You can read my initial thoughts on it !here It syncs easily to my iPad using Bluetooth and a WiFi connection....

Fitbit Tracker Review Part 1

Exercise, Health

I recently bought myself a Fitbit Charge which is an activity and sleep tracker. I have been researching for a few months and was thinking about waiting for Apple’s watch, but my technical advisor (aka my husband) advised waiting for the next generation of the Apple...

Exercise Is…..

We all know exercise is good for us. However if your response to ‘Exercise is ….’ was not a positive statement then I have a few things for you to think about for it to be a bit more enjoyable. Start off thinking about your personality and family life and then trying...

Everything Is Going Swimmingly

My energy levels have changed over the last few years so running is now something that feels draining rather than energetic. It has taken me a while to accept that I need to exercise differently and even longer to implement. Swimming is a good exercise for cardio, so...

Marathons And Menopause

There have been a few comparisons recently between how easy a marathon is compared to the menopause, and for a few good reasons! Even if you are not a runner everyone knows marathons are a challenging endurance event. Marathons are deemed physical endurance based be...

Why Diets Fail

The diet industry is huge. If you search the word ‘diet’ in Amazon UK 161,905 odd entries will appear. That’s a lot of information and yet it’s something worldwide we still struggle with. The amount of information in itself is overwhelming and often contradictory....

This Habit Will Help You Lose Weight