'Identity crisis' led new mum on a mission to change perceptions of menopause
28.08.2023 - 03:51
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A perimenopause coach is on a mission to challenge quick-fix diet culture and empower Ayrshire women to ‘not succumb to the mid-life meh’.
Emma McElhinney, from Troon, specialises in nutrition and mindset coaching and works with woman across the region to rediscover themselves.
The 45-year-old gave up her well-paid management role with Three mobile to not only reclaim herself but help others on their own journey through perimenopause.
Emma said: “I came into the coaching space through my own identity crisis.
“I was in a really good job, management position, decent money. I came back to work after maternity leave and was really overweight compared to what I had been.
“I felt awful. I had zero confidence, I didn’t recognise myself, didn’t recognise my body.
“And I didn’t like who I was. I was really meek, and nobody would ever describe me as meek - I’m quite ballsy and out there, and not afraid to challenge people when it needs doing.
“Everybody was like ‘where’s Emma?’ And I just thought ‘this is not who I want to be’.”
Emma’s ‘identity crisis’ led her on a path of finding a new career, and after accepting voluntary redundancy from her job she went on to get her personal trainer and nutrition qualifications.
She said: “I did that for about a year and then thought ‘these people don’t need personal training, they need lifestyle change, behaviour change, they need the deeper work.
“Then in 2019 I went fully online and went all in.
“Now I help women in their forties and fifties to rediscover who they are, change their lifestyle, change their habits, change their mindset.
“My whole mission is really simple - I just want other women to feel amazing.”
Emma’s business, Team EMW - which stands for eat, move, win - has now transformed the lives