My health story has never been a straight line.

Women's health stopped being something I could take for granted.

One of my first significant health scares came after a routine pap smear detected CIN 2 cervical cell changes.

I underwent a LLETZ procedure.

Thankfully, it was identified and treated, but the experience stayed with me.

It was my first real lesson in the importance of screening, early detection and paying attention to women's health even when you feel well.

I didn't know it then, but this idea of looking beneath the surface would eventually become a recurring theme throughout my life.

I never thought fertility would become such a big part of my story.

I hadn't always wanted children.

Then I met my partner at 36 and something changed. I wanted a family.

Everyone reassured me:

"It will happen."

Except it didn't.

And I couldn't understand why.

What followed became a seven-year fertility journey.

There were fertility investigations, blood tests, acupuncture, laparoscopies and a diagnosis of adenomyosis.

Eventually, I turned to IVF.

I saw five specialists across three fertility clinics and went through four unsuccessful rounds of IVF.

Each time, I kept thinking that if I tried hard enough, endured enough or found the right specialist, eventually my body would cooperate.

Women can endure an extraordinary amount when something matters deeply to us.

But one of the hardest lessons I learned was that determination doesn't always mean continuing down the same path.

One specialist finally said something I needed to hear. He didn't want me to spend all my money continuing with an approach that wasn't working and encouraged me to consider another way.

So I pivoted.

We found an egg donor bank and made the decision to try IVF again, this time with the extraordinary gift of a donor egg.

My fifth round of IVF was the one that finally worked.

After seven years of hoping, investigating, trying, failing, starting again and refusing to give up, I became a mum at 42.

It wasn't the path I imagined when I first decided I wanted a child.

But it gave me the outcome I'd spent seven years fighting for.

And it taught me something I still carry with me today:

Sometimes not giving up doesn't mean continuing to do the same thing.

Sometimes it means being brave enough to choose a different path.

My dad changed the way I think about getting older.

There was another experience quietly shaping my view of health during these years.

My dad developed dementia.

I watched an independent man gradually lose his memories, his independence and ultimately much of the life he had known. He eventually required nursing-home care and passed away at 75.

Watching that happen changed me.

It made healthy ageing deeply personal.

I started thinking less about simply how long we live and much more about how we live those years.

Will I have my strength?

My independence?

My memories?

Will I still travel?

Exercise?

Laugh?

Spend time with the people I love?

Be actively involved in my son's life as he grows?

I can't control everything that happens in the future. None of us can.

But I became determined to do what I reasonably could to invest in the health and independence I want later in life.

I don't just want more years. I want more good years.

I thought it was IVF. It wasn't.

After having my son at 42, something else was happening.

Initially, I put many of the changes I was experiencing down to pregnancy, motherhood and years of fertility hormones.

Eventually, the symptoms became impossible to ignore.

Brain fog.

Disturbed sleep.

Mood swings and moments of rage.

Frozen shoulder.

Changes to my skin.

Low libido.

And almost no motivation to exercise.

I felt like a completely different person.

Eventually, through a friend's recommendation, I found a GP with a special interest in menopause.

For me, getting appropriate medical support was transformative for my perimenopause symptoms. With her guidance, I began hormone therapy and made other changes to my nutrition, supplementation and lifestyle.

Gradually, I started coming back.

I'd say I felt about 90% like myself again.

That experience taught me one of the most important lessons of my life:

Advocate for yourself.

Don't assume you simply have to put up with feeling awful because you're a woman, you're busy, you're getting older or "it's probably hormones."

Ask questions. Find the right professional. Keep looking for answers.

At 45, I thought I knew quite a lot about wellness.

I was an older mum with a toddler. I'd been interested in health for decades. I'd navigated fertility treatment and perimenopause. I exercised, took supplements and had good medical support.

I was feeling much better.

But I still didn't feel like the best version of me.

Then one day, while I was at the park with my son, another mum asked whether I was interested in health and wellness.

Of course I said yes.

That conversation led me to a health presentation where I met Margie Dangerfield, Registered Nurse and Midwife.

Margie talked about something incredibly simple:

Test. Don't guess.

That caught my attention immediately.

For years I'd taken fish oil.

But had I ever actually tested my fatty acid profile?

No.

That night, I completed a simple at-home finger-prick test.

\For someone who had spent decades interested in health, seeing personalised data about what was happening inside my body was an eye-opener.

And it raised a question I couldn't stop thinking about:

What else had I been assuming rather than measuring?

This is why I share the programs I use today.

I began following the test-based nutritional approach that now forms the foundation of the programs I share through Lisa Ma Wellness.

And for me personally, the changes have been significant.

Combined with the medical, nutritional and lifestyle support I already had in place, I feel better now than I did before.

My weight has come down.

My skin looks better than it has in years.

My motivation returned.

I'm stronger physically.

I'm clearer mentally.

And I'm back in the gym, training with an energy and determination I thought I'd lost.

After feeling 90% back to myself following treatment for perimenopause, I describe how I feel today as 110% me.

That's my experience. It isn't a guarantee of what somebody else's experience will be, and I don't believe wellness works that way.

But it was powerful enough that I couldn't simply keep what I'd learned to myself.

That's why Lisa Ma Wellness exists.

I often wonder what I would tell my younger self.

I wish I'd understood more about essential fatty acids and their role in normal health and development.

I wish I'd understood the conversations happening around chronic low-grade inflammation and long-term health.

I wish I'd known more about personalised testing during my fertility years.

I wish I'd understood perimenopause before I was in the middle of it.

And perhaps most importantly:

I wish I'd realised sooner that taking care of yourself isn't the same as having all the answers.

That's why I don't want Lisa Ma Wellness to be another website telling women what they should do.

I want it to make women curious.

Ask questions.

Understand your body.

Seek qualified help when you need it.

Use meaningful information when it's available.

And become an active participant in your own health.

Because nobody will ever care about your health quite as much as you do.

If my story has taught me anything, it's this.

YOUR BODY IS WORTH LISTENING TO
Women put their bodies through an extraordinary amount. Don't dismiss what yours is trying to tell you.

SELF-ADVOCACY MATTERS
Ask questions. Seek another opinion. Find professionals who listen. Understanding your health is worth pursuing.

IT'S OKAY TO PIVOT
IVF taught me that changing direction isn't the same as giving up. Sometimes the path changes, but the goal doesn't.

NEVER GIVE UP ON YOURSELF
Not on becoming a mum. Not on feeling like yourself again. Not on getting stronger. And not on the person you want to be in the years ahead.

What I've learned shouldn't stop with me.

Lisa Ma Wellness brings together the areas that have shaped my own life and the questions I hear from women around me:

Fertility and women's wellness.
Perimenopause and hormonal health.
Weight and body composition.
Skin and beauty from within.
Gut health.
Brain health and energy.
Healthy ageing.

And for those of us raising children, there is another question:

What foundations are we giving them?

That's why Kids' Wellness and Little Foundations also have an important place here.

I'm passionate about helping women understand more about their own health while also thinking about the nutritional foundations that support growing bodies and developing minds.

Healthy bodies. Healthy minds. Strong foundations.

The woman who introduced me to a different way of thinking.

Margie Dangerfield's presentation was the catalyst that brought test-based nutrition into my life.

Today, I'm fortunate to work alongside Margie, a Registered Nurse and Midwife, who provides clinical insight and supports the health education behind our approach.

Margie brings decades of healthcare experience and a passion for helping people better understand their health.

Together, we believe good health conversations should leave people feeling informed, curious and empowered to ask better questions.

 WATCH MARGIE'S FREE PRESENTATION →

Why I also created Thrive Beyond 40.

As Lisa Ma Wellness evolved, one part of my passion became big enough to need a space of its own:

Healthy ageing.

My experience with my dad, becoming a mum later in life and thinking seriously about the decades ahead made me increasingly interested in preventative health, healthspan and what it means to age well.

That became Thrive Beyond 40.

While Lisa Ma Wellness has a strong focus on women's wellness and the different stages of our lives, Thrive Beyond 40 expands the conversation to men and women who want to take a proactive approach to the years ahead.

Different brands. Shared philosophy.

Understand more. Be proactive. Invest in your future self.

Age Well. Live Well.

DISCOVER THRIVE BEYOND 40 →

I'm not trying to turn back the clock.

I want to feel strong enough, well enough and confident enough to make the most of every year ahead.

And I want that for other women too.