Hello, I’m Sam
I’m Sammy Lee-Bapty, 46. I have been a fitness coach for 28 years and, honestly, I don’t love training. That matters, because everything I teach is built for people with full lives, not endless motivation. If exercise has to be a personality to work, it will never survive your actual week.
Sammy Lee-Bapty
Why I coach the way I do
I qualified in 1998 and have taught fitness classes and personal training ever since. Before any of that, there was anorexia, nearly died at 15. That is why you will never find shame, punishment workouts or good and bad foods here. I know exactly where extremes lead, and I know they are not the price of a strong, healthy body.
These days I run a full-time business, I have two daughters and two boxer dogs, and I am perimenopausal myself. Spare time is not something I have. So I coach the way I live: the minimum that actually works, done consistently, with food you genuinely enjoy. More than 28 years of teaching has shown me that the most technically perfect programme is useless if it does not fit the person’s actual life.
Evidence over vibes
- Anti-extreme, not anti-diet. A calorie deficit is required for fat loss, but there are many ways to create one, and the one you can stick to wins (Hall et al.).
- Strength first. Progressive resistance training improves strength and lean muscle in women through and beyond menopause (Thomas et al., 2021 meta-analysis). Two to four short sessions a week is enough.
- Protein and fibre do the heavy lifting. Benefits of protein level off around 1.6g per kg per day (Morton et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine), and fibre makes eating less feel less like effort.
- Walking counts. Daily steps are the most under-rated body composition lever in midlife.
- Plans beat willpower. If-then planning measurably improves follow-through (Gollwitzer and Sheeran). Miss a day, never two.
- Menopause changes the context, not the fundamentals. You are not too late, you are right on time.
- You don’t need to shrink. You need to get strong.
Where my job ends
I am a fitness coach, not a doctor or a dietitian. Nothing on this site is medical advice. If you have a medical condition or an eating disorder history, are pregnant, or take prescribed medication, please involve your healthcare team. And if food or body thoughts ever cause you real distress, your GP or Beat, the UK eating disorder charity, are the right first step.