FAQ

Exhausted, and wondering why.

Straight answers on tiredness, burnout, hormones, training that stopped working, and what it looks like to work with me. If your question is not here, email hello@samanthacharlwood.com and I will get back to you.

Why am I so tired all the time as a woman, even when I sleep?

Because sleep is only one input. Chronic tiredness in high-performing women is usually the sum of an overloaded nervous system, under-fuelling, hormonal shifts across the cycle or perimenopause, and training that adds stress instead of building capacity. Sleeping more rarely fixes it on its own, because the drain is happening across your whole day. The starting point is working out which of those inputs is actually costing you the most, rather than guessing.

Am I burnt out or just tired?

Tiredness lifts after rest. Burnout does not. If a good night's sleep, a weekend off, or a holiday no longer restores you, if you feel wired at night and flat by mid-morning, if things you used to enjoy feel like effort, and if your body has started producing symptoms (gut issues, cycle changes, frequent illness, injury), that is a capacity problem rather than a sleep problem. It needs the load reduced and the system rebuilt, not more discipline.

Why has my training stopped working?

Usually because the plan was never built for your physiology or your current load. If you are training hard, eating carefully, and getting less back than you did five years ago, the issue is typically recovery capacity, fuelling, and hormonal context rather than effort. When stress is already high, more intensity makes results worse, not better. Training has to be prescribed against what your body can currently absorb.

Why can't I lose weight even though I eat well and exercise?

Body composition responds to more than calories in and out. Under-eating relative to output, poor sleep, high stress load, low muscle mass, and hormonal changes through the cycle and perimenopause all change how your body handles fuel. In practice, most of the women I work with are doing too much and eating too little, not the other way round. The fix is often to train less frantically, eat more deliberately, and build strength.

Is this perimenopause, or is it stress?

Often it is both, and they amplify each other. Changing hormones lower your tolerance for stress, disrupted sleep, and under-fuelling, so the routine that worked at 35 stops working at 43. Symptoms like disrupted sleep, mood shifts, cycle changes, a shorter fuse, and stubborn weight rarely have one single cause. Working out where the biggest lever sits is what a proper assessment is for. For medical diagnosis or HRT, you should also speak to a doctor.

How do I get my energy back when I cannot take time off work?

By changing the load, not by removing it. Most gains come from a small number of specific changes: fuelling properly during the working day, protecting sleep timing, training in a way that restores rather than depletes, and building genuine recovery points into your week. None of that requires a sabbatical, but it does require deciding what you stop doing.

Who do you work with?

High-achieving women (typically C-suite, founders, executives, and entrepreneurs) who are successful on paper but feel their body is no longer keeping up with their ambition. Most have already tried standard health, fitness, or wellness routes and want a more precise, integrated approach.

What happens in a health and performance assessment?

The NineForNine Diagnostic™ is a 90-minute assessment that audits four domains (Professional, Personal, Performance, and Potential) through the lens of your nervous and endocrine systems. You leave with a scored map, the real reason progress has stalled, and the first moves that will shift it.

What does 1:1 coaching with you actually involve?

Twelve months of 1:1 work using the Femme Elite Formula™: Reveal (audit and map), Rebuild (restore capacity across training, nutrition, recovery, and rhythm), and Reclaim (sustain high performance without the crash). It covers training, fuelling, sleep, stress, and the demands of your working life as one plan rather than separate projects.

How is this different from a nutritionist or personal trainer?

We do not treat training, nutrition, sleep, or stress in isolation. The work integrates your professional load, personal demands, hormonal health, and nervous system capacity into one coherent plan, so your body finally supports the life you are trying to lead.

Is this only for women?

Yes. My coaching is specifically designed for female physiology, hormonal architecture, and the unique load patterns high-achieving women carry. The diagnostic and framework are built around what actually works for women's bodies.

Do you work in person or online?

Most coaching is delivered online via video call, with messaging support between sessions. In-person sessions are available in London by arrangement for 1:1 clients.

How long before I see results?

Most clients notice shifts in energy, sleep, and training response within the first 8 to 12 weeks. The deeper structural changes (body composition, menstrual resilience, consistent high performance) typically build over the 12-month coaching arc.

How much does it cost?

The NineForNine Diagnostic™ is booked as a standalone 90-minute session. 1:1 coaching is a 12-month commitment. Exact pricing is shared during the booking conversation so we can match the right level of support to your situation.

Can I just book the assessment without committing to coaching?

Yes. The diagnostic is designed to be valuable on its own. Many clients use it to get clarity before deciding on ongoing coaching.

How do I get started?

Book the NineForNine Diagnostic™, or email hello@samanthacharlwood.com with a short note about what is going on. We will arrange a conversation to confirm the fit and next steps.

Ready to start?

Book the diagnostic, or send a note and we will arrange a conversation.