WHAT’S ACTUALLY GOING ON IN YOUR BODY IN PERIMENOPAUSE

Still rocking the activewear because your jeans feel like they came out of the dryer two sizes smaller? You’re eating “healthy,” trying to stay active, cutting the snacks — but somehow the scales don’t budge, your moods are unpredictable, and you feel like a stranger in your own skin. You’ve likely started wondering:

Is this just getting older? Or is something actually wrong with me?

If you’ve been told “it’s just perimenopause” — but no one’s explained what the heck is happening or for how much longer it might go on — this one's for you. Let’s talk about what’s really going on in your body during this phase of life and, more importantly, what you can do about it.

No fluff. No fear-mongering. Just real talk — and a few things I wish someone had told me earlier.

THIS ISN’T JUST BEING A BUSY MUM OR STRESS — IT’S PERIMENOPAUSE

Perimenopause is the hormonal transition that leads up to menopause — and it can start way earlier than most women are told. While menopause officially kicks in when you’ve gone 12 months without a period (average age: 51), perimenopause can last 2 to 12 years and often begins in your late 30s or early 40s.

If your sleep is all over the place, your energy is tanking, your cycle’s become a bit shorter, heavier, or less it's 'usual' self, and your moods are wilder than your teens — it might not be stress or just a rough patch. It’s likely perimenopause.

I like to think of it as puberty in reverse. All the same hormone shifts, just in the opposite direction — except now you’ve got kids, work, ageing parents, and a to-do list longer than your arm to juggle at the same time.

WELCOME TO THE HORMONAL ROLLERCOASTER (A.K.A. THE MESSY MIDDLE)

There’s a reason you feel like your body is throwing curveballs from every angle — because it kind of is.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s happening behind the scenes:

• Progesterone is your calming, sleep-supporting, stress-buffering hormone. But it starts dropping early — often in your 30s — because it’s only produced after ovulation, which gets less reliable with age.
• Estrogen doesn’t just decline; it becomes erratic. One week it’s high (hello breast tenderness and migraines), the next it’s low (hot flushes and brain fog). Almost every cell in your body has estrogen receptors, so it’s no wonder the ripple effects are felt everywhere — not just in your cycle.
• Testosterone, often forgotten, also starts to decline — and with it, your energy, muscle mass, libido, and motivation.
• Melatonin begins to wane too, making sleep feel lighter and harder to maintain — even if you’ve always been a good sleeper.

They don’t all drop at the same time or in a neat, orderly fashion. These hormone shifts don’t just affect your weight. They mess with energy, mood, sleep, cravings, and even how your brain functions. It’s messy, it’s unpredictable — and for many women, it’s a total mind-bender! (But it’s ok, it’s all fixable.)

WHEN IT COMES TO HORMONES, IT’S ALL RELATIVE

Let’s talk about estrogen excess for a moment. Even though estrogen is declining overall, it can often bounce higher than usual, especially compared to your rapidly dwindling progesterone. This creates a “relative excess” of estrogen, that can lead to mood swings, fluid retention, sore breasts, heavier periods, migraines, and stubborn weight around your middle.

It’s not that you have too much estrogen — it’s that it’s unmoderated without enough progesterone to buffer it - so it has a stronger and more chaotic effect on your body, even though it is in decline overall. Mind-blowing, I know - everyone’s talking about how it’s the decline in your hormones making the problems, and here I am telling you it’s too much!

The fact is, you can be almost at menopause and have a relative excess of estrogen.

So no, you’re not imagining things. And no, you’re not broken, or doing it all wrong. You’re just in the messy middle.

CALORIES AND CARDIO WON’T WORK ANYMORE

Seriously, as if it wasn’t enough having your periods, filter, mood, motivation, and energy messed with. Now no matter what you do, you can not budge the extra ‘fluff’ around the middle.

This is where most women hit peak frustration:

“I’m barely eating. I’m walking every day. I’ve cut out alcohol and sugar — but the weight just keeps creeping up.”

That’s because these hormone changes don’t just mess with your cycle or sleep — they mess with your metabolism too.

HERE’S WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING:

• Insulin resistance increases — meaning your body doesn’t respond as well to the hormone that moves sugar into your cells. More insulin in your blood = more fat storage (especially around the belly), craving carbs more often, and burning fat less efficiently.
• Your hunger and fullness hormones (ghrelin and leptin) also get out of sync — you don’t get that full feeling when you eat (your brain just isn’t listening to the signals your tummy is sending it), you feel hungry even after eating, and less satisfied after meals.
• Cortisol, your stress hormone, becomes harder to regulate — making belly fat stickier, sleep shakier, and anxiety, anger, and impatience higher.

These changes all feed into each other, creating a frustrating loop that no amount of calorie cutting or HIIT classes can fix.

But the good news? You *can* get off the hormone (and weight!) roller coaster — or at least downgrade it to the kiddy version — by adjusting what you eat, drink, and do to support your body to better adapt to the hormone changes.

WHAT ACTUALLY HELPS?

You can’t out-supplement or out-diet your way through this phase if you’re not supporting the systems underneath your hormones.

You need a strategy that helps your body adjust and adapt to this new hormone landscape. That means focusing on metabolic health, hormone smoothing, and foundational support - “the basics” — not restriction, punishment, or chasing “hormone balance.” Perimenopause is a state of imbalance!

In the free training “Why you can’t lose weight after 40: the 4 hormone shifts you can’t ignore,” I outline a 3-part strategy to help your body adapt to the hormone changes, so you feel amazing in your body through perimenopause and beyond:

1. REDUCE METABOLIC DYSFUNCTION

When your body’s in fat-storage mode, it’s often because of chronically high insulin, disrupted appetite hormones, and cortisol. So we start with:

• Eating in a way that steadies blood sugar (not spiking it with toast for breakfast or skipping meals altogether)
• Reducing stress loads where we can (including the “healthy” stress of intense workouts that might be too much for your body right now)

2. SMOOTH THE HORMONE FLUX

Rather than trying to "balance" hormones (which is not realistic in perimenopause), we:

• Use nutrition strategies that help soften the highs and lows — like phytoestrogen-rich foods, and thinking about not just what you eat, but when and why
• Support the liver, gut, and detox pathways to reduce the relative hormone excesses, especially estrogen
• Minimise the drivers of hormone swings — alcohol, poor sleep, ultra-processed food, and yes, unrelenting stress

3. SUPPORT YOUR FOUNDATIONS

It’s not just about nutrients — how, when, and why you eat is important too, especially when hormones are roller coasting around. You also need to support your foundations - or basics - what you drink, and do matters just as much as what you eat and when. Together this builds your body’s resilience to the changes, helping it adapt to the future low hormone states like a boss:

• Nutrient-rich foods to replenish the building blocks your body needs
• Plenty of water, safe-sun exposure, connection with people and activities that bring you joy
• Quality sleep to reset hormones like cortisol and insulin, and repair and restore brain function
• Gentle, consistent movement to maintain muscle, flexibility, and support insulin sensitivity
• Blood tests and symptom patterns (like the ones we work through in The Chaos to Calm Method) to guide what needs the most attention

The goal isn’t hormone balance — it’s about resilience and helping your body adapt to lower hormone levels, and function better in spite of the hormone chaos.

YOUR PERIMENOPAUSE EXPERIENCE IS THE SUM OF WHAT’S COME BEFORE

You can’t flog yourself with stress, late nights, poor nutrition, and overwork for 10–15 years… and then expect perimenopause to just breeze by because you took a supplement, applied some yam cream, or sported a hormone patch.

This transition is a summing-up of what’s come before.

This means that the earlier you can start supporting and nourishing your body, the easier that perimenopause can be for you.

But don’t despair — that doesn’t mean it’s too late, or that you’ve missed the window of opportunity to benefit from supporting your body - it just means you need to approach it differently.

Your body’s asking for support. Not restriction. Not punishment.

WORK WITH YOUR BODY, NOT AGAINST IT

This isn’t the beginning of the end. It’s the messy middle — and it’s a powerful opportunity, because the sooner you start helping it adapt, the smoother and more enjoyable this ride will be — not just for now, but for how you’ll feel in the next 10, 20, even 30 years.

You can keep spinning your wheels, chasing quick fixes that don’t work because they aren’t made for your phase of life…

Or you can start working with your body, not against it, and experience this phase of life as it can be - a time of transformation, growth, and feeling amazing in your body.

That’s exactly what we do inside PerimenoGO.

It’s a simple, practical, and realistic way to support your body with the food and lifestyle changes that make the biggest difference in how you feel. No calorie counting, no detox kits, no cutting out entire food groups. Just a smart, strategic method to help you move from confused and frustrated to clear and confident in what your body needs now.

👉 Want to learn more about how PerimenoGO helps you feel more like yourself again — in your body and your clothes? Tap here to explore the program now.