Body Changes & Weight in Menopause: When Your Jeans Start Lying to You

One day your jeans fit, the next they’re plotting against you. You haven’t changed your diet, you’re still moving your body, but suddenly your midsection feels like it’s under new management. Welcome to menopause metabolism, the stage where your hormones start freelancing and your body decides it prefers storing energy right where your high-waisted trousers sit. Great.

What’s Actually Going On

Estrogen does more than run your menstrual cycle, it also helps control how your body uses fat and muscle. As estrogen levels drop, your metabolism naturally slows down a bit, and your body gets a little more “efficient” at storing energy (translation: belly fat shows up uninvited right in that little pouch at the front). To make matters worse, we tend to lose muscle mass as we age. Less muscle means fewer calories burned at rest, even if you’re doing the same workouts and eating the same foods. Throw in stress, less sleep, and maybe a few glasses of wine to cope, your hormones just shrug and say yep, I'll just set up camp here on your fat arse for the foreseeable.

Why Dieting Doesn’t Work (and Makes It Worse)

The biggest mistake most women make at this stage? Going on restrictive diets. Cutting calories too hard slows your metabolism even more and stresses your body, which triggers more cortisol (the stress hormone that loves to store belly fat). The goal isn’t to eat less, it’s to eat smarter.

What Actually Helps

• Prioritise protein: Protein builds muscle, keeps you full, and helps keep your metabolism ticking. Add it to every meal.

• Lift weights: Strength training is magic for midlife bodies. It boosts muscle, confidence, and metabolism.

• Sleep like it’s your job: Sleep deprivation messes with hunger hormones, so you crave sugar and carbs. Sleep when you're tired (even if it's an afternoon nana nap), you're body will thank you for it

• Don’t fear healthy fats: Avocado, olive oil, salmon all actually help balance hormones

• Hydrate: Dehydration can make you feel hungrier, crankier, and puffier than you really are. Aim for at least 2L per day.

You don’t have to overhaul your life, just add small, steady habits that work with your hormones instead of against them

Mindset Shift: It’s Not Just About the Scale

Your worth isn’t measured in kilos or dress sizes. Menopause isn’t a “before and after” moment, it’s a transitional reset. Your body’s doing a ton of invisible work right now, recalibrating everything from temperature to bone density. Of course, it’s going to look and feel different. That’s not failure, that’s simply biology

A Little Reminder

Midlife bodies aren’t broken. They’re evolving. The softer belly, new curves, the slower mornings, all tell a story of a body that’s lived, loved, and adapted through every season.

So next time you catch yourself criticizing your reflection just remember, you’re not 'letting yourself go', you’re letting yourself grow.