The reason why perimenopausal women feel stuck...
This is something I get to hear from so many women around me…
“I’ve put on weight out of nowhere, I think it’s because I am getting older…”
“No matter what I try, nothing works”
“It feels like I bloated up overnight, and no matter what I try, this bloat is not going away”
All these are beliefs.
Our beliefs shape our behaviours, our behaviours provide us with evidence, and that evidence reinforces the initial belief.
Simply put: what you believe can become your destiny, because your brain will keep scanning for evidence saying, “you see, I told you, nothing works.”
On the other hand, you may see your colleague who took a weight loss jab and lost weight rapidly.
How come?
She’s perimenopausal too…
Is this magic?
Surely Mounjaro must be hacking your hormones…
The truth is: Ozempic, Mounjaro, and similar weight loss drugs decrease your appetite, slow gastric emptying, lower your cravings and food noise — so you end up eating fewer calories.
Fewer calories than your body needs daily, and you lose weight.
You’re simply in a calorie deficit — the same calorie deficit that many women claim doesn’t work for them when they track food.
So what seems like a “magic jab” is not really magic.
It’s artificially forcing your body to drop calories very low.
And this is what most women don’t want to hear — the solution has been there all along.
But what is often lacking is… consistency, accuracy, and honesty.
And to be fair — I know it’s not easy, especially during perimenopause when hunger, sleep, and stress can feel all over the place.
A lot of perimenopausal women I work with claim calorie tracking doesn’t work for them — until they admit they didn’t really track the nibbles during the day… that they didn’t track juices and milk… that they didn’t track the bites when tasting something a friend made… or they track Monday to Friday, and then Saturday and Sunday their tracking app is completely blank.
They may say, “I eat healthy” but… are you in a calorie deficit?
If a calorie deficit didn’t work — Mounjaro and Ozempic wouldn’t either.
It’s easier to take a jab and suppress hunger than to track calories, learn nutrition basics, and sit with a bit of hunger at times without gorging on food.
The problem is: if you stop the jabs and you haven’t changed your eating habits and behaviours, it becomes another “expensive” quick fix — and six months down the line, you’re back to feeling uncomfortable in your body, possibly with more body fat due to muscle mass loss in the process.
As much as I didn’t mean to write this post to talk about Ozempic (and I am not against it), I wanted to highlight that every method — whether it’s keto, paleo, green shakes, Mounjaro, calorie tracking, or intermittent fasting — is based on the same principle: a calorie deficit.
So if you’re saying “nothing works,” but we have plenty of real-life evidence that a calorie deficit works… why wouldn’t it work for you?
What are you missing?
Consistency? Accuracy? Honesty?
If you’re not sure where you’re going wrong and you want someone to help you get unstuck, feel free to reach out to me here…
As always, written with care and a small dose of tough love,
Paula,
Women’s Health & Wellness Coach