What’s Up With Unexplained Weight Loss During Perimenopause?
For many women, body image and weight are sensitive subjects throughout our lives – and just when we’ve gained enough life experience and confidence in middle age to start feeling comfortable in our skin, it begins. The pounds start mysteriously dropping (or adding on). Whether it’s unexplained weight loss or randomly putting on weight during perimenopause, you might find yourself asking:
What gives?!
Like many other perimenopause symptoms including hot flashes, insomnia, and changes in sex drive, weight fluctuations can be traced back to our fluctuating hormones.
The idea of sudden, unexplained weight loss during perimenopause (or, on the flip side, mysteriously gaining weight) can sound scary. Luckily, you don’t need to suffer!
How Hormones Can Lead To Unexplained Weight Loss During Perimenopause
We’re going to get a little science-y (but not too much!) and dive into the wild world of perimenopause hormones for this one.
You may not have thought about hormone fluctuations since you were a teenager, but the reality is that our middle-aged bodies are going through a very similar transformation.
The main difference between perimenopause and puberty is that instead of experiencing an influx of new hormones, our bodies are slowly saying goodbye to our sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone. As those hormone levels decrease,they impact a whole host of important regulatory hormones including cortisol and insulin.
When regulatory hormones are out of whack, women can experience loss of appetite, insomnia, and migraine headaches. All of these uncomfortable symptoms can contribute to unexplained weight loss during perimenopause.
What About Unwanted Weight Gain During Perimenopause?
On the other (perhaps more dreaded) hand, many women experience unwanted weight gain during perimenopause. This is also due to hormone fluctuations as our body’s normally finely-tuned processes adjust to things like decreased insulin sensitivity and spiking cortisol (stress) levels.
Unwanted Weight Gain? Check Your Thyroid!
Perimenopause is also the time when many women begin to experience Thyroid issues like hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, both of which cause unexpected weight fluctuations. Many of the symptoms of perimenopause and thyroid issues overlap, like fatigue and loss of sex drive, making thyroid disease both more common in perimenopausal woman and also harder to spot.
Unfortunately, conventional screening methods may not actually reflect what’s going on with your thyroid. The TSH test is one of the most commonly prescribed tests worldwide, and yet hundreds of thousands of people who are suffering from thyroid disease symptoms get TSH test results in the “normal” range. Find out more about testing your thyroid levels during perimenopause in our You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me! guide.
If you are experiencing symptoms like unexplained weight loss or gain, joint pain, loss of sex drive, fibrocystic breasts, hair loss or brittle hair, dry skin or dry eyes, you may want to ask your healthcare provider to test your total T3 and T4 levels (more on those below).
Which Hormones Cause Weight Swings During Perimenopause?
There are 7 major hormones that begin fluctuating during perimenopause. Keeping those hormones balanced is the key to managing unexplained weight loss during perimenopause, as well as any weight gain you might experience:
Estrogen & Progesterone
Insulin
Cortisol
Thyroid hormones
Leptin & Ghrelin
Balancing Your Hormones During Perimenopause
There are many ways in which our hormones can become imbalanced – perimenopause is just one of them. Illnesses like diabetes, injuries and trauma, toxins, sleep issues and stress may also cause hormone imbalances.
Balancing hormones (particularly during perimenopause) can pose a major challenge. Our hormone levels are unique to each of us and the signs and symptoms we experience during perimenopause are directly related to those hormone levels.
By knowing what each hormone is expected to do and what may happen in perimenopause, you will be prepared when speaking with your health care team about how to best balance your hormones!
7 Major Hormones That Affect Unexplained Weight Loss (and Weight Gain!) During Perimenopause
Estrogen & Progesterone
Estrogen is the predominant hormone in women. It is produced mainly by the ovaries. The adrenal glands and fat cells also produce smaller amounts of estrogen. Many women will experience estrogen dominance during perimenopause.
During perimenopause, our estrogen levels begin to decrease and will fluctuate significantly, causing fatigue, irregular periods, hot flashes, trouble sleeping, vaginal dryness & low sex drive, brain fog, mood swings, dry skin, migraines… and yes, unexplained (and unwanted!) weight gain.
Similarly to estrogen, progesterone is primarily produced by our ovaries, though some can be traced back to our adrenal glands as well.
Progesterone controls our well-being. During perimenopause, progesterone levels fluctuate and directly affect estrogen levels, tipping the scale of a healthy balance.
When progesterone is out of balance, women may experience migraines, irritability, rage, heavy periods, unpredictable menstrual cycles, painful & swollen breasts, weepiness, water retention, unexplained weight gain, and decreased sex drive.
Insulin
If you’re experiencing unexplained weight loss or weight gain during perimenopause, you may want to take a look at your insulin levels.
Insulin is the hormone in our bodies that is directly responsible for how our bodies use and store glucose and fat. This incredibly important hormone signals your body’s organs (liver, muscles, and fat) to pull glucose from your blood to use as energy.
Insulin sensitivity decreases during perimenopause, causing unexplained weight gain as your body experiences difficulty processing glucose.
Blood sugar levels are regulated by insulin. Changes in your insulin levels during perimenopause may throw your blood sugar off-balance, which may lead to over- or under-eating.
By maintaining a regular exercise regime, eating a healthy nutrient- and protein-dense diet, and making other lifestyle and diet adjustments, you can mitigate the effects of insulin imbalances during perimenopause.
Cortisol
Ah, cortisol – our primary stress hormone. This well-known hormone actually helps our bodies maintain their chief functioning processes. It also is a key player in nutrition, balancing energy by synthesizing the proper macronutrients our bodies need to function.
Cortisol also helps manage inflammation, regulates blood sugar, and influences our circadian rhythms.
Cortisol can become unbalanced during perimenopause when estrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate, creating a higher-stress experience of day-to-day life – and making stressful events even more difficult to handle.
When your body becomes stressed, cortisol levels can surge. When this happens, you may find yourself craving junk food and overeating. On the flip side, low cortisol levels may contribute to unexplained weight loss during perimenopause. When cortisol levels are low, loss of appetite, fatigue, and dizziness are common side effects.
Combat unexpected weight gain during perimenopause caused by high cortisol levels by hitting the gym to blow off steam – and get that endorphin rush!
Thyroid hormones
Your thyroid produces hormones that regulate all the processes in your body, from cell production and metabolism to growth and development.
The two thyroid hormones, Thyroxine (T4) and Triiodothyronine (T3) control your heart rate, body temperature, how quickly your body replaces dying cells, how fast your digestive tract works, and how quickly your body burns calories and gains or loses weight.
Once again, the culprit in causing thyroid hormone imbalances is estrogen. When estrogen levels decrease or increase, our T3 levels tank and our metabolic rate gets thrown off. When this happens, you may feel tired, and lethargic, and your body temperature will cool. All of these things, of course, contribute to pesky unexplained weight loss or gain during perimenopause.
Leptin & Ghrelin
These two lesser-known hormones are major players in appetite control! Leptin and Ghrelin are hormones that signal to your body and brain when it’s time to eat, and can influence how much and what you eat as well.
Leptin is released from fat cells as an appetite suppressant. Ghrelin is a hormone produced by your stomach that increases your appetite as needed and contributes heavily to your body weight.
During perimenopause, your sensitivity to leptin may decrease as estrogen levels rise and fall, causing out of control hunger hormones.
Eating a balanced diet and maintaining a healthy exercise routine can help keep your hunger hormones balanced, and stave away unexplained perimenopause weight loss and weight gain.
Keeping Unexplained, Unwanted Weight Swings At Bay
Each of our hormones are working together in a choreographed dance with specific steps. Achieving hormone balance can be a challenge because there’s no tried and true method for everyone – we all have hormone levels that are unique to us, and the signs and symptoms we experience in perimenopause are directly related to those levels.
Whether it’s unexplained weight loss during perimenopause or unwanted weight gain, knowing what each hormone is supposed to do can help keep all weight swings at bay. As always, consult your care team before making any changes to your regular diet, exercise, and nutrition routine!
Are you struggling with unexplained weight loss, weight gain, or other hormone-related issues during perimenopause? You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me! is the go-to resource for all-things perimenopause related. Download your guide now!