Menopause
If you feel like your body has changed overnight — you’re not imagining it.
You haven’t changed anything. You’re eating the way you always have, maybe even less. You’re still exercising. And yet the weight keeps creeping on, particularly around your middle. Your sleep is disrupted. Your energy is gone by mid-afternoon. You feel irritable, foggy, and exhausted in a way that a good night’s sleep, if you could get one, doesn’t seem to fix.
You’ve tried cutting carbs. You’ve tried cutting sugar. You’ve told yourself you just need to be more dedicated. And when you reach for the chocolate at the end of a long day, you feel guilty about it, even though you’ve been running on empty since 6am.
Here’s what I want you to know: you are not broken. You are not failing. Your body is changing and the strategies that worked for you in your 30s are genuinely no longer the right tools for this stage of life.
I’m Kirstin, an Accredited Practising Dietitian specialising in menopause nutrition. I help women in perimenopause and beyond understand what’s actually happening in their bodies and build a way of eating that works with their changing hormones, not against them.
The Thing Nobody Tells You About Menopause and Weight
This is the part that surprises almost every woman I work with.
Eating less and moving more, the advice that has been repeated to women for decades, is often the very thing driving the weight gain, fatigue and symptoms you’re experiencing in perimenopause.
Here’s why. As oestrogen levels decline, your body’s ability to regulate energy, store fat and maintain muscle mass changes significantly. Insulin sensitivity shifts. Appetite signals become less reliable. Your body becomes more reactive to under-fuelling and when you restrict further in response to weight gain, you can actually make things worse.
This doesn’t mean calories don’t matter. It means that at this stage of life, what you eat, when you eat it and how much you eat needs to be recalibrated based on what your body actually needs now, not what worked fifteen years ago.
Understanding this is often the turning point for the women I work with. Not eating less. Eating differently.
What's Actually Happening in Your Body
The hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause affect far more than your reproductive system. Declining oestrogen has downstream effects on your metabolism, your bone density, your cardiovascular health, your mood, your sleep and your relationship with food. Understanding these changes, really understanding them, not just being told to “watch your weight and take calcium”, is the foundation of everything we do together.
Weight and body composition Weight redistribution around the midsection is one of the most common and distressing changes women experience in perimenopause. It’s driven largely by hormonal shifts rather than changes in behaviour, which is why the old approach of eating less and exercising more so often fails at this stage. The right nutritional strategy focuses on preserving muscle mass, supporting metabolic health and fuelling your body adequately rather than restricting further.
Energy and sleep Fatigue in perimenopause is rarely just about sleep, though disrupted sleep certainly makes everything harder. Blood sugar instability, under-fuelling and nutrient deficiencies all contribute to the energy crashes that make afternoons feel impossible. Addressing these through food is often faster and more effective than most women expect.
Bone health Oestrogen plays a critical role in maintaining bone density and its decline during menopause significantly increases the risk of osteoporosis over time. Building and protecting bone mass through calcium, vitamin D and protein, in the right amounts, from the right sources, is one of the most important long-term investments you can make during this stage of life.
Heart health The risk of cardiovascular disease rises after menopause due to changes in cholesterol levels, blood pressure and arterial flexibility. An eating pattern that actively supports heart health, reducing inflammatory foods, prioritising quality fats and including cardioprotective nutrients, is an important part of menopause care that is often overlooked.
Symptoms — hot flushes, mood, brain fog and more Certain foods and nutrients can meaningfully influence the severity of common menopause symptoms. Phytoestrogens, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium and B vitamins all have roles to play. Equally important is understanding which dietary patterns tend to worsen symptoms and making targeted adjustments that are realistic and sustainable for your life.
There is So Much Life Ahead of You
One of the most important things I do in my work is help women shift their perspective on this stage of life.
Many of the women I work with arrive grieving their old self, the body they had in their 30s, the energy they used to have, the ease with which things used to work. That grief is completely understandable. But it’s often based on a story that this is all downhill from here and that story simply isn’t true.
The women I work with who fully commit to the process don’t just manage their symptoms. They come out the other side feeling stronger, more knowledgeable and more in control of their health than they have in years. They stop second-guessing every food choice. They enjoy wine and chocolate without guilt because they understand there is a place for everything they love. They have the energy to handle the competing demands of work, family and everything else life is throwing at them. They feel proud of how they look, not because they’ve hit a number on the scale, but because they know they’ve done the work.
The goal isn’t to get back to who you were. It’s to become the strongest, healthiest version of who you are now and to set the foundation for an active, vital life well into the decades ahead.
How I Work - The Framework
My approach to menopause nutrition follows a four-stage framework I call RISE: Restore, Ignite, Sustain, Evolve. Each stage builds on the one before it, so instead of chasing quick fixes, we steadily restore the way your body feels and functions and build from there.Â
We begin by identifying your most prominent symptoms and concerns, because every woman’s perimenopause looks different and where we start depends entirely on what matters most to you right now. From there you receive a personalised roadmap outlining the path forward and a specific, guided plan for each stage that is constantly reviewed and adapted based on how things are progressing.
This is not a rigid protocol. It responds to you, your feedback and your life.
All consultations are delivered via telehealth video call, so you can see me from wherever is most convenient, no commute required.
Ways to Work With Me
Initial Consultation — 60 minutes A comprehensive assessment of your health history, symptoms, eating patterns and lifestyle. Followed by a personalised roadmap emailed after the session, outlining where to start, what to focus on first and how to progress over time.
Packages For women who want structured, ongoing support through each phase of their menopause care, I offer a range of packages:
- Foundation Package — Initial consultation + 1 review session. A clear plan and a strong starting point.
- Kickstart Package — Initial consultation + 2 review sessions. Support, accountability and early momentum.
- Transformation Package — Initial consultation + 5 review sessions. Guided support through each stage of the framework.
Review session bundles are also available for existing clients who want to continue working together.
Pricing for all consultations and packages is available through the booking page.
If you’re ready to book, I’d love to work with you.
If you’re not quite ready and would like to have a conversation first, I offer a complimentary 15-minute discovery call, a relaxed, no-obligation chat where you can share what’s going on, ask me anything and get a sense of whether we’d work well together. Many of the women I work with tell me they spent a long time thinking about reaching out before they finally did. Whenever you’re ready, I’m here.
Ready To Take the Next Step
Follow me on Instagram @glow_in_menopause.dietitian
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