If you’ve been eating well, moving your body, and you still find yourself asking, “Why won’t the weight budge?”, you are not alone. For many women, especially during perimenopause, menopause, or periods of prolonged stress, the common advice to “eat less and move more” can feel not only unhelpful but dismissive. It’s a broad, oversimplified phrase that doesn’t take into account your unique physiology, hormonal shifts, mental load, or any life context.

Sustainable change requires a more personalised, compassionate, and evidence-based approach, one that respects the full complexity of you and your health.

In this blog, we dismantle outdated myths about weight, explore the hidden role of hormones and brain-body signalling, and offer insight into sustainable solutions. Because when it comes to weight management, particularly for women, the issue is rarely just about willpower or calories.

The calorie equation has dominated weight loss advice for decades. While it’s true that energy balance matters, this model oversimplifies a vastly more complex reality.

The idea that weight loss is simply about burning more calories than you eat ignores factors like:

• Hormonal rhythms that regulate appetite, metabolism, and fat storage
• Stress signalling and cortisol’s role in fat retention
• Metabolic adaptations, especially after repeated dieting
• Sleep, trauma, and emotional health, which impact energy and cravings

According to Public Health England’s Health Matters: Obesity and the Food Environment, sustainable weight management must consider psychological, biological, and social drivers, not just caloric balance.¹

Understanding your body type, or more specifically, your body’s composition and metabolic tendencies, can help you take a more informed and less judgmental approach to health.

The three classic somatotypes are:

• Ectomorphs: lean, long limbs, faster metabolisms
• Mesomorphs: naturally muscular, balanced fat distribution
• Endomorphs: tend to store fat more easily, especially in the hips or midsection

While few people fit neatly into one category, these tendencies can influence how your body responds to exercise, food, and stress. For example, endomorphic women may experience more stubborn weight retention during menopause due to already slower metabolic rates combined with a drop in oestrogen.

Rather than forcing your body into a mould, understanding its natural rhythm allows you to work with it, and not against it.

At Uniquely Created U, we believe this self-awareness is such a powerful starting point. That’s why we take time to assess your body type, hormonal landscape, and individual goals as part of your personalised health plan. It’s not about labels, it’s about you understanding your own biology so we can support you in a way that feels aligned, achievable, and effective.

No two women are the same, and your health strategy shouldn’t be either.

Stress doesn’t just live in the mind; it’s a whole-body experience. When you are under chronic stress, your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA or HTPA) axis stays activated, meaning cortisol (the “stress hormone”) remains elevated. This has knock-on effects that can directly impact your metabolism and weight, such as:

• Increased appetite and cravings for high-energy foods
• Fat storage around the abdomen
• Disrupted sleep and circadian rhythms
• Slowed digestion and reduced insulin sensitivity

A UK study from the University College London (2017) showed that individuals with higher cortisol levels over time were more likely to have persistent obesity, particularly abdominal fat.² This reflects how stress physiology is protective in survival situations, but problematic in modern life, where stress, for some individuals, may rarely “switch off.”

As women approach midlife, hormonal fluctuations add another layer of complexity.

During perimenopause and menopause:

• Oestrogen declines, contributing to increased fat storage and reduced muscle mass
• Insulin sensitivity drops, making it easier to gain weight and harder to burn fat
• Leptin and ghrelin, hormones that regulate hunger and fullness, become dysregulated
• Sleep becomes disrupted, especially if individuals are experiencing night sweats and/or mood changes

This isn’t just anecdotal. NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) acknowledges that menopause is associated with metabolic changes that increase the risk of obesity and related conditions.³

But here's the truth: this stage of life isn’t a life sentence to weight gain.

At Uniquely Created U, we prepare a comprehensive, individualised approach that considers the full picture of every client; their previous and current mental health, individual food and movement preferences, alongside any medical issues for which they are currently receiving treatment or support.

Some relatively new drugs have been hailed throughout the media and online as revolutionary for weight loss; they mimic the GLP-1 hormone, which regulates appetite and blood sugar, helping users feel fuller faster.

While these medications can support certain individuals, they are not a cure-all. In fact, NICE guidance recommends semaglutide only for limited use (up to 2 years) in specific cases and in combination with lifestyle interventions.⁴

Concerns include:

• Weight regain once the medication is stopped
• Potential side effects (nausea, fatigue, gastrointestinal discomfort)
• Over-reliance on medical solutions without addressing root causes

Clinical trials also excluded many perimenopausal and menopausal women, so the long-term effects in this population remain under-researched.

In our work at Uniquely Created U, we respect medical innovation but raise concerns about the prolonged use of this treatment with caution. While these types of treatments may alleviate symptoms and offer some relief to long-term sufferers, they must not be viewed as an easy shortcut for the individual concerned or the prescriber. We strongly believe that weight regulation starts at the root, with a mind-body-movement approach for a long-term, sustainable solution, where the medical history, lifestyle and personal preferences of the individual have been fully taken into account.

Let’s name what often gets missed by many professionals trying to help an individual improve their weight. Weight changes aren’t just about the physical; they are often shaped by:

• Historical dieting patterns, which reduce metabolic flexibility
• Mental burnout, which impacts decision-making and habit change
• Poor sleep hygiene, which alters hunger and fullness hormones
• Unresolved trauma, particularly in care-experienced individuals or those with neurodiverse stress responses

These aren’t excuses, they’re explanations.

A recent longitudinal study in women showed that daily increases in stress led directly to emotional eating episodes, as confirmed by both cortisol measures and self-reported stress-eating logs.⁵ In midlife, another UK informed cohort found that depressive symptoms fuel stress eating, which was even stronger among postmenopausal women, linking hormonal shifts, mood, and eating behaviour to weight gain .⁶

This means weight gain or resistance to weight loss isn’t necessarily a failure of discipline; it can also be a signal that your body and brain are responding to deeper challenges.

At Uniquely Created U, we believe in sustainable solutions grounded in science and lived experience.

Here’s what we focus on with our clients:

1. Personalised nutrition based on body type, hormonal stage, and gut health
   No more blanket diets. We assess your unique metabolic profile, hormonal status, and any gut imbalances before designing your unique plan.
2. Stress mapping and resilience-building techniques
   We help you identify your stress patterns, whether emotional, physical, or cognitive, and teach practical methods for nervous system regulation.
3. Functional movement that meets your energy
   We move away from ‘punishment-based’ exercise. Our plans adapt to hormonal fluctuations and help rebuild muscle, mobility, and motivation.
4. Emotional literacy and mindset coaching
   We don’t separate mental and physical health. Your mindset, trauma history, and self-perception are all part of the process.
5. Integrative collaboration with trusted medical professionals
   Alongside our in-house GP, we have a much wider team of dietetic, nutritional health, behavioural change, and holistic wellbeing specialists. This integrated, 360-degree approach ensures your personalised plan is not only evidence-based but also sustainable, designed to support long-term transformation, not short-term fixes.

Weight management for women, particularly around midlife, is not just about food or fitness. It’s about hormones, stress, brain signalling, belief systems, and compassion.

If you’re feeling stuck, it’s not your fault. Your biology, environment, and experiences matter.

But here’s the good news: when you understand your body’s language, you gain back your agency.

Discover Your Elite Wellness Score, by answering just 6 questions, and receive a personalised snapshot of your physical, emotional, and hormonal health, designed to guide your next steps.

References

1. Public Health England. (2017). Health Matters: Obesity and the Food Environment. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-obesity-and-the-food-environment
2. Jackson, S. E., Kirschbaum, C., & Steptoe, A. (2017). Hair cortisol and adiposity in a population-based sample of 2,527 men and women aged 54 to 87 years. Obesity, 25(3), 539–544. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28229550/
3. NICE. (2015). Menopause: diagnosis and management (NG23). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng23
4. NICE. (2023). Semaglutide for managing overweight and obesity (TA875). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta875
5. Fowler, N., Griffiths, C. A., & Baird, A. (2022). Between- and within-person effects of stress on emotional eating in women: a longitudinal study over 49 days. Psychological Medicine, 53(11), 5167–5176. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10471857/
6. Larsen, J. K., van Strien, T., Eisinga, R., & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2017). Depressive symptoms and weight in midlife women: The role of stress eating and menopausal status. Midlife Women’s Health, 3, 6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5607068/