{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Menopause Unscripted Podcast","title":"5 Things No One Tells You About Oestrogen and Menopause Belly Fat | #0102 | The Menopause Unscripted Podcast","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2161,"description":"\n\nIf you’re in your 40s or 50s and wondering why your belly fat seemed to appear overnight, despite eating less, moving more, and “doing all the right things”, this episode of Menopause Unscripted is for you.\n\nIn this conversation, I break down the real reason menopause belly fat shows up, and it has nothing to do with laziness, lack of willpower, or eating the odd sweet. \n\nIt’s about oestrogen, how it actually behaves during perimenopause and menopause, and why most women have been given an oversimplified, unhelpful explanation that leads them straight into frustration, guilt, and burnout.\n\nI explain why oestrogen doesn’t just “drop”, but becomes chaotic and unpredictable, and how that hormonal instability changes the way your body uses food, stores fat, responds to stress, and protects itself. \n\nYou’ll understand why your jeans suddenly feel tighter, why dieting makes things worse, and why doing more cardio and cutting more calories is often the fastest way to inflame your body and lock fat around your middle.\n\nThis episode pulls apart the myth that belly fat is a personal failure and reframes it for what it really is: a biological response to hormonal change and chronic stress. \n\nI talk honestly about sugar, all-or-nothing thinking, restrictive dieting, and why menopause is the worst time to punish your body into submission. \n\nYou’ll hear why aggressive dieting disrupts hormone signalling, why cortisol becomes a bigger player when oestrogen drops, and why your body is not being stubborn, it’s trying to keep you safe.\n\nI also share what actually works: supporting your hormones instead of fighting them, eating enough protein, lifting weights instead of living on cardio, prioritising sleep, reducing stress, and understanding when hormone therapy may be a powerful and safe option. \n\nThis isn’t theory. \n\nIt’s based on over a decade of coaching women through perimenopause and menopause, and the real conversations I have every single day with women who feel stuck,...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/i9gr5pa-XDNs6KPC_Oyy2ckLYaRMVoij_QkWymN0h-g/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zMWJl/YTAwN2Y4NmY1NjRl/ZTc1ZTc4MmMyNTU5/NWM4My5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}