Eating Less but Still Struggling With Fat Loss in Perimenopause? 👀

Sep 30

Coach Erin McDonald discussing fat loss in perimenopause, consistent nutrition, strength training, protein, fiber, and body composition.

Eating less can seem like the obvious answer when fat loss slows down. But during perimenopause, repeatedly cutting calories, skipping meals, and pushing harder in the gym can make an already frustrating process feel even harder.

On Energy Shift With Erin, Coach Erin McDonald of 8 Wellness Collective explains why she wants women to look at the basics before making their approach more extreme. Hormonal fluctuations may be changing how you feel, but inconsistent fueling, low muscle mass, inadequate protein and fiber, and chronically dieting can add even more stress to the equation.

Her goal is not simply to help women see a smaller number on the scale. She wants them to focus on fat loss in perimenopause while retaining or building muscle, supporting energy, and creating habits they can actually maintain.

Why Perimenopause Can Make Dieting Feel Harder

Erin acknowledges that perimenopause can affect mood, energy, sleep, temperature regulation, stress, and body composition. She also explains that hormonal fluctuations can make women feel more sensitive to stress than they did in earlier years.

That matters when dieting itself has become another source of stress.

Many women reach this stage after years of rigid food rules, aggressive calorie cutting, or exercise routines focused more on burning calories than building muscle. Erin describes a common combination: women may be underfueled, lacking adequate muscle, and dealing with hormonal changes at the same time.

Instead of responding by eating even less, she encourages women to create more stability.

Consistent Fueling Matters More Than Extreme Calorie Cuts

One of the biggest patterns Erin sees is inconsistency.

A woman might eat around 1,200 calories one day, significantly more the next, then cut back again afterward. Erin believes those large swings can make the process more stressful and harder to sustain.

Her preference is to choose an appropriate calorie target and stay relatively close to it from day to day.

That does not mean everyone needs the same number of calories. Erin explains that needs depend partly on body weight, activity, movement, muscle mass, and the goal itself.

The bigger takeaway is simpler: stop automatically assuming lower is better.

For many women, constantly trying to live on 1,200 or 1,400 calories is not the foundation Erin wants to build on, particularly when strength training, daily movement, protein, and adequate nutrition are still missing.

Protein and Fiber Are Two Numbers Erin Wants Women to Know

Before worrying about complicated diet strategies, Erin asks women to look at two fundamentals: protein and fiber.

For protein, she suggests a minimum of about 100 grams per day for many women, with an approximate target of up to one gram per pound of goal body weight or current body weight depending on the individual and whether fat loss is a goal.

Her examples emphasize practicality rather than perfection. If your target is around 130 grams, a day at 120 and another at 135 is not something she wants women obsessing over.

She also recommends aiming for at least 25 grams of fiber per day from whole-food sources such as berries, nuts, seeds, vegetables, corn, corn tortillas, and popcorn.

Protein and fiber can both contribute to fullness and make meals more satisfying. Erin also connects adequate fiber with digestive health, an area many women notice changing during perimenopause.

Her overall message is to build meals that consistently nourish you rather than spend the day barely eating and then becoming exhausted, ravenous, or irritable later.

Strength Training Changes the Fat-Loss Equation

Muscle is a central part of Erin's approach to body composition.

She explains that women begin losing muscle as they move through adulthood if they are not actively maintaining or building it. When muscle is neglected, dieting becomes more difficult because there is less metabolically active tissue to support.

That is why Erin does not want women focusing only on weight loss.

The goal is fat loss with muscle retention or muscle gain.

She encourages women to strength train even if they are starting with only two sessions per week. Something, in her view, is better than nothing.

More muscle also changes what a successful result can look like. Simply becoming thinner is not necessarily the same as building the body composition, strength, energy, or long-term health someone actually wants.

Daily Movement Can Give You More Flexibility With Food

Erin also demonstrates a simple method she uses to estimate calorie needs.

She starts with current body weight and multiplies it by an activity factor, using approximately 12 for someone very sedentary, 14 for someone moderately active, and 15 for someone highly active.

For example, she uses a hypothetical 135-pound woman:

135 × 12 = approximately 1,620 calories
135 × 14 = approximately 1,890 calories
135 × 15 = approximately 2,025 calories

These are estimates, not individualized prescriptions.

What Erin wants women to notice is how activity changes the equation.

Someone who strength trains, walks regularly, and moves throughout the day may have more room to create a modest calorie deficit without driving food intake extremely low. A sedentary woman trying to cut significantly below an already lower estimated maintenance level has much less room to work with.

That is one reason Erin places so much emphasis on steps, workouts, and muscle rather than trying to achieve everything through calorie restriction.

Medications and Hormone Therapy Do Not Replace the Basics

Erin also discusses GLP-1 medications and hormone replacement therapy.

She is clear that she is not categorically against either one. She personally uses hormone replacement therapy and says medications can be helpful in certain contexts.

Her concern is treating them as substitutes for adequate nutrition, movement, and muscle.

Erin describes hormone therapy as something that may make symptoms feel quieter so a woman has more capacity to sleep, exercise, prepare meals, and follow through on supportive habits. She does not present HRT as a weight-loss drug.

Similarly, she does not believe every woman struggling with weight or body composition should automatically move to a GLP-1 before looking at her individual situation and basic health behaviors.

Her approach is to understand the data and the person first.

Simpler Does Not Always Mean Easier

None of Erin's recommendations are especially complicated.

Eat similar calories most days. Prioritize protein. Get enough fiber. Walk. Strength train. Support digestion. Build routines.

But simple and easy are not the same thing.

Consistency requires planning, especially when work, parenting, changing hormones, low energy, and everyday stress are competing for attention.

Erin's message is that adding more restriction is not always the solution. For women who have spent years believing progress requires eating less and pushing harder, a more productive next step may be learning how to fuel consistently, move regularly, and protect the muscle that supports their body composition goals.

🎧 Watch Energy Shift With Erin Conversation 🎧

In the full Energy Shift With Erin conversation, Coach Erin McDonald explains how she estimates calorie needs at different activity levels, why she prioritizes muscle during fat loss, and the protein, fiber, movement, and strength-training basics she wants women focusing on during perimenopause.