Why Stress Makes Fat Loss Physically Impossible
If you’ve ever felt like your body refuses to respond to healthy eating and exercise during perimenopause, you’re not imagining things. Many women in their 40s and 50s discover that what once worked no longer does. The biggest reason? Stress.
This season of life is often the most overloaded we’ve ever been. Between mortgages, raising teenagers, caring for ageing parents, the domestic load, and navigating the peak of our careers - or even starting a whole new one - it’s no wonder our nervous systems feel stretched thin. Add fluctuating hormones into the mix, and the stress-fat connection becomes super clear.
Let’s break down why stress in perimenopause makes fat loss feel nearly impossible.
The Stress–Hormone Connection
When we’re under constant stress, our bodies release cortisol, the “stress hormone.” Cortisol isn’t inherently bad - it helps us wake up in the morning, fuels our brain for action, and gives us energy in short bursts. But when cortisol is elevated all day, every day, the body starts to behave differently.
Fat Storage Mode: Chronically high cortisol signals to the body that it’s unsafe to let go of fat. Instead, it stores fat - particularly around the belly - as an energy reserve for the “danger” it perceives we’re in.
Blood Sugar Imbalance: Cortisol raises blood glucose levels, which can trigger cravings for sugar and quick carbs. The more this cycle repeats, the more our insulin levels rise, pushing us further into fat-storage territory.
Muscle Breakdown: Long-term stress can break down lean muscle tissue, lowering metabolism and making it harder to burn calories efficiently.
During perimenopause, when estrogen and progesterone are already fluctuating, cortisol becomes even more disruptive. Lower progesterone reduces our ability to buffer stress, and declining estrogen impacts how we store fat and regulate appetite. In other words: stress lands harder on us now than it did in our 20s or 30s.
Why This Stage of Life Feels Like the Perfect Storm
Perimenopause collides with one of the busiest, most demanding life stages for women. You might be juggling:
A hefty mortgage or financial pressure.
Teenagers or young adults needing support, guidance, and resources.
Elderly parents who require care, time, and emotional energy.
Career peaks or pivots - either leading at the top of your field or reinventing yourself in a brand-new one.
Relationships that are shifting as children grow up or partners age.
Every one of these is stressful on its own. Together, they layer up until your body rarely gets a break from “fight or flight” mode. And here’s the kicker: when you’re in that state, fat loss is not just difficult - it’s physiologically blocked.
Why It’s Physically Impossible to Burn Fat in a State of Stress
Fat loss doesn’t happen in fight-or-flight mode. It happens in what’s called rest-and-digest mode, when your parasympathetic nervous system is dominant. This is the calm, safe state where your body feels it can release stored energy because it’s not worried about survival.
When you’re stressed, your body:
Prioritises immediate survival over long-term repair or fat burning.
Pumps glucose into the bloodstream for quick energy (even if you’re not moving).
Suppresses digestion, sleep, and recovery - all the things needed for steady metabolism.
In other words, you cannot diet, exercise, or willpower your way to fat loss if your nervous system is locked in stress. It’s like trying to drive with the handbrake on.
What to Do Instead
The good news is: you don’t need to remove all stress from your life (which, let’s be real, is impossible). Instead, you can teach your body how to return to calm more often, even in short windows of time. When the nervous system feels safe, hormones start to re-balance, cravings ease, and fat burning becomes possible again.
Here are some practical steps:
1. Prioritise Recovery as Much as Exercise
Strength training and walking are excellent in perimenopause, but if you’re exhausted or anxious, sometimes what you need more is a restorative activity like stretching, yoga, or a slow walk outdoors.
2. Create Mini Breaks in Your Day
Even two minutes of deep breathing between meetings, or stepping outside for sunlight, can signal to your body that it’s safe to relax.
3. Support Sleep Like It’s Sacred
Perimenopause can bring night sweats and insomnia, but protecting your sleep hygiene - cool bedroom, no screens late at night, magnesium support - pays off in lower cortisol and steadier appetite hormones.
4. Nourish, Don’t Punish
Extreme dieting adds more stress. Focus instead on balanced meals with adequate protein (30g per meal is a pillar of The Peri Plan), healthy fats, and fibre to stabilise blood sugar and reduce cortisol spikes. Grab a free meal plan here.
5. Let Go of Perfection
Sometimes the biggest stressor is the expectation we place on ourselves to “do it all.” Giving yourself permission to be human -to rest, to say no, to let something slide - can be the most effective fat-loss tool of all.
Perimenopause is not a broken stage of life - it’s a transitional one. But it collides with responsibilities that can leave us running on empty. When stress hormones take the wheel, the body holds on to fat for dear life, no matter how disciplined you are with food or exercise.
The path forward isn’t about pushing harder - it’s about creating safety and calm in your body. When you support your nervous system and work with your hormones, your metabolism will follow. Fat loss in perimenopause isn’t about deprivation. It’s about alignment, balance, and learning how to live in a body that’s calling for a different kind of care. Want to tackle this one together? Join the 21-Day Peri Reset.