When Hunger Roars

When Hunger Roars: Understanding ‘Stuff-Your-Face’ Hunger in

Peri-menopause

For the past five years, my life has been anchored in discipline.

I walked my way back to health. I learned to eat consciously. I controlled portions, understood my body, lost weight, slipped, recovered, and stayed committed. Food was no longer chaos, it was managed.

Until suddenly… it wasn’t.

For the last three to five months, something shifted. Every morning began with intention.

Today I’ll eat right. Today I’ll eat enough. Today I’ll stay in control.

And yet, by the end of the day, I would find myself having eaten more than I needed. Not mindlessly, but compulsively. Not joyfully, but urgently. Each night ended with discomfort, guilt, and that familiar sinking feeling of “What is wrong with me?”

The scale started creeping up.

I fought back harder.

I tightened control.

I questioned myself relentlessly.

Had I become careless?

Was I giving up?

Was five years of discipline slipping through my fingers?

The internal dialogue was brutal.

I analysed everything, stress, routine, emotions, motivation, commitment. I beat myself down for “knowing better” and still not doing better. I replayed every bite as evidence against myself.

Until one day, exhausted from fighting myself, I paused and asked a different question:

What if this hunger isn’t failure?

What if it’s information?

That question changed the direction of everything.

The Hunger That Doesn’t Whisper

This wasn’t normal hunger.

It wasn’t a gentle reminder to eat.

It was loud, urgent, almost panicked, the stuff-your-face-now kind.

It felt physical and emotional at the same time. As if my body was saying: “Please don’t ignore me.”

That’s when I began researching, not from fear, but from curiosity.

Is this kind of hunger normal in perimenopause?

Is this lack of discipline or hormonal reality?

The answer, quietly and clearly, was: yes, it’s normal.

What’s Really Happening Inside a Perimenopausal Body

During peri-menopause, oestrogen doesn’t decline politely, it fluctuates unpredictably. And estrogen plays a powerful role in:

• appetite regulation

• blood sugar stability

• fullness and satiety cues

As oestrogen becomes erratic, your brain receives mixed messages:

• fullness signals weaken

• hunger signals amplify

At the same time, many women experience mild insulin resistance. Blood sugar spikes faster and drops harder, triggering intense hunger and cravings, especially later in the day.

Layer onto this decades of emotional labour, leadership, caregiving, self-control, and cortisol exposure and the body does what it’s designed to do:

It demands fuel. Loudly.

This isn’t loss of control.

It’s survival biology recalibrating.

Why Willpower Suddenly Stops Working

This is where most of us spiral.

We respond with:

• tighter control

• stricter rules

• delayed meals

• self-judgment

But perimenopause is not a phase where brute discipline works. In fact, aggressive control often backfires, leading to evening overeating, emotional eating, and deeper shame.

The truth is uncomfortable but freeing:

This phase is not about eating less.

It’s about eating smarter and earlier, without fear.

The Reframe That Finally Brought Relief

Here’s the shift that changed my relationship with food again:

Hunger is not the enemy.

Misunderstood hunger is.

This isn’t my body rebelling.

It’s my body renegotiating balance.

What Actually Helps (Without Spirals)

1. Eating earlier, not harder

Perimenopausal bodies don’t like delayed fuel. Skipping or postponing meals often leads to ravenous evenings.

2. Protein becomes non-negotiable

Protein stabilises blood sugar and calms hunger hormones, far more effectively than restriction ever will.

3. Listening to the body, not the clock

This hunger is often about real need, not habit. When the body asks, responding thoughtfully matters.

4. Clean fuel, not punishment

The goal isn’t to eat less, it’s to eat what actually satisfies and sustains.

5. Removing moral judgement

Hunger is not weakness.

Eating is not failure.

This is biology, not broken discipline.

A Quiet Truth I’m Still Learning

Perimenopause isn’t the beginning of loss.

It’s the beginning of renegotiation.

My body isn’t asking me to fight it.

It’s asking me to understand it, without fear, without shame.

And the moment I stopped beating myself down and started listening, hunger softened. Not because it disappeared, but because it was finally heard.

If You’re In This Phase Too

Please know this:

You’re not failing.

You’re not behind.

You’re not broken.

You’re learning a new language, the language of a wiser body.

And once you learn to listen, hunger stops feeling like betrayal.

It becomes guidance.

Quiet. Honest. Powerful guidance.