6 Signs Your Hormones Could Be Out of Whack

Feeling tired, anxious, bloated, or just not like yourself? If you're a woman in your 40s or 50s navigating perimenopause, these symptoms could be signs of a hormonal imbalance — and no, you’re not imagining things.

During perimenopause, key hormones like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, and thyroid hormones begin to shift. These fluctuations can trigger everything from fatigue and brain fog to weight gain, mood swings, and trouble sleeping, leaving you feeling completely out of sync with your body.

So, how can you tell if your symptoms are hormone-related? While hormone testing offers the clearest picture, your body often gives you early warning signs when your hormone levels are out of balance. Let’s break down what to look for.

You’re Super Tired A Lot Of The Time

Most of us feel tired sometimes, but it’s usually just a bit of a blip that you can get past by catching up on sleep and making sure your lifestyle is healthy. If your fatigue is related to your hormones, though, it’s likely that you’ll still feel tired, no matter how much you manage to sleep.

Here are a few signs to watch for:

• You’re getting a good night's sleep and eating healthy, but you’re still feeling exhausted most or all of the time

• You alternate between extreme fatigue and periods of feeling wired. This could indicate that your stress hormone, cortisol, could be out of whack.

• If you find yourself feeling tired, moody and weak, your thyroid could be the culprit for fatigue.

You’re Really Struggling With Anxiety

Excessive stress and anxiety aren’t always strictly a mental health problem. Chronic stress can raise cortisol levels at inappropriate times, and this can potentially send the adrenal glands into overdrive. The end result? Anxiety, fatigue and even depression.

Estrogen is another hormone that can trigger feelings of anxiety when levels are less than optimal. Low levels of estrogen may also contribute to anxiety.

Thyroid hormones can also contribute to anxiety, especially if your body isn’t producing enough of them.

PMS That’s Suddenly Next-Level

Remember when PMS was a little bloating and moodiness? Now it might feel like an emotional rollercoaster — major irritability, intense cravings, headaches, or heavy periods.

This often points to estrogen dominance, where estrogen is too high in relation to progesterone. It’s especially common in perimenopause as ovulation becomes irregular (less ovulation = less progesterone).

Support your body with:

• Cruciferous veggies like broccoli, kale, and cauliflower (they help detox excess estrogen).

• Managing stress (which depletes progesterone).

• Prioritizing liver and gut health to support hormone metabolism.

  
  

  Here are a few more ways to help flush out excess estrogen to help minimize your PMS symptoms.

The Weight Won’t Budge — and You’re Doing Everything “Right”

You're watching what you eat. You’re exercising. And the scale still won’t move or worse, keeps creeping up (especially around your midsection).

This isn’t a willpower issue. It’s hormonal.

• Cortisol promotes belly fat storage, especially during chronic stress. If you just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to your weight, even when you’re exercising and eating healthy, it could be a sign that your cortisol levels need to be brought back into balance. Stress management can be a key part of doing this, and lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise can also help a lot. 

• Insulin resistance, which becomes more common in perimenopause, can make it harder to burn fat.

• Low thyroid slows metabolism and makes it harder to lose weight.

You’ve Noticed Changes To Your Skin And Hair

Hair thinning? Dry skin? Breakouts when you haven’t changed a thing in your routine?

This can be a sign of:

• Low estrogen (collagen and elasticity take a hit).

• Low thyroid (impacts hair growth, skin texture, and more).

• High androgens like DHEA or testosterone can trigger breakouts or hair loss.

Your skin and hair are often early messengers of internal imbalance — listen to them.

You Can’t Kick Your Cravings

If you're craving sugar, salty snacks, or carbs all the time — and feeling out of control around food — this could be hormonal, too.

• High cortisol = sugar and fat cravings (your brain wants quick energy).

• Low cortisol = salty cravings (your adrenals are depleted).

• Blood sugar imbalances = energy crashes, irritability, and even more cravings.

Keeping a food + mood journal can be a powerful tool for connecting the dots. Often, cravings aren’t about lack of willpower — they’re your body’s SOS signal.

So… What Now?

If this list feels familiar, you’re not broken. You’re in perimenopause. And while it’s completely normal for hormones to shift during this stage, feeling awful doesn’t have to be your new normal.

Inside the Nourish to Thrive program, we dig into the root causes of your symptoms — and help you finally lose weight, sleep better, and feel like yourself again.

👉 Learn more about the program here

In the meantime, you can grab the FREE HORMONE RESET GUIDE - Your hormones have changed — your nutrition should too.