GLP1 Medications Explained Simply for Women in Perimenopause
How They Work, Why They Are So Popular, and What You Need to Know Before Considering Them
GLP1 medications are everywhere right now. It feels like suddenly everyone you know is either on Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, or talking about starting one. Weight loss that once felt impossible now looks effortless from the outside. Hunger disappears. Portions shrink. The scale moves quickly. And for women in perimenopause who have been stuck in the cycle of cravings, weight gain, fatigue, and frustration, these medications can feel like a miracle.
But what exactly are GLP1 medications. How do they actually work inside the body. Why are they so effective for appetite and weight loss. And most importantly, what do you really need to understand before considering one for yourself.
This blog is not written to scare you and it is not written to promote these drugs either. My role as a holistic nutritionist and metabolic balance coach is to help you understand what is happening inside your body so you can make informed, empowered decisions about your health rather than emotional ones driven by desperation.
Let us break this down simply.
What Is GLP1
GLP1 stands for glucagon like peptide one. It is a hormone that your body already makes naturally in the gut. Its primary job is to help regulate blood sugar, insulin release, digestion, and appetite.
When you eat, GLP1 is released from your intestines and sends signals to your brain and pancreas that help to:
Slow down how fast food moves through your stomach
Increase insulin release after meals
Reduce glucagon which raises blood sugar
Increase feelings of fullness
Decrease appetite
This is a beautiful system when it works properly. The problem is that for many women, especially in perimenopause, this system becomes dysregulated.
Years of blood sugar instability, chronic dieting, stress, lack of sleep, inflammation, insulin resistance, and hormone shifts all interfere with how well your natural GLP1 signaling works. The result is that fullness signals weaken, hunger signals get louder, and cravings become relentless.
GLP1 medications are synthetic versions of this hormone that stay active in the body far longer than your natural GLP1 ever could.
How GLP1 Medications Work in the Body
GLP1 medications work by mimicking this hormone and amplifying its effects. Once injected or taken as prescribed, the medication binds to GLP1 receptors throughout the body and creates a powerful cascade of changes.
Here is what happens physiologically.
Appetite Suppression
GLP1 medications directly affect the appetite control center in the brain. They reduce hunger signals and increase satiety signals. This is why many people report that food noise disappears and they simply are not interested in eating the way they used to.
This is not willpower. This is a drug driven neurological shift.
Slower Digestion
GLP1 slows gastric emptying. That means food stays in the stomach longer. This is one of the reasons people feel full faster and longer. It is also why nausea, bloating, and constipation are such common side effects.
Improved Blood Sugar Control
These medications increase insulin secretion after meals and suppress glucagon. This leads to lower post meal blood sugar spikes and improved blood sugar stability in many people.
This is one of the reasons GLP1 drugs were originally developed for type two diabetes.
Reduced Cravings
As blood sugar stabilizes and appetite hormones are suppressed, many people experience fewer cravings for sugar and refined carbohydrates. This can feel life changing for someone who has struggled with compulsive eating for years.
Why GLP1 Is So Effective for Weight Loss
Weight loss on GLP1 medications is not primarily happening because metabolism is being repaired. Weight loss is happening because total food intake drops dramatically.
People eat less because:
They feel full on much smaller portions
They feel nauseous if they overeat
They have little interest in food
Cravings quiet down
Emotional eating becomes harder when appetite is suppressed
Calorie intake often drops without conscious effort. This is why the scale moves quickly.
However, the body does not differentiate between intentional restriction and drug induced appetite suppression. From a metabolic perspective, long term under eating still creates adaptation over time.
This part of the conversation is rarely covered.
Why GLP1 Is So Appealing for Women in Perimenopause
Perimenopause creates a perfect storm metabolically.
Estrogen and progesterone fluctuations affect insulin sensitivity
Cortisol is often elevated from years of stress
Sleep quality declines
Muscle mass naturally decreases with age
Blood sugar stability becomes harder to maintain
Cravings intensify
Fat storage increases, especially in the abdomen
Many women reach a point where nothing seems to work anymore. The same strategies that worked in their thirties stop working in their forties. Weight creeps up, cravings become stronger, and energy crashes more often.
GLP1 medications appear to bypass all of this struggle. Hunger disappears without discipline. Weight drops without tracking. Cravings fade without effort.
From the outside it looks like freedom.
What GLP1 Is Not Doing
This is one of the most important parts of this education.
GLP1 medications do not fix the root causes of why metabolism became dysregulated in the first place. They do not rebuild insulin sensitivity at a cellular level long term. They do not repair nervous system dysregulation. They do not resolve emotional eating patterns. They do not rebuild lost lean muscle. They do not correct micronutrient deficiencies. They do not regulate sex hormones.
They silence appetite. That is their primary mechanism.
That does not make them inherently bad. But it does mean they are a tool, not a cure.
The Psychological Shift That Happens on GLP1
One of the most under discussed aspects of GLP1 use is the identity shift around food.
For many women, food has been a coping tool, a stress reliever, a comfort mechanism, and sometimes the only reliable pleasure in very full lives. When appetite disappears, that emotional relationship with food changes overnight.
Some women feel relief and freedom. Others feel grief, loss, or a strange emptiness. For women who have used food to regulate emotions for decades, suppressing appetite can feel disorienting.
This is one of the reasons emotional regulation work and nervous system healing are still essential even when appetite is chemically suppressed.
Who GLP1 Was Originally Designed For
GLP1 medications were not developed as general weight loss tools. They were developed for people with:
Type two diabetes
Severe insulin resistance
Advanced metabolic disease
Weight loss was originally observed as a side effect. That side effect then became the primary focus through media amplification and social pressure.
This matters because the risk to benefit ratio looks very different for someone with advanced diabetes than it does for someone who is struggling with five to twenty pounds of perimenopausal weight gain.
Common Early Side Effects
Many people tolerate GLP1 medications well. Others struggle significantly. The most common early side effects include:
Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Constipation
Loss of appetite
Fatigue
Headaches
Dizziness
Acid reflux
These symptoms are not random. They are the physiological result of slowed digestion, altered gut signaling, electrolyte changes, and reduced intake.
Some women push through these effects because the weight loss feels worth it. Others cannot tolerate the discomfort.
What Most People Are Not Told at the Beginning
Here are a few truth based realities that often get minimized.
This is a long term medication for most people. Appetite suppression is not permanent once the drug is removed.
Weight regain after stopping is very common.
Muscle loss can occur rapidly if protein intake and resistance training are not prioritized.
Nutrient deficiencies can develop due to reduced food intake.
Digestive motility can remain sluggish even after stopping in some individuals.
The underlying patterns that created cravings often remain beneath the surface.
This does not mean no one should ever use GLP1. It does mean informed consent matters deeply.
Where Holistic Metabolic Support Comes In
This is where nutrition therapy, nervous system regulation, blood sugar balancing, and root cause healing matter regardless of whether someone uses GLP1 or not.
If someone chooses to use GLP1, metabolic support becomes even more important to:
Prevent muscle loss
Support protein intake
Protect gut health
Maintain electrolyte balance
Stabilize blood sugar naturally
Prevent rebound weight gain
Support nervous system resilience
Preserve hormonal health
If someone does not choose to use GLP1, these same pillars become the foundation for restoring appetite hormones naturally.
There is no drug that replaces these core biological needs.
The Bigger Conversation That Is Just Beginning
GLP1 medications are not just a trend. They are the beginning of a massive shift in how medicine approaches weight, appetite, and metabolic disease. Over the next few years, access in Canada will expand, cost will change, and prescription rates will rise dramatically.
This will impact:
How people eat
How food is marketed
How weight is treated medically
How women see themselves
How metabolic health is understood
That is why education now matters so much.
In the next blogs in this series, we will explore:
How GLP1 access and pricing is expected to change in Canada
The coming GLP1 effect on the economy and food industry
What happens when you stop taking GLP1
The real side effects of long term use on the body
This conversation is only beginning.
A Grounded Truth for Women in Perimenopause
You are not broken because your metabolism feels different in your forties than it did in your twenties. You are not weak because cravings feel louder. You are not failing because weight is harder to lose.
Your body is responding to hormonal shifts, stress exposure, blood sugar history, muscle loss, nervous system overload, and years of dietary messaging that trained it into survival mode.
There are multiple paths to healing. There is no one size fits all solution. What matters most is that you understand your options clearly before choosing any path.
If GLP1 is something you are considering, or if you are already on one and feeling unsure, overwhelmed, or under supported, this is not something you should navigate alone. The body deserves nourishment, stability, and care no matter what medical tools are being used.
This is exactly why integrative support matters now more than ever.
If you are ready to take back control of your eating and feel good in your body again, I have three powerful ways to help you get started:
👉 Download my free 7 Day Sugar Reset Guide. It is your step by step blueprint to balance your meals, stop cravings, and stabilize blood sugar naturally.
👉 Check out my 7 Day Meal Plans available on my Linktree. They are designed to make healthy eating simple, balanced, and sustainable for only $9.99.
👉 Join my Fullscript supplement store for free and get access to professional-grade supplements that support blood sugar, hormones, gut health, liver detox, metabolism, stress, and sleep all shipped directly to your door. You can also shop my pre-made bundles so you don’t have to guess what your body needs.
You deserve to feel nourished, energized, and confident every single day.
If you are new here, Hi, I’m Sarah Seguin, a Holistic Nutritionist and Metabolic Balance Coach who helps women in perimenopause break free from sugar addiction, stabilize their blood sugar, rebalance their hormones, and finally feel energized, clear, calm, and in control again. I work with women who feel stuck in the cycle of cravings, emotional eating, brain fog, fatigue, bloating, and stubborn weight that just will not move and I show you how to reset your metabolism in a way that is gentle, nourishing, and sustainable.
The program I run, The Sugar Reset Method powered by Metabolic Balance, is a personalized nutrition and metabolic healing system designed specifically for your unique biochemistry. This is not a diet, not restriction, and not a temporary fix. It is a complete metabolic reset that teaches your body how to use food for fuel, stabilize hunger, reduce cravings naturally, support nervous system regulation, repair insulin sensitivity, and rebalance hormones from the inside out. Women who go through this program not only lose weight, gain energy, and improve mood they learn how to trust themselves and their body again.
If you are ready to start small, download my free 7 Day Sugar Reset Guide to begin balancing blood sugar and calming cravings right now. If you want extra support at the supplement level, you can join my Fullscript dispensary for free and shop practitioner-only brands or choose from my curated bundles created specifically for sugar cravings, hormone balance, and metabolic healing.
And if you are feeling called to deeper support, you can explore my coaching options and book a discovery call.
✨ Get all of the links here: Click here!
And make sure to follow me on social media so you do not miss daily guidance, recipes, education, and encouragement on your healing journey.
You are not meant to do this alone. I am right here with you.
To Your Health,
Sarah