By Melissa Eich | Melissa Eich Wellness
You’re doing everything right. You haven’t changed what you’re eating. You’re still working out. And somehow, the scale keeps going up — sometimes a pound a week — and nothing you do seems to stop it.
On top of the weight gain, maybe you’re waking up soaking through your clothes at night. Your brain feels foggy by noon. Your periods have gotten heavier or more unpredictable. And the last week of your cycle feels unbearable in a way it never used to.
If you’ve been searching for answers around DUTCH test perimenopause weight gain, you’re in the right place.
If that’s where you are right now, this is for you.
What’s Actually Happening in Perimenopause
Perimenopause gets talked about like it’s something that happens in your 50s, right before menopause. But here’s what most women don’t know: perimenopause symptoms can start as early as your late 30s, and the whole journey averages eight years — sometimes up to 11 or 12.
So if you’re in your late 30s or early 40s and things feel off, this is not in your head. The wheels are just starting to get a little wobbly.
I like to think about perimenopause like driving a car down a bumpy road. The bumps are the hormonal highs and lows — estrogen and progesterone fluctuating, going really high and then really low. A healthy perimenopause journey feels bumpy, but you’re still moving forward. The problem is when the wheels fall off the car entirely. At that point, you can push on the gas all you want. You’re not going anywhere.
That’s when we need to figure out what is actually going on — not just guess.
Why Standard Blood Work Misses It
Most doctors won’t run labs to confirm perimenopause, and even when they do, standard serum blood draws only give you a snapshot of what’s in your blood at that moment. They can’t show you how your body is actually using your hormones. They can’t show you whether you’re detoxing estrogen properly. They can’t show you your full adrenal picture or what’s happening with your cortisol at different points throughout the day.
So you come back with a “normal” result, and you leave with no answers.
This is exactly why I use the DUTCH test with my clients.
What Is the DUTCH Test?
The DUTCH test stands for Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones. It’s a simple at-home test — you collect urine samples throughout the day and overnight, and it gives us a complete picture of what’s going on hormonally over a 24-hour period.
Here’s what makes it different from a standard blood draw: it shows us not just what hormones are available, but how your body is actually using them. We can see your estrogen and progesterone levels, your full adrenal picture, how your cortisol is being produced, and how well you’re detoxing your hormones through your liver and gut.
It tells a story. A blood draw gives you a number. The DUTCH test tells you why you feel the way you do.
If you’re local to the Sioux Falls area and looking for help with perimenopause weight gain, the DUTCH test is where I start with every client who walks through my door.
The connection between the DUTCH test, perimenopause, and weight gain is exactly why this is the test I reach for first.
My Own Story With Estrogen Dominance
I want to share my own experience with DUTCH test perimenopause weight gain because I think it’s the clearest way to show you what I mean.
A couple of years ago, I started gaining weight out of nowhere. Not slowly — fast. Almost a pound a week. I hadn’t changed anything. My nutrition was on point, I was moving my body consistently, and I still watched the scale go up.
On top of the weight gain, I was waking up at night soaking through my clothes. My brain fog was so bad I couldn’t get through a sentence without losing my train of thought. My anxiety was through the roof. And the week before my period was absolutely unbearable.
So I ran my own DUTCH test.
What it showed was that my estrogen was low overall — which is actually pretty typical for me — but I was not detoxing even that small amount of estrogen. So what was happening is that my body was reabsorbing the estrogen it couldn’t clear, putting it back through the cycle, and creating a buildup of what I call “dirty estrogen.” Estrogen that’s not protective – It’s estrogen causes problems.
This is called estrogen dominance, and it can happen even when your estrogen levels are low. That’s something a standard blood draw would completely miss. My estrogen would have come back low to normal, and that would have been the end of the conversation.
But on the DUTCH test, I could see the whole picture. And once I had that data, I knew exactly what to do.
What Estrogen Dominance Weight Gain Actually Looks Like
When your body isn’t detoxing estrogen properly, here’s what happens:
Your liver and gut are supposed to be doing the work of clearing estrogen from your body. When they can’t keep up, the estrogen gets reabsorbed and recirculated. Over time that creates an estrogen dominant picture, even in women with low estrogen production.
Estrogen dominance drives weight gain, especially around the midsection. It causes heavier, more painful periods. It contributes to brain fog, anxiety, and mood swings. And here’s something most people don’t know: those night sweats you’re waking up with? That’s your body trying to detox through sweat because it can’t detox efficiently through your liver and gut. It’s a last resort.
So when I see women who are gaining weight in midlife, waking up soaked at night, foggy during the day, and told their labs are fine — my first question is always: are you actually clearing your hormones?
What I Did Differently (And What You Can Do Too)
Once I had my DUTCH test results, I didn’t add more workouts. I didn’t restrict calories. I focused on three things:
First, I supported my liver so it could actually do the job of detoxing estrogen. That meant getting very strategic with my micronutrients and making sure my nutrition was giving my liver what it needed.
Second, I worked on my nervous system. My cortisol was low, which is common when your body has been under chronic stress for a long time. Adding intense workouts on top of that would have made things worse. My body needed space to recover and regulate.
Third, I added targeted supplementation to bridge the gap while my body caught up.
Within 8 to 10 weeks, the 10 pounds I had gained was gone. My energy came back. My brain fog lifted. My periods got so much better. And I felt like myself again.
That’s what happens when you have the right data and you work with your body instead of against it.
A Note on HRT
I want to talk about this because I’m seeing it come up more and more. A lot of women are starting HRT and either not feeling better or actually feeling worse. And if that’s you, I want you to know it’s not because HRT doesn’t work. It can be incredibly beneficial. I’m on HRT myself.
But HRT is a layer. And if you put a layer on top of a body that’s not clearing hormones properly, that has a dysregulated nervous system, that isn’t getting strategic nutrition and building muscle — you’re just adding fuel to a fire that hasn’t been managed yet.
The DUTCH test helps us see whether your body is actually ready to use HRT effectively. If it’s not, we build the foundation first. And when you add HRT on top of a body that’s actually working well, it can be a game changer.
Who This Is For
This work is for you if:
- You’re in midlife or perimenopause and your body has stopped responding the way it used to
- You’ve been told your labs are normal but you still don’t feel like yourself
- You’re dealing with unexplained weight gain, night sweats, brain fog, heavy periods, or mood changes
- You’re on HRT and not feeling any better
- You’re ready to stop guessing and get actual data
How to Get Started
I offer the Complete Hormone Package, which includes your DUTCH test, a personalized 12-week protocol built from your results, and three follow-up visits with me to track your progress.
We start with a free 20-minute consultation to go over your symptoms, your health history, and make sure this is the right fit for you.
You can book your consultation at www.melissaeichwellness.com, or DM me the word DUTCH on Instagram, and I’ll send you all the details.
If you’re near the Sioux Falls area and looking for in-person support, I’m also offering in-person consultations and follow-up visits at my office in Tea, SD. You can schedule a visit with me on my website: www.melissaeichwellness.com
You don’t have to keep guessing. The data is available. Let’s go find your answers.
Listen to the podcast episode by clicking here.
Book the complete hormone package here.
Keep taking care of you. Melissa
Melissa Eich is a nervous system, hormone, and somatic coach based in Tea, SD. She works with midlife women online and in person through functional hormone testing and personalized protocols.
Instagram: @melissa_eich | Website: www.melissaeichwellness.com
