Lesley Reid Dietitian

Lesley Reid Dietitian My name is Lesley Reid and I have been practicing as a dietitian for over 25 years & I support people to enjoy feeling better

I have a Hons Degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, i have worked as a dietitian in England and Scotland, in the hospital, community and health information services (Healthy living Line). I have gained a vast knowledge in diet and nutrition over the years my specialist interest are Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Nutrtional Support, Diabetes, Weight Management, Obesity in Adults and Children, Food In

tolerance, Menopause, Cholesterol Lowering, Diet in Pregnancy, PCOS, Vegan and Vegetarian Diets, Cancer, Hypertension, Anaemia, Childrens diets and many more. I work out of Collabor8te which is based on Montrose Street in Glasgow with lockdown I also perform zoom and phone consultations also.

04/09/2026

The glamorous side of HRT nobody talks about… 😂

Every morning I apply my oestrogen gel and then begin the daily ritual of wandering around the house half dressed waiting for the bloody stuff to dry.

Make coffee ☕️
Feed the dog.
Brush teeth.
Question whether it’s dry yet.
Touch leg.
Nope.
Continue wandering about half naked.

HRT may be helping me feel more like myself again… but nobody mentioned I’d need to factor “oestrogen drying time” into my morning routine.

Please tell me I’m not the only one doing this 😂

Gel users — what do YOU do while you’re waiting for yours to dry? Wrong answers also very welcome 👇

01/09/2026

Here’s what you need to know if you’re using a weight-loss injection:

Being able to eat next to nothing is not a sign that it is working well.

Eating less is not the same as eating well—and this is where I worry we are getting it wrong.

Too many people are being shown how to inject and told to eat less, without being given the nutritional support they need.

Weight-loss medication can help quieten food noise, reduce hunger and make smaller portions feel more satisfying. That can be incredibly helpful.

But the medication is a tool. It shouldn’t be the whole treatment plan.

While you are taking it, you should also be learning how to:

• build balanced meals that keep you satisfied
• get enough protein to help protect your muscle
• include enough fibre and fluid to support your gut
• recognise your hunger and fullness signals
• slow down and chew your food properly
• manage emotional eating, stress and difficult food situations
• build habits that can support you long term

Otherwise, what happens when your appetite changes, your weight plateaus or you need to reduce or stop the medication?

We also need to stop treating the highest dose as the goal. Your dose should be reviewed around your response, side effects and individual needs—not increased simply because another month has passed.

The injection can create the quieter space you need to make changes—but you still deserve the nutritional and behavioural support to know what to do with that space.

If you’re taking a weight-loss injection, were you given proper nutrition support—or were you mainly shown how to inject and told to eat less?

Let me know in the comments. 👇

30/08/2026

I thought I had my HRT sorted… turns out my body had other ideas 🙄

So, a little update on where I am with my HRT.

I’ve recently changed from patches and cyclical progesterone to oestrogen gel and daily progesterone.

And it hasn’t all been plain sailing.

The two big things for me have been mood and bleeding.

I’ve increased my oestrogen gel and I’ve also changed when I take my progesterone — I’m now taking it on an empty stomach — and mood-wise I’m feeling SO much better.

More like me again.

The bleeding, however, is still being a bit of a pain.

For now, I’m keeping an eye on it and giving things time to settle. If it hasn’t improved after the next few months, I’ll go back and have it reviewed rather than just putting up with it.

I wanted to share this because sometimes we talk about HRT as though you start it, find the right prescription and that’s you sorted.

My experience certainly hasn’t been that straightforward.

It’s been a bit of trial, adjustment, review and figuring out what works for my body.

And actually, I think it’s important we talk about that side of it too.

Anyone else found their HRT has needed a bit of tweaking along the way?

26/08/2026

Collagen is everywhere just now—powders, drinks, gummies—and it is often marketed as something every woman needs during perimenopause.

But here’s what the marketing doesn’t always tell you…

The collagen you take doesn’t travel straight to your skin, hair or joints and become new collagen.

Your digestive system breaks it down into amino acids and small peptides. Your body then decides where those building blocks are needed—just as it does with protein from foods such as eggs, fish, meat, dairy, soya, beans and lentils.

Some studies suggest collagen supplements may lead to small improvements in skin hydration, elasticity or joint symptoms. But the evidence is still mixed, many studies are small, and there is no strong evidence that every perimenopausal woman needs to take one.

If you enjoy collagen and can afford it, that’s absolutely fine. But it isn’t magic—and it shouldn’t come before the basics:

🥚 Eating enough protein
🍓 Getting vitamin C to support collagen production
🏋️ Strength and resistance training
😴 Prioritising sleep
☀️ Protecting your skin from sun damage

You don’t need another expensive supplement just because you’re in perimenopause.

Get the foundations right first.

Have you been told you “need” collagen? Let me know in the comments.

25/08/2026

This is what Perimenopausal weight gain looks like when you’re doing everything right?

Does this sound familiar?

🍟You’re eating the same as you have always done, but your body looks different.

Same meals, same portions, same routine but your bodies playing by different rules. That’s not you slipping that’s hormones changing how your body handles food.

🍑You’ve cut your calories right down and it’s still not shifting.

Eating less should mean losing more. In perimenopause it doesn’t always work like that insulin resistance mean your body holds on tighter no matter how little you have on your plate.

😫You’re exhausting from over exercising and under eating.

Running on empty and pushing hard anyway. That combination doesn’t create results right now it creates more stress in your body that’s already dealing with enough.

🧁You could murder something for an empire biscuit.

Cravings hit harder than they used to it isn’t failing willpower. Blood sugars and hormones are working against you here, not your discipline.

🥵You are a sweaty mess every time you go to the gym with no results.

Putting in the work and getting nothing back is one of the most demoralising parts of this. Your body’s composition is shifting underneath you - muscle fat all of it - in ways that are hard workout alone can’t fix anymore.

🍷You’re staying of w**e and I’ve stopped doing fun things just in case it affects the scales.

When your whole life starts shrinking around a number on the scales, that’s not discipline that’s the scales winning.

📸You won’t join group photos because you don’t recognise yourself.

This is the one that hits the hardest. Your body has changed and it feels like it’s happening overnight even though it didn’t. That disconnection is real and you’re not alone and feeling it.

Comment YES 🙌 if even one of these sounds like

25/08/2026

Five things women over 40 learn too late about losing weight.

Number one.

HRT can help—but it isn’t a weight-loss treatment.

It may improve symptoms such as poor sleep, joint pain, brain fog and fatigue.

And when you feel better, looking after yourself can become much easier.

But HRT alone won’t make you lose weight.

Number two.

Your weight might stay the same, while your body shape changes.

As oestrogen levels change, we tend to store more fat around the middle.

At the same time, we may gradually lose muscle.

So if your clothes suddenly fit differently, even though the scales haven’t moved very much, you’re not imagining it.

Number three.

Your body may begin to handle food differently.

We can become slightly less sensitive to insulin, which can affect our blood sugar, hunger and energy levels.

That doesn’t mean you need to cut out carbohydrates.

But it does mean that including protein, fibre and balanced meals becomes even more important.

Number four.

Protecting your muscle matters just as much as losing fat.

If you severely restrict what you eat and lose weight quickly, some of that weight may come from muscle.

And the less muscle you have, the less energy your body uses.

So eating less and less isn’t always the answer.

And finally, number five.

Doing more and more cardio isn’t necessarily the answer either.

Walking and cardiovascular exercise are still really important.

But after 40, strength training, recovery and everyday movement all need to be part of the picture too.

Your body hasn’t suddenly failed you.

It has changed—and your approach needs to change with it.

Follow me if you want practical, honest advice about losing weight during perimenopause, without another extreme diet.

23/08/2026

A little glimpse into what I’ve been working on this week…

The big job was finally finishing my case study for my Menopause Health & Lifestyle accreditation — something I’d been procrastinating over for far too long!

What was really interesting about this case was that her food and exercise were actually pretty good. They weren’t the things we needed to “fix”.

Instead, we looked at her sleep and, after tracking it, started to see some really clear patterns. Spicy food, alcohol and her period were the biggest things affecting how well she slept.

We also spent quite a bit of time looking at work.

She’d recently changed jobs and didn’t want to fall back into the same pattern of having no boundaries and saying yes to everything. So we worked on learning to say no, protecting some of her own time and having tools she could use when work got crazy — including the 5,4,3,2,1 grounding technique.

A good reminder that sometimes improving how you feel in perimenopause isn’t about changing your diet or exercising more. Sometimes we need to look at everything else that’s going on around it.

As for me… after all that procrastinating, I finally got the case study written and submitted 🙌

And I finished the week with a fun afternoon at Creative Canva making some new B-roll videos — hence me looking very busy on my laptop, phone and writing in my journal 😂

So that was my week.

How was yours? What’s been your win this week?

21/08/2026

My biggest win this week? I finally finished my case study for my Menopause Health and Lifestyle accreditation.

My case study followed a woman who was already doing so much for her health. She had lost weight, exercised regularly and was taking HRT—but she was still struggling with sleep, anxiety and brain fog.

By tracking her symptoms, we identified that alcohol was having a big impact on her night sweats, sleep and how she felt the next day. We also worked on increasing the variety in her diet and managing her stress.

It was a great reminder that menopause support isn’t always about weight, food or exercise—it’s about looking at the whole person.

And yes, I’m absolutely celebrating pressing submit! What’s been your biggest win this week?

19/08/2026

You don’t need to count every calorie, train five times a week and hit 10,000 steps every day to lose your perimenopausal belly fat.

Because if that list already makes you feel exhausted, you’re not alone.

These things can all be useful—but they’re not compulsory. Trying to do everything at once often leaves you feeling overwhelmed, guilty and convinced you’ve failed when life inevitably gets in the way.

Perimenopausal weight loss isn’t about finding more things to squeeze into your already busy week.

It’s about working out what is actually getting in your way.

Perhaps you’re skipping meals, then picking all evening because you’re starving.

Perhaps you’re training hard but barely moving for the rest of the day.

Perhaps poor sleep is affecting your appetite, energy and motivation.

Or perhaps you’re trying to eat so little that it simply isn’t sustainable.

You don’t need to do everything perfectly.

You need a realistic plan that fits your body, your symptoms and your actual life—and then you need enough consistency to give it time to work.

Which “weight-loss rule” are you completely fed up trying to follow?

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Glasgow
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