Hi & welcome!

Skip the leptin reset & IF. They are not likely to help the issues you are dealing with.

Vitamin D3 sufficiency made a HUGE difference for me & now I have no perimenopausal symptoms at 49.5 years. D3 is needed for good sleep, fat loss and is a hormone precursor.

Since you live in the UK, I can almost guarantee you that you are deficient in D3. More info at www.vitamindcouncil.org

This article will be helpful.

Also, sufficient A, K, and Magnesium are needed as co-factors for D.

Zinc is needed for good hormonal balance.

All my joint aches disappeared on daily supplementation of 500 Neptune Krill Oil.

I have a blog post that may be helpful: http://www.sondrarose.com/nutrition-for-a-juicy-menopause

Are you experiencing any other symptoms that may indicate neurotransmitter levels are unbalanced? Lack of energy or focus, risk taking, memory problems, etc. I would suggest having a neuroscience panel done. My nutritionist ordered one & found my serotonin was low and dopamine was high. She gave me a high quality 5-HTP supplement which has made a world of difference to my sleep and my energy & focus.

"I think it's more likely an issue with my hip flexor although it's bizarre that it always flares up before and during my period..."

Not bizarre at all, water retention plays a huge role in joint health and inflammation.

I tried the leptin-reset protocol, and it didn't do very much for me. Your mileage may vary but I'm not going to suggest you start picking boogeymen to fight (such as leptin), before knowing if they are the actual ones plaguing you (in other words, get tested for Leptin resistance before jumping into an LRP, or any other treatment-diet for chronic issues).

I think you will find that if you swap out that jogging for walking, you might deal with a little less hip stress, least that was my case.

I would like to know what you do eat and drink, in any given day. There is a possibility that you might still be getting an inflammatory toxin in there somewhere, and although there are other factors at work (the menopause, jogging, hip pain, etc), minimizing the inflammatory foods in your diet will reduce one of the stressors causing your issues.

I have suffered from problematic hip issues my whole life, and like an idiot I went on compete in several strength sports, where it plagued me intermittently throughout my life (and still does to a much lessened extent). I've found that an ice pack around the hip area, sandwiched between my skin and some compression shorts, works wonders quite well for localized inflammation. That, and removing certain foods that I know cause me issue.

Paleo absolutely helped me lose weight, but I know I am not alone here in finding that my caloric intake did matter. Using Fitday to track what I eat really helped me figure out exactly what I could eat if I wanted to keep losing.

Other things that helped: regular slow exercise (walking and yoga) plus weight lifting, not snacking (this is true for me regardless of caloric intake), getting lots of sleep (sorry I can't help you with that), avoiding sugar (again, I find this to be true regardless of caloric intake -- fruit doesn't cause problems for me, but too much chocolate or other sweets does).

The glory of Fitday is that it allows you to figure out what works for YOU. The glory of paleo is that you can usually find ways to tweak your diet so that you've cut calories, but don't have to be hungry -- low fat diets never worked for me because I can't stand being hungry.

I'm a little older than you, and would guess that I eat far more carb than you (I currently average about 25-30%).

When I started bio identical hormones ( to fight migraines), a hip pain I had while sleeping on one side disappeared.

giving up dairy seems to have worked better for me, for losing weight.

As did being honest about what I was eating (i.e. no goldfish crackers even if the toddler does shove them in my mouth).

With those two, and adding some more strength training, I've been able to add back in more regular dark chocolate, and daily blueberries, and up the calories but still be losing.

It could be some simple tweaks to what you are doing, that will help.

I can eat almonds, for example, and I think they do help my insulin resistance, but I can only manage an ounce, or an ounce and a half max.

Also, for me, my weight loss is not regular. I will remain the same for 4, 6, even 8 weeks then lose all that I should have lost in one week. I will drop 10 pounds in 7 days, no joke.

It could be, too, that your body is getting adjusted to what you do. maybe shaking up your diet and exercise is enough to get things moving again.

I highly recommend Marcelle Pick's two books Are You Tired and Wired? and The Core Balance Diet! She offers great insights into the link between hormones, diet, and weight. You may also want to check out her clinic's web site - www.womentowomen.com - I've found the newsletters about womens' health issues super helpful! Good luck!

The pain you are describing (chronic abdominal, worse near cycle, pain in hip flexors) is something I've dealt with the past few years. I have a very localized abdominal pain about 2 in right of my navel. And a nerve/muscle pain that makes my right hip sore, and sometimes shoots down the top inside of my right leg. Very tied to cycle.

My holistic gyn has told me that it's endometriosis. At this point, I'm just trying to minimize the pain until I get through menopause. I've had ultrasounds, CAT scans, you name it. Here are some things I've tried that have worked (other than going paleo, which made a huge difference, of course):

-Vitamin D

-Vitamin B (I take these chewable ones by Solaray)

-Magnesium (I alternate between several sources: Mg oil, bath in epsom salts, Natural Calm Mg Citrate drink, and capsule of chelated Mg)

This amazing stretch for hip flexors: http://www.mobilitywod.com/2010/08/dont-go-in-pain-cave.html

And here is the weirdest one: being upside down! Not during your cycle, but other times of the month. I just hang off my couch for about 5 minutes, lol. I started doing it bc I'm trying to learn how to do handstands, and just being upside down was making me dizzy. So I thought I'd try a little at home. Lo and behold, it took the pain down a notch.

All of these things have helped a little, and collectively I feel much better.

If you are getting insufficient sleep, that could certainly contribute to the stall in weight loss.