Is it menopause or?

lessofme43

Been at this weight loss thing for 7 months-ish, slow & steady, 1 lb/week. I do still consider the initial step of counting/reducing calories to have been a big change, however, to how I ate my whole life long, so it stands to reason that my body was in shock (maybe?). I'm almost 44, dealing with peri-menopause for years already, with hot flashes, insomnia - things I managed in recent years with a natural progesterone cream. A few new symptoms have surfaced since I started MFP, such as hair loss (dry, breakage, not from the root, as far as I can tell), and irregular periods - mine have always been heavy, but now coming more often. Feeling better about how I look has not translated into a higher libido, sadly. I've started iron supplements a couple of months ago, but can't say it's making a noticeable difference yet. Here's the rub: menopause symptoms look alot like bad diet symptoms, how do I know what's the culprit here?