Well, you can say it was probably a combination of things. I'm not sure if genetics could have played a role, but I'm sure personal stresses did. She had that bad breakup with Dave Grohl and problems with Nina Gordon at the same time. That must have been about 1998 if I remember correctly. Once her and Nina Gordon split her career was kinda fucked. I don't recall how much longer the bassist stuck around but the drummer they had at the time left as well to become the singer/guitarist for American-Hi Fi if you remember them. It just sounds like her world kind of collapsed around her and maybe she turned to heavy drinking or overeating to sooth the pain? She did put out "Resolver" and "Veruca Salt IV" without Nina, and I do honestly like both of those records. Do they lack the awesome vocals of the first 2? Yes, but once you get used to hearing just her voice alone they actually are pretty good songs.
She got bigger somewhere around 1999 or 2000 and had trimmed down quite a bit by the time I saw them tour in 2005. Not necessarily to a 1997 level, but definitely trimmed down some.
