Fat loss, specifically as we get older, becomes more of a challenge.

What are all the components that absolutely must be in place in order to drop body fat as efficiently as possible?

Knowing how to lose body fat successfully can be pretty confusing.

There’s a lot of information floating around, so what advice is true and actually works?

The details are different for each individual, but the techniques are the same.

Let’s find out the truth about how to finally melt unwanted body fat!

1 – Balance Hormones

When there is a hormone imbalance in the body, it might not be affecting metabolism directly, but it does affect things like energy and sleep quality.

Not having enough energy, and not getting good quality sleep are both factors when it comes to successful fat loss.

Without the energy to exercise or stay moving during the day, for example, this really messes with metabolism and food cravings.

Additionally, Dr. Susan Sklar says, “There are many reasons for hormone decline leading to fatigue symptoms.

The first reason is the hormone decline in DHEA, testosterone, and thyroid hormone that occurs with aging.

Another is the loss of hormones with the perimenopause and menopause transitions.”

So checking with a health professional on how to get hormones back in balance is a great first step.

2 – Check Vitamins & Minerals

It’s been proven that we are not able to glean all of the vitamins and minerals our bodies need just from food alone, so we will have deficiencies.

An article in Scientific American stated: “Because of soil depletion, crops grown decades ago were much richer in vitamins and minerals than the varieties most of us get today.”

This means we are relying on supplements in order to feed our bodies what they require.

As an example that ties in hormones to minerals, a study on someone who had a zinc deficiency showed that by balancing their zinc levels, it increased their metabolism by 520 calories per day!

That’s like burning off an entire meal! Talk about a huge boost in controlling body fat.

Zinc is also beneficial for improving thyroid function and hormone levels, which can halt fat loss if not in balance.

Even if someone were doing everything “right,” like eating clean, exercising regularly, and basically living a “healthy” lifestyle, a zinc deficiency can be a wrench in the works if they’re not seeing results.

A simple blood test can reveal which vitamins and minerals need to be regulated.

3 – Empower Immune System

If someone is always getting colds, always getting sick, doesn’t it make sense that they’re always tired too? Illness drains the body of energy, making it impossible to be active.

All energy expended is going toward trying to fight off whatever bugs are attacking.

It’s common for people to be sick one week out of every month of the year. No lie.

This means that for 25% of the year, they are sick. The energy they use trying to get well again could be used to melt some body fat!

The immune system helps with recovery from exercise as well.

It works to heal muscles so the body is ready for the next round of activity. So even if someone isn’t getting “sick,” with a weakened immune system, muscle recovery is going to be slowed or not efficient.

Tips for boosting the immune system can be found here.

4 – Check Daily Diet

There’s a right way and a wrong way to eat in order to lose body fat.

The phrase to “eat anything and still lose weight” is not true, and not healthy. Meal timing is very important too. How?

A lot of people have a type of night-eating syndrome.

They don’t eat much during the day. But they skip breakfast, get a sandwich at lunch, and maybe have a big dinner.

Then they start Olympic speed-snacking after 5:00 P.M, which turns into a finger-food snackfest for the rest of the night… and this is largely due to sleep disturbances from the previous night.

If sleep was sketchy the night before, this can increase a hormone called cortisol.

Cortisol has been known to cause blood sugar dysregulation the next day.

When your blood sugar is low, how do you raise it? You have carbohydrates—bread, chips, candy, cookies—and eating these things especially after 5:00 is causing more problems.

But since carbs and cortisol also provide energy, it’s harder to fall asleep and stay asleep, so the cycle continues.

The bottom line is that once even one of these components is fixed (since they’re all tied together), fat loss and weight regulation will follow naturally.

Energy will increase and physical activity will no longer be a chore.

Sleep will be better quality, allowing the body to heal and reset at night. The immune system will be stronger.

A lot of people have it backwards: they feel like they need to lose weight in order to be healthy.

The reality is, we need to be healthy first in order to lose weight.

We look at things from the inside out first so our natural fat-burning system is running effectively!