You have tried everything.  Been on every diet and exercise program.  Read every book.  Been to a dietician and followed personal trainers.  You watch Dr Oz even.

Yet despite your efforts nothing has worked.  Sure, you got some results here and there, lost a few pounds, but gained them right back.  Ultimately most people begin to feel hopeless at this point.  And many give up altogether on living a healthy life at a healthy weight.

So what do you do at this point?

First and most important, don’t give up.  You have not tried everything.  You can successfully reach and maintain a healthy weight.

Secondly, understand why the above is true.  Most diet and exercise programs being taught to the masses have fatal flaws.  They are built as one-size fits all recommendations that work for few, but fail for most.  They use “diet” and “challenge”‘ mentality which teaches nothing about how to make your weight work for you.  And lastly and most importantly, they do not take hormones and metabolism into account from the start.

Your metabolism is responsible for 60-70% of the calories you burn in a day and is effected by your hormones.  Not accurately measuring hormones, and testing for metabolism problems (through blood and saliva testing) when you embark on reaching a healthy weight is like running a race with your legs tied together.  It will be slow, and you will fall.

So now back to what to do when are ready to get to your healthy weight for good.

1)  Get Help.  Without a doubt the first step you should take is to get proper coaching from a professional.  Professionally guided programs not only increase your chances for success, they prevent you from resorting to tactics that could cause you more harm than good.

2)  Have Hormone and Metabolism testing completed.  Hormone and Metabolism testing evaluates for crucial problems that may be the source of your weight loss troubles.  This step is the most crucial, and yet the most overlooked.  Hormone and Metabolism testing should evaluate many factors including: thyroid, adrenal gland function, cortisol levels, hormones, inflammation, body fat levels and much more.  These tests are completed through blood and saliva testing and are almost never completed by your doctor, even upon request.  Obtaining the proper testing requires going to a facility that specializes in running these tests.

3)  Follow a process.  There is no one plan that will work for everyone.  The mix of how our hormones and metabolism work in our bodies to burn fat is all unique.  Just as we look different on the outside, our bodies work differently on the inside.  Plans fail because they are rigid and not built for the individual.  Processes are successful because they are built from the ground up, have flexibility, and at all times are adjusted to you.

4)  Learn.  Learn how your body responds to food, exercise, hormones, stress, etc.  Learning produces long term results by giving you the knowledge needed to make changes when things aren’t going right.  The process you follow should involve learning how the human body works and also provide you with a road map of how to be successful in the long run.

5)  Monitor your results.  When it comes to weight loss it is important to track progress not only by the scale, but also by actual body fat loss.  When one loses weight it can be water, muscle, and fat.  Losing fat is the desirable weight to lose.  If you are not monitoring actual fat loss, you may be losing mainly water and muscle.  Losing weight in the form of body fat is crucial to improving your metabolism.

Want to learn more?  Click here for more details on testing and treatment options for stubborn weight loss.