Metabolism rate is one of the biggest factors that affects your ability to lose weight, and your particular rate can depend on a number of factors, such as genetics (you may have inherited it), age (your metabolic rate inevitably slows down as your age), and gender (men naturally have higher metabolisms than women because of their higher muscle mass).

However, there are things you can do increase your metabolism, such as exercising more regularly using a combination of cardiovascular activity and weights, and by making dietary and eating habit changes. But besides metabolism, there are many different factors that can affect weight loss in persons attempting to lose weight.

Genetically, you may be predisposed to weight loss difficulty with inherited conditions related to your thyroid gland, such as hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is suffered by people who have an underactive thyroid, and consequently have difficulty losing weight until the problem is corrected by regulating thyroxin levels.

If you’re having trouble losing weight, or seem to be inexplicably gaining weight, have your thyroid checked by a doctor.

Sleep can also affect your weight-loss efforts in opposing ways. On the one hand, you burn more calories awake than while sleeping, when your metabolism essentially is resting. So if you sleep long hours at night and also take naps during the day, you are likely sabotaging your weight-loss efforts. However, on the flip side, insomnia or not getting enough sleep at night can affect weight loss in a negative manner. It’s important to find the right balance of enough sleep but not too much sleep.

Also, think about the medications you take. While many people may not associate medications with weight loss or weight gain, the reality is some types of medication can actually hinder you from losing weight, particularly if you are taking the drugs daily or regularly. Find out about your drugs’ side-effects.

Finally, think about the types of foods you eat or don’t eat. Even if you don’t eat very much at all, if your diet is focused on refined foods with empty calories and without vitamins or minerals, they will be stored as fat as they are unusable by the body.

Further, essential fatty acids are a necessary part of everyone’s diet, and the addition of these healthy fats can actually help you lose weight and keep your weight regulated. The human body needs EFAs for hormonal, structural, and chemical functions instead of energy, and high levels can increase metabolism and aid weight loss.