Want to Burn Fat? Think About it Like Butter

Let’s face it, most people would be happier with a bit less body fat. But fat isn’t a villain; it’s a vital, living tissue that plays essential roles in hormone production, insulation, and energy storage. The issue isn’t that we have fat, it’s that in our modern lives, we often store too much of it and find it hard to shift.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight and felt stuck despite doing ‘everything right’, it might be time to take a different approach. Ditch the crash diets and punishing workouts for a moment. If you truly want to understand how your body burns fat, think of it like melting butter.

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Fat Burns Best Like Butter: Low and Slow

Have you ever tried to speed up melting butter by turning the heat up too high? What happens? It scorches. It burns. It becomes unusable. But on a low, steady flame, it melts down beautifully. Your body is just the same. Real fat burning doesn’t happen when you’re thrashing yourself in high-intensity workouts, skipping meals, or running on stress hormones, it happens when your system is calm, stable, and supported.

So, how does this gentle melt actually happen?

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The Role of Insulin: The Gatekeeper of Fat Burning

Insulin is your body’s energy-storage hormone. It rises after eating, during intense exercise, when sleep is disrupted, and in the second half of a woman’s menstrual cycle. When insulin is high, your body focuses on storing energy, not burning it.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just how we’re wired. But if insulin is always high, your body won’t dip into its fat stores and instead it’ll prefer to use quicker fuels like carbohydrates. 

It’s actually muscle that helps you buffer this. The more lean muscle you have, the more your body can absorb and store energy without turning it into fat. Think of muscle as a sponge, soaking up excess energy before it spills over into fat storage.

So to burn fat, insulin needs to drop. This happens:

• Between meals (no constant grazing)
• During deep, restorative sleep
• In low-intensity movement (like walking, yoga, or gentle cycling)

In these states, your body shifts into fat-oxidation mode: slow, steady energy. Like gently melting butter.

But aggressive calorie cutting backfires. If you don’t eat enough, your clever body will hold on to fat ‘just in case,’ and break down muscle instead - which will lower your metabolic rate and make fat loss even harder in the long run.

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Cortisol: The Fat-Locking Stress Hormone

Now let’s talk about cortisol, the ‘stress hormone’ that spikes with lack of sleep, overtraining, poor nutrition, and chronic stress. Cortisol is your body’s survival alarm bell. When it’s sounding, your body prioritises survival over fat burn.

Chronically elevated cortisol tells your body to store fat, especially around your belly, as a rainy day energy fund.  Worse still, cortisol keeps blood sugar high, which triggers up to three times more insulin to manage it. And as we’ve seen, more insulin = less fat burn.

In short: if you’re always ‘on’, wired, or anxious, your body simply won’t feel safe enough to use stored fat. It will guard it tightly, just in case.

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How to Actually Burn Fat

So, what does effective fat loss look like, without the crash and burn? 

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Here are your take-home tips:

1. Prioritise Sleep – Aim for 7–9 hours of quality rest to lower cortisol and support insulin sensitivity.
   
   
2. Build and Maintain Muscle – Strength training 2–4x a week increases your metabolic engine and improves fat utilisation.
   
   
3. Eat Balanced, Whole Foods – Avoid blood sugar spikes. Include protein, healthy fats, and fibre at every meal.
   
   
4. Avoid Constant Snacking – Allow breaks between meals so insulin can drop and fat oxidation can begin.
   
   
5. Embrace Low-Intensity Movement – Walk, stretch, cycle gently. This is prime fat-burning territory.
   
   
6. Manage Stress Daily – Meditation, nature, breathwork, or simply slowing down. Whatever helps you feel calm and safe.
   
   
7. Ditch the “More is More” Mentality – Overtraining and under-eating create hormonal chaos. Think smarter, not harder.
   
   

Final Thoughts

I would encourage you to think about fat loss as a rebalancing of your body’s systems, rather than a strict punishment. When you approach it with understanding and patience, you’ll lose fat, yes, but you’ll also feel stronger, more energised, and more in tune with what your body actually needs.

If you’re struggling with weight loss, and would like some expert advice, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can book a confidential quick consult with me here for an immediate discussion, or opt for the Weight Management Package (call or email based), for personalised nutritional and lifestyle guidance over four sessions, in addition to any targeted supplements.