10 Things You Can Do To
Immediately Increase Your
Metabolismi
Struggling to lose weight? Continue reading for 10 simple things you can do to immediately
increase your metabolism …
“I am slightly overweight. I jog 3 miles a day,
and do resistance training 3 times a day. But
the weight still won’t come off.” How many
times have you heard people make these kinds
of statements? Why can’t they lose the extra
weight? Is this a common problem for the
majority of people who want to take off the
extra pounds? What factors determine the
ability to lose weight? There is no one simple
answer. But you can be sure that metabolism
plays a key role when it comes to losing
weight, and keeping it off.
Metabolism is the process of burning the
calories from the food we eat and converting
it into the energy needed to perform bodily
functions and for staying alive. The higher your
metabolic rate, the more calories are burned
for energy. The speed in which your body burn
calories and produce weight loss depends on a
variety of factors.
Some people are born with a high metabolic
rate. Since most men have bigger muscles than
women, they tend to have a higher metabolic
rate compared to women. Also, metabolism
slows down as you get older. This is why it is
more difficult for older people to lose weight
than younger people. Since we can’t control
our age, heredity, and sex, you are probably
wondering what, if anything, can be done to
increase your metabolism in order to make
weight loss possible.
The answer is ‘yes’. You can increase your
metabolism. Listed below are 10 things that
can be done to jumpstart your metabolism.
Lift weights at least 3 times a week. Muscle
helps burn fat. You need muscle mass to
increase your muscle tone. Toned muscles help
you increase your metabolism and your fat
burning. With good muscle tone, your body
will burn calories even when you are sleeping.
So strength training is always a good option if
you want to increase your metabolism.
Do regular cardio exercises , like biking or
jogging, along with circuit training, or cross
training workouts. Jogging is great for the
heart, but continuous, long distance cardio,
such as jogging, can lead to a decreased
metabolism. This is especially true if you are
on a low calorie diet. Adding high intensity
circuit training exercises to your cardio
workouts can stimulate the metabolic rate,
thereby, it will increase your metabolism.
Eat more high protein foods. Your body
expends about 10% of its calorie intake for the
digestion of nutrients. It takes longer for the
body to digest protein than fats or
carbohydrates. Therefore, your body uses
more energy digesting and absorbing the
nutrients in a diet high in proteins. Also,
muscle is primarily composed of protein
fibers. So, diets higher in protein helps to
produce lean muscle mass, which is a ‘fat-
burning factory’ in the body. Great sources of
protein for your diet are poultry, seafood, and
veggies such as beans, legumes, and tofu.
If you are on a diet low in carbohydrates,
eat one ‘cheat meal’ every 5-7 days that
contains as many carbohydrates and calories as
you desire. Low carbohydrate diets may help
you lose weight for a while. However, over a
period of time, the body will detect that you’re
taking in low energy nutrients and thereby
decrease the amount of calories burned in
order to ensure that the body will have
sufficient energy to maintain life. The result is
a lower metabolic rate. When you return to
normal eating, your metabolism will still be
low for a while, leading to weight gain.
You can counteract this metabolic slowdown by
eating a ‘cheat meal’ once a week. A cheat
meal can contain as many carbohydrates and
calories as you want. In most cases, this can
increase your metabolism, resulting in more
weight loss.
Drink more water. Water is very important in
speeding up your metabolism. Dehydration can
contribute to a low metabolic rate. You should
drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a
day. According to a recent research, drinking
more water significantly increases the
metabolic rate of a person by as much as 30%.
This is a very big deal and can lead to more
weight loss over a long period of time.
Eat foods that boost metabolism. Certain
nutrients have the ability to increase your
metabolism or body’s fat-burning power. Some
of these foods include egg white, lean meat,
chili peppers, coffee, green tea, low fat milk
and cheese, Whole grains, lentils, avocado,
asparagus, legumes, and true nuts,… just to
name a few.
Reduce your intake of trans fats. Trans fats
decreases the body’s ability to burn fat. They
attach to fat and liver cells and impede
metabolism. Ingesting trans fat can also result
in insulin resistance and inflammation, both of
which suppresses metabolism and can result in
weight gain. Examples of foods with large
amounts of trans fat are: french fries, any
food fried or battered, pie and pie crust,
margarine, cake mixers and frosting, pancakes
and waffles, and ice cream.
Move around as much as possible. In
addition to doing resistance training and
aerobic exercises, you should also be active for
the remaining part of the day. Working out for
30 minutes, and then sitting on the couch, or
behind a desk for 5 hours, will not do that
much for your metabolism. Walk the dog, or
play with your children. If you work behind a
desk, stand and walk around every 10-15
minutes. Take the stairs instead of the
elevator, and park at the farthest end of the
parking lot. Do a few stretches every now and
then. All of these activities can help burn more
calories and increase your metabolism. They
will also make you feel more energetic and
alert.
Eat a good breakfast every day. Eating a
hearty and healthful breakfast will keep you
full and give you the energy to perform your
morning tasks. This will also increase your
metabolism. When you don’t eat, your
metabolism slows down significantly to
conserve energy, and you will feel hungrier and
probably overeat at lunchtime.
Eat frequently throughout the day. As
explained above, it is very important to keep
some food in your system in order to keep
your metabolism up, and prevent you from
feeling hungry, and overeating later in the day.
You should eat 3 regular meals and at least 2
high-energy healthy snacks in between those
meals.
If you put the above practices into action, you
should see results very quickly. You will be
able to increase your metabolism, and the
weight will begin to come off.