How to Accelerate Your Metabolism to Burn Fat
What is Metabolism?
To put it simple, your metabolism is the amount of energy in calories that your body burns in order to maintain its weight. Whether you’re sleeping, running, sitting, standing, riding in a car or eating a bowl of chocolate fudge ice cream, your body is constantly burning calories in order to keep you going. Think of it as a fire within you, burning your fat and food away.
On a side note I will tell you that as we age our metabolism slows down. It doesn’t stop, but it does change. The reason for this is because we have more lean muscle mass at 20 than we do at 70, and lean muscle mass is what helps burn calories.
Some people have faster metabolisms than others and are able to burn off the calories they eat and never gain an ounce. Others have metabolisms slower than a slug and everything they eat seems to stick with them and not get burned off. No two people are alike in the calories they burn and the rate of their metabolism.
So you may be thinking, is it possible to boost your metabolism in order to burn more calories and be able to lose weight? Evidence suggests that there are a number of ways to help maximize your metabolism in order to more efficiently consume the food we eat, whether we’re walking, reading or even sleeping. Boosting your metabolic rate is possible and I’ll show you how.
Don’t Diet, It’s Unhealthy
When we see beautiful models in magazines and svelte actresses in movies, we are tempted to cut down on our eating in order to lose weight and look more like them. We decide to stop eating as much so we can drop some pounds. Less food taken in should mean you’ll lose weight quickly, right? Not necessarily. Our bodies are very efficient at storing food as fat as a defense against starvation. When you cut your calories, and if you do it drastically enough, your body panics and go to starvation mode.
Severe restriction of calories is a sure fire way to cause your metabolism to slow down to a crawl. If you’ve been crash dieting for years without exercising, then your metabolism has been affected. Dieting like this burns muscle and the less muscle mass you have, the less calories you burn and the slower your metabolism. You will now need fewer calories to maintain your current weight. This means that if you consume more calories, your body won’t need to use them for energy and will store it as Fat.
When you put the weight back on, and you will if you’ve been crash dieting, then it will be put back on as fat. This means that your metabolic rate has probably dropped a little bit each time that you’ve crash dieted. Putting on more fat and losing muscle will cause your metabolism to slow down even more.
It seems like a cycle of doom, doesn’t it? It can be if you don’t break that cycle but I’m about to show you just how to increase your metabolism in order to burn the most calories possible, even when you’re sleeping.
You Want to Be Fit? It’s Going to Take Some Sweat!
Yes, it’s true. If you want to boost your metabolism, the very best thing you can do is to start moving your body. Some exercise is good for building muscle and some is good for just plain sweating and giving you a good cardio workout. While aerobic exercises like running, jogging, playing tennis or riding a bike will help you tone your body and maintain your weight, they don’t do a whole lot to increase your muscle mass which is what you need to do in order to boost your metabolism. Weight training and strength training help build muscle tissue and this is a good thing.
As you increase your muscle mass, and decrease your fat stores, your metabolism speeds up. It burns more of what you eat. Your body will require more calories to maintain itself, so if you increase your muscle mass, through weight training and strength training, and consume a lower calorie amount, you will lose weight. Boosting your metabolism through exercise is just one way to light up those calorie burning fires within you.
Start Eating Healthy.
You have to eat in order to keep your metabolism running in an optimal manner. Are you skipping breakfast in order to cut back on calories and lose weight?
Remember that not eating sends your body into survival mode, right? It believes you are starving and so slows down it’s metabolism in order to conserve its stores.
Let’s say you’ve been asleep for 8 hours. You didn’t have anything to eat for two to three or more hours before you went to bed last night. Now your body has been without food for about 11 or 12 hours. If you skip breakfast, you’re adding more time…
Now, what happens if you go to bed, get up and eat a healthy breakfast? You have, in essence, broken your fast. You’ve been fasting for ten or more hours and now it’s over. Your body can relax and get back to it’s normal duty, which is burning calories instead of storing them.
Eat small meals and eat them often during the day. Research has shown that breaking down the traditional three meals a day into six smaller meals, spaced evenly throughout the day will result in a boost to your metabolism.
Break down your meals into six smaller and HEALTHIER meals during the day. Lower your caloric intake in a healthy manner one simple way is to avoid white in your diet. Simple sugars, rice and refined flour are all absorbed quickly by your body and are turned into fat stores. Eat more complex carbohydrates. They take a longer time to be absorbed into your body and this enables your blood sugar to remain level. Try eating brown rice instead of white rice, whole grains in your breads and pasta made from wheat flour instead of white refined flours.
Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Water flushes out all the toxins that are set free when you’re losing weight. If you are dehydrated, your metabolism slows down. Try drinking very cold water Your body has to remain warm and it will boost your metabolism a bit each time it has to warm up after your glass of ice water.
Chill Out and Heat Up
Do you enjoy a nice long soak in a hot tub full of water hot enough to blister your skin? Who doesn’t? How about spending time in a steamy sauna with sweat pouring off your body? Maybe you like turning your thermostat down in the winter till it’s so cold you can see your breath in the house when you talk?
If these activities appeal to you then slap yourself on the back (yes that will burn calories too) because heating yourself up and chilling yourself down have been shown to boost your metabolism by about 20%. Speaking of heat, add a bit of spice to your life and your food. Studies have shown that eating spicy foods, those with cayenne pepper, or jalapeños or chili peppers will give a boost to your metabolism as well.
Sleep
You thought that getting a good night’s rest was just to avoid getting those matching bags under your eyes, didn’t’ you? Well, think again. Research has shown that if you get enough sleep at night, up to 8 hours or more it will keep you from gaining weight.
People who do not get enough rest are more prone to gaining weight. So get some rest. While you’re resting, you’re avoiding stress. Stress is known to increase your chances of gaining weight. Stress releases a steroid called cortisol which depresses your metabolism, thereby encouraging your body to conserve calories as fat.
Avoid stress at all costs. In the battle for a Healthier and Fitter You, boosting your metabolism is one of the best weapons you can have in your arsenal. Learn that increasing your metabolism means not starving yourself, it means getting out there and putting on some lean muscle mass, eating small meals throughout the day to keep your blood sugar level and it even means avoiding stress. Getting your internal fire burning will help you lose weight and feel better about yourself. Who could ask for more?