How to Increase Your Metabolic Rate to be Healthy
Most noteworthy, metabolism is a process by which your body burns energy from food. Now, most people believe that raising your metabolism helps you burn more calories and therefore lose weight. But raising your metabolic rate is hard. In fact, to succeed, you need to do the following:
- 1First, eat healthy foods.
- 2Next, do regular cardio and strength workouts.
- 3By the way, reduce your stress levels and try to stay calm.
- 4Finally, get good sleep.
Proteins Best for Improved Metabolism
First and foremost, eating proteins causes the largest increase in the thermic effect of food. By the way, this thermic effect represents the extra calories needed to digest, absorb, and process nutrients in food. In fact, a process called thermogenesis, results in your body using about 10% of its calorie intake for digestion. Consequently, because your body digests proteins more slowly than fat or carbs, your body expends more energy absorbing nutrients in a high-protein diet.
Also, proteins increase your metabolic rate by 15 to 30 percent. In addition, proteins make you feel full and prevent you from overeating. And, this is especially true when you have proteins for breakfast. Therefore, eat a low-sugar, high protein breakfast in the morning.
By the way, a recent study, from Purdue University, found that diets high in protein may help preserve lean body mass, which is the best fat-burner of all.
Water
Next, cold water has been shown to increase resting metabolism by ten to thirty percent for up to an hour after drinking it. Furthermore, because the body increases the temperature of the cold water to the body’s temperature, cold water burns up more calories. By the way, you could also drink just plain cold water.
Green Tea
In the meantime, green tea has been shown to increase metabolism by four to five percent. In fact, the tea helps convert some of the fat into free fatty acids. Consequently, the amount of fat burned increases by 10 to 17 percent. Also, new evidence shows that the tea’s active ingredient, catechin, cranks up metabolic rate. Indeed, catechins may improve fat oxidation and thermogenesis.
Therefore, drinking five 8-ounce cups of green tea a day may increase your energy expenditure by 90 calories a day. By the way, that’s about 5 percent if you consume 1,800 calories in a day.
Coffee
Next, drink coffee because the caffeine in the coffee can boost metabolism by 3 to 11 percent and it promotes burning fat. However, coffee doesn’t have a significant effect on long term weight loss.
Vitamin B
Next, get enough vitamin B because it has an important role in the metabolic rate. Particularly, vitamin B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B6 (pyridoxine) are important. By the way, these vitamins are found in bananas, baked potatoes, eggs, peanut butter, spinach, whole-grain foods and orange juice, which you can make fresh using a juicer.
Fiber
Because fiber is indigestible, eat a diet rich in high fiber, as it will boosts metabolism. Most of all, soluble fiber uses up water as its digested and helps you feel fuller for longer time. Meanwhile, soluble fiber is found in brown rice, oat bran, and artichokes.
Next, insoluble fiber simply passes through your body. Indeed, in trying to digest and eliminate insoluble fiber, your body uses up more calories than with other foods. Consequently, you expend more calories digesting high-fiber foods than refined carbohydrates. By the way, foods high in insoluble fiber include wheat bran, beans, cauliflower, and apples.
Fatty Acids
Next, eat more omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon, herring, and tuna. Most of all, these foods ramp up your metabolism. Also, omega-3s balance blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and helps to regulate metabolism. In addition, omega-3s reduce resistance to the hormone leptin which is linked to how fast fat is burned. However, if you don’t like fish, use flaxseed oil, walnuts, or eggs fortified with omega-3s. or take omega-3 supplements.
Eat Breakfast To Gear Up Your Metabolism
Most noteworthy, studies show that those who have breakfast lost more weight than those who don’t. Especially relevant, when you are sleeping, your metabolic rate is low. Meanwhile, eating breakfast causes the metabolic rate to increase. But, if you skip breakfast, your metabolic rate continues to stay low and you won’t burn as many calories until you have something to eat, such as around lunchtime.
Muscle Mass
Most noteworthy, while one pound of fat cells burn about two calories per day, one pound of lean muscle at rest burns six calories per day. Now, to gain five pounds, of new lean muscles, takes an average of three to four months of strength training. Consequently, over a year its possible for you to gain about 20 pounds of lean muscle. And, these 20 pounds of lean muscles would consume 120 calories in a day or about 7 percent if you consume 1,800 calories in a day.
Regrettably, most regular exercisers only gain a few pounds of muscle. And, that is not enough to make a big difference in the number of calories you burn. In the meantime, when not in active use, muscles burn very few calories. Therefore, it’s important to regularly lift weights for stronger bones and muscles. So, make it a regular part of your weekly workout.
Also, strength training is good for you because the muscles, protect you from injury, makes your bones denser, and make you look good. In addition, strength training improves the overall shape of your physique.
Moreover, all you need to do to get these benefits, is strength-training for just a couple of times a week. In addition, you’ll reverse fifty percent of the seemingly inevitable metabolism slow-down that comes as you get older.
High Intensity Aerobics Speeds Up Your Metabolic Rate
Next, combining moderate aerobic exercises with strength training helps you keep the fat off that you do lose. Also, aerobic workouts strengthen both bones and muscles. In addition, aerobic workouts maintain your lean muscle mass. Furthermore, aerobic workouts increase your metabolic rate while burning calories.
Meanwhile, high intensity aerobics, that cause you to sweat, result in your metabolic rate staying higher for an extended period. Consequently, you will continue to burn calories even after you end your workout.
By and large, high intensity aerobics don’t have to be difficult to do. For example, just increase your workout intensity for 30 seconds and then return to your normal intensity. Meanwhile, during the high intensity period, your body uses up more oxygen and the mitochondria, in your cells, work harder to burn energy. Also, as you add these high intensity intervals, you increase the number of mitochondria and increase their efficiency as they burn calories throughout the day. As a result, you can exercise for less time.
For example, you can jog or run for five minutes at your normal pace. Then, jog or run as fast as you can for a minute or 30 seconds if a minute is too long. Now, go back to your normal pace for two minutes. And, repeat this sequence three times. Moreover, do this entire workout two or three times a week.
Stress Disrupts Your Metabolism
Now, stress increases levels of the body’s hormone cortisol. Regrettably, this causes people to eat more unhealthy foods, which, in turn, increases weight and disrupts metabolism.
Sleep Won't Boost Your Metabolism
By the way, getting a good night’s sleep won’t boost your metabolic rate. On the other hand, not sleeping well or not getting enough sleep will cause you to eat more calories than needed. Which, in turn, results in you putting on more weight.
Don’t Starve
Most of all, it’s important to never starve yourself to lose weight. Because, eating too few calories causes your metabolic rate to drop in order to conserve energy. Consequently, it becomes even more difficult to lose pounds in the future.
Therefore, eat at regular intervals. For example, if you weigh 120 pounds, you should try to eat 1,320 calories a day to avoid the metabolic rate from falling. Moreover, research shows that these women who eat less than 1,320 calories a day end up having their metabolic rate drop by almost 50 percent.
Finally
Finally, as you work to reduce fat and weight, hormonal changes occur because of the weight loss. And these hormonal changes make it harder to keep the weight off. As a result, more effort is needed to avoid gaining that weight back again. So, think about losing fat as a continuous effort to looking good and staying healthy. Also, to keep your metabolism high while dieting, eat enough calories to match your resting metabolic rate. By the way, the resting metabolic rate is what you’d burn if you stayed in bed all day. That’s about 1,330 calories for a 5’4”, 150 pound, 40-year old woman.