10 Quick Tips to Boost Your Metabolism and Achieve Fast Weight Loss
I have very often run into people who tell me that they would give a lot to increase their metabolism. For starters on this topic of metabolism and weight loss, you may wonder ask what is the benefit of a higher metabolism. My answer is simple. Having a high level of metabolism enables you to maintain, burn fat and lose weight fast with the least amount of activity.
But what is metabolism?
Though I am a dietician myself (with a degree in food science and technology, with specialization in Dietetics and human nutrition), the definition I will give you for metabolism is as lay as it can get. Right? okay. metabolism is the rate by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories to support life.
However, before I give you my quick tips, I have to first let you know that it is not all about the tips I give you here. Several other factors affect your metabolism. These may include but are not limited to; the amount of muscle tissue, the frequency of the meals one consumes, genetics, stress levels, personal diet, and activity levels.
In addition, other intrinsic and extrinsic factors can slow down metabolism such as loss of muscle because of not enough physical activity, the tendency of the body to eat up its tissue because there is not enough food energy to sustain it, and the decrease of physical activity that comes naturally with old age.
With the above in mind, Now there are quick tips that you can implement to boost your metabolism. I have listed these below for your consumption.
1. The first and highly recommended tip is to start building up on lean, mean body mass. Naturally, metabolism decreases along with age, but it is possible to counter the effects. The amount of muscle a person has is a very strong determinant in the ability to burn calories and shed fat. So it goes without saying that exercise is essential.
You can do your body and yourself a favor by building strength and resistance. You can do this by working out at least twice a week, preferably with weights. Do easy exercises in between workouts. Simple tasks such as walking the dog and using the stairs in place of the elevator can already take off calories. The key is to match the amount of eating to the amount of activity one has.
In most manuals and websites I have visited, here are some guidelines for getting the right exercise:
For strength training
-Increase the number of repetitions of a particular exercise
-Utilize advanced exercise techniques if possible
-Add the level of resistance
For cardiovascular training
-Insert intervals between exercises
-Perform cross-training and combine the exercises
-Add up on resistance and speed
2. Never ignore the most important meal of the day. A lot of people are ignoring the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Surprisingly, the ones who eat breakfast are thinner than the ones who do not. Metabolism can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if one waits until the afternoon to eat.
3. What about spicy foods? Yes, you should eat spicy foods that boost your metabolism. Hot cuisine with peppers can increase metabolism.
4. Avoid sugar. Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood sugar. Additionally, progressive exercise 2-3 times a week should be to stabilize blood sugar.
5. Sleep more. According to research, it is riskier for people who do not get enough sleep to gain weight. Also, muscles are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber.
6. Increase water intake. Water flushes out toxins that are produced whenever the body burns fat. The majority of bodily functions involve water, and lack of water causes the body system’s operations to decrease its speed and produces unneeded stress as a result.
7. Large Meals Vs Small, Frequent Meals. I never knew this until in the dietetics lecture at university. But What I learned is that avoid eating large chunks of food in one sitting. This greatly increases your calorie intake. And we have seen above that this slows your metabolism.
When you’re trying to lose fat you may want to skip meals to reduce your caloric intake, but a better–and easier–way to cut calories is to eat smaller meals more frequently. This keeps your metabolism running high. So I always recommend that you eat small frequent meals every 3 or 4 hours.
8. Never skip meals. People tend to skip meals to lose weight, which is a big mistake since it slows down metabolism.
9. Plan meals in detail. Always prepare the right amount of food to be consumed at the designated intervals. Do not commit the mistake of eating meals in sporadic patterns.
9. Ditch the stress! Stress, be it physical or emotional, triggers the release of a steroid called cortisol, which decreases metabolism. Also, people tend to eat excessively when stressed.
10. Green tea Vs coffee. I recommend that you increase your intake of green tea. In other words, guzzle up on green tea. Green tea can be used as a substitute for coffee. Tea can stimulate metabolism, and unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when too much is consumed.
Achieving the desired body weight is never impossible if one has the determination and patience needed to stabilize the metabolism level, which plays an important role in weight loss. A person needs to realize that eating right and working out is not just a passing fancy, but a way of life.