Your metabolism is the speed at which you burn calories on a daily basis. If you are interested in losing weight, you will lose weight more easily if your metabolism is elevated. There are a variety of ways you can boost your metabolism to maximize fat burning and help you lose weight quickly.
Exercise
While you burn more calories while exercising, metabolism also stays elevated after you have finished. This phenomenon, once called oxygen debt, is now commonly known as called EPOC, which stands for post-exercise oxygen consumption. According to health and fitness guru, Dr. Len Kravitz, the harder your exercise session, the longer your post workout metabolism will be boosted.
Eat Small Meals Regularly
Eating requires energy and eating small frequent meals boosts your metabolism more than eating a single large meal. If you eat six small meals a day, your metabolism will be elevated six times a day. Make your meals roughly equal in size and eat at regular intervals, for example every 3 hours.
Be More Active
Non-exercise physical activity (NEPA) describes any movements you perform that are not classed as exercise. NEPA includes walking for transport, gardening, doing chores and playing with children. All of these activities will elevate your metabolic rate resulting in a greater daily energy expenditure.
Consume Protein
All food requires energy for ingestion, digestion, absorption and elimination but protein foods require the most. Protein has the highest thermal effect out of all the food groups, meaning that it raises your metabolic rate more than carbohydrates or fats. Include protein in every meal to maximize your metabolism.
Do Cardio Intervals
Standard cardio burns calories and boosts your metabolism, but interval training which produces lactic acid is more effective for raising your post-exercise metabolic rate. Lactic acid---which causes the burning feeling you get in your muscles during hard exercise---has to be removed. To do so, the body must increase its use of oxygen thereby also boosting metabolic rate.
Consume Caffeine
Drinks containing caffeine elevate your metabolism as they are nervous stimulants. Caffeine increases your heart and breathing rate. So long as you are not sensitive to caffeine, regular consumption during the day will boost your metabolism. Do not consume drinks containing too much caffeine too close to bed time as you may have trouble sleeping.
Don't Watch Too Much TV
Watching TV is a passive form of entertainment. Because very little energy is required when watching TV, your metabolism slows down. To avoid this, try more active forms of entertainment such as playing board or computer games, reading a book or chatting with friends and family. Better still, go for a walk.
Lower the Temperature
If you are cold, your body will attempt to warm you up by increasing the blood flow to your skin. This process involves raising your metabolic rate. You don't have to be freezing---just lower your house temperature slightly below what is comfortable to raise your metabolic rate.
Build Muscle
Muscle needs energy to sustain it, so by adding a small amount of muscle to your body, you will need more calories on a daily basis. Being slightly more muscular will increase your metabolism all of the time.
Eat Spicy Foods
In their book "Fire Up Your Metabolism: Nine Proven Principles for Burning Fat and Losing Weight Forever," Lyssie Lakatos and Tammy Lakatos Shames state that hot spices such as chili will elevate your metabolism and help you lose weight. They suggest adding hot spices to some of your meals on a regular basis but suggest you exercise moderation so as give yourself indigestion. Build up your tolerance gradually and only use this method of you really like hot food.
References
- "Fire Up Your Metabolism: Nine Proven Principles for Burning Fat and Losing Weight Forever";Lyssie Lakatos and Tammy Lakatos Shames;2004
- Resistance Training and EPOC; Jeff M. Reynolds and Len Kravitz, Ph.D.
- "The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook";Jillian Michaels;2010
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