Metabolism is defined as the rate at which your body burns calories. The higher your metabolism, the faster you burn calories, so a person with a high metabolism will lose weight more quickly. You can increase your metabolism with four simple changes to your lifestyle.
Step 1
Eat four to six small meals a day. Skipping meals does not help you lose weight. In fact, it can have the opposite effect. When you skip a meal, your body goes into "starvation" mode, signaling that it must conserve energy and slow down your metabolism. By eating smaller, more frequent meals, your body can quickly process these calories because it knows more are coming soon. Be sure to eat breakfast daily too because that will jump-start your metabolism for the day.
Don't consume more than your recommended intake of calories just because you are eating more frequently. Simply spread out those calories into more frequent meals. Likewise, consuming too few calories can also slow down your metabolism. Your daily intake should not fall below 1,200 calories.
Step 2
Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Make sure you are getting an adequate intake of vitamins, fiber, calcium and protein, and watch the amount of fat you consume. Eating less fat and more protein will help burn more calories. Your body needs protein to maintain its muscle mass, which you will see below is an important part of a high metabolism.
Coffee and tea have been shown to increase your metabolism because they are stimulants of your central nervous system. Also, drinking plenty of cold water throughout the day will help your body to function optimally and burn more calories because your body has to use calories to warm it up.
Step 3
Maintain a regular exercise regimen. This is the most effective way to increase your metabolism. The USDA recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of aerobic exercise daily and 60-90 minutes if you want to lose weight and maintain weight loss. Not only will you burn extra calories during a workout, but your metabolism will stay at a higher rate afterward and continue to burn more calories for up to eight hours.
Step 4
Add strength training to your regimen. Muscle burns more calories than fat because your body has to work harder to maintain its weight. So the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be. Men typically have higher metabolic rates than women because they tend to have more muscle. This can be changed though. Adding strength training two to three times a week to your routine will help boost metabolism, maintain lean muscle and burn more fat.
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