Whether you've been dieting and want to increase your food intake, or simply want to eat more, it's possible to do so without gaining weight. By monitoring diet and exercise, you can rev up your metabolism and take in more calories than you're used to without putting on a pound.
Step 1
Jump start your metabolism by eating breakfast in the morning. Metabolism is the process of converting what you eat and drink into energy. The higher your metabolic rate, the more calories you can eat without gaining weight.
Step 2
Drink caffeinated coffee. A study in the academic journal Physiology & Behavior found that the average metabolic rate of people who drank caffeinated coffee was 16 percent higher than that of those who drank decaf.
Step 3
Determine the caloric content of the extra food that you plan to eat per day. You can do this by using an online calorie counter (see References).
Step 4
Determine an exercise routine that will burn the same amount of calories as the extra food you plan to eat per day. Online tools can show you how many calories are burnt when performing an activity for a given amount of time. Aerobic exercises, like walking or jogging, will speed up your metabolism so you burn more calories for hours after you stop exercising.
Step 5
Eat six small meals a day to keep your metabolic rate high.
Step 6
Have some protein in each meal, ideally about 30g. Regularly consuming protein helps muscles to grow, and muscles burn more calories than fat.
Step 7
Avoid eating late at night, when metabolism slows down.
Step 8
Don't skip meals. This slows your metabolism, causing you to burn less calories throughout the day.
Step 9
Drink 8 to 12 (8-oz.) glasses of cold water per day. Those who drank this much per day had higher metabolic rates than those who only drank four glasses, according to a study from the University of Utah.
Step 10
Drink green tea. It also speeds up your metabolism.
Step 11
Watch your alcohol intake. Just two drinks can slow fat burning by 73 percent, according to a study from the University of California, Berkeley.
Step 12
Go to bed earlier. Not getting enough sleep affects your levels of leptin and ghrelin, hormones that help regulate energy use and appetite.
Things You'll Need
- Computer
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