Every single voluntary and involuntary action that you go through in a day's time causes a caloric expenditure. All of these actions take calories to perform, and your metabolism is the rate at which your body uses calories for these processes. If you have a slow metabolism, you are more susceptible to gaining weight, but there are several things you can do to boost your metabolic rate.
Small Meals
In an attempt to lose weight, a lot of people take the road of severe caloric restriction. This might be effective for a short time, but eventually your body is going to go into starvation mode, not knowing when it is going to get fed again. This in turn will cause you to hold on to stored fat for energy, and your metabolism will become really slow. To boost your metabolism, eat small, frequent meals every two to three hours throughout the course of the day. Every time you eat one of these meals, your body will burn calories to digest the food, and there will not be any leftover calories to be stored as fat. This is called the "thermic effect" of food. When you eat small, frequent meals you can also receive other benefits like appetite control, increased energy and stabilized blood sugar levels. Your meals should be a balance of protein and complex carbs.
Foods
Even if you eat multiple meals a day, you still need to be cognizant of what you are eating. If you eat foods that can slow down your metabolism, than you are not going to get as good of a boost. Avoid fast food, deep fried foods, refined white flour products, commercial baked goods and high-fat dairy products. Not only can these foods slow down your metabolism, but they are also low in nutrient value. Eat nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, beans and lean sources of protein. Also eliminate high amounts of sugary beverages and alcohol.
Breakfast
There is a reason why breakfast is heralded as the most important meal of the day. Not only can it give you energy after a long night's fast, but it can also kickstart your metabolism. A few examples of items you can eat for breakfast include all-bran cereal, oatmeal with low-fat milk, granola and yogurt or an egg white scramble.
Exercise
Muscle is metabolically active tissue that can keep your metabolism elevated for long periods after you are done working out. Perform exercises that target all of your major muscle groups like bench presses, shoulder presses, back rows, triceps dips, biceps curls and lunges. Do 12 to 15 reps with moderate weights, and do three to four sets. Do weight training three days a week on alternating days. On the other three days, do cardiovascular exercise for 30 to 45 minutes as it can also help increase your metabolism.
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