Metabolism is the rate at which the body uses up nutrients for energy. Highly individual, metabolic rate is different from person to person and inherent from birth. Uncontrollable factors impacting metabolism include sex, age and body size. Your hormones also play a role, especially those produced within the thyroid gland. There are a few ways to speed up your metabolism.
Step 1
Start exercising daily to increase your basal metabolic rate. The BMR is the essence of the metabolism, helping control how fast or slow you use the food you consume. Aerobic exercise forces your body to burn more calories immediately as well as throughout the day.
Step 2
Eat a healthy breakfast every day. During sleep and rest periods the body slows down your metabolism to preserve energy. Eating breakfast revs the engines back up and signals your body to cue the metabolism.
Step 3
Start a low-fat diet if necessary. A doctor or health care professional can test your body composition with a variety of non-invasive tests including a skin fold measurement. Fat does not burn up calories as well as muscles and can hinder an otherwise healthy metabolism.
Step 4
Use hand held weights, a home gym or even cans of soup to start strength training. Building lean muscle mass will boost your BMR. One of the quickest ways to speed up metabolism is to give it the tools, like muscle, that it needs to function more efficiently. Lean muscle mass decreases throughout the life span unless you work to keep it.
Step 5
Get a check up. If nothing else has worked or you are having symptoms such as brittle hair, lethargy and concentration difficulties you may have a hormone imbalance. However rare, hormone imbalances will impact your metabolism. The most common offenders include diabetes and thyroid malfunctions, which can be hereditary.
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