If your fitness goal includes losing weight, maintaining your weight or building lean muscle, you can probably benefit from a faster metabolism. Even you if do not have a complete understanding of your metabolism, you may have heard that eating every three hours can increase your metabolism. Maybe you are curious to see if this is true or how to structure your dietary habits to maximize your metabolic rate.
Eating Frequently
It's true, eating every three hours really does raise your metabolism, according to Penn State University. When you consume food, your metabolism is activated because your body needs to process and digest the calories and nutrients you have eaten. Penn State explains that after three hours of fasting, your metabolism begins to slow down. By eating every 20 minutes to three hours, your metabolism constantly stays active and begins to increase.
Breakfast is Especially Important
Breakfast is particularly important if you want to maximize your metabolic potential. Since it is not practical to eat every three hours since, ideally, you want to be able to sleep through the night, you must eat breakfast every day if you want to increase your metabolism. When you are sleeping, your physical activity decreases, your breathing rate decreases and your heart rate decreases. Even if you eat before bed, your metabolism naturally slows because your energy requirements are lowered. Health Services at Columbia University explains that eating first thing in the morning on an empty stomach "kick-starts" your metabolism for the day.
Meal Planning
At first, following Penn State's suggestions to eat five or six meals a day may be confusing. The key is to eat smaller meals more frequently. To do this, you have to abandon, at least in theory, the traditional breakfast-lunch-dinner meal protocol. Try planning a light breakfast, lunch and dinner menu with healthy snacks served between the meals. You can call your nighttime meal "dinner," but you may have to reduce the amount of calories in that meal. Eating smaller meals more frequently prevents you from becoming hungry later in the day. The Ohio State University Medical Center recommends that women eat 300 to 500 calories per meal and men eat 400 to 600 calories per meal. In-between meals or snacks should be about 100 to 200 calories.
Weight Loss
Most people are interested in maximizing their metabolic rate for weight-loss purposes. While eating smaller meals more frequently can certainly benefit your weight-loss efforts, ultimately, weight loss is a product of eating fewer calories than you burn. The University of Maryland Medical Center recommends counting the number of calories you eat and then reducing them. This is especially important when you are trying to lose weight and begin to eat more often to boost your metabolism but don't want to consume more calories. Consult your health care provider or a registered dietitian if you need additional help to plan meals to lose weight.
References
- Penn State University; Boosting Your Metabolism; Jillian Davis
- Penn State University: Frequently Asked Questions About Fitness
- The Ohio State University Medical Center: Ten Tips for Sensible Weight Control and Healthy Living
- Columbia University: Go Ask Alice!: Breakfast, The First Chance to Fill Your Tank
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Common-Sense Strategies to Long-Term Weight Loss
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