Can You Increase Your Metabolism Without Increasing Your Heart Rate?

Everyone who is interested in revving his metabolism has one goal in mind: burning more calories. Metabolism is the process by which your body converts the food that you eat into usable energy. You have the power to raise your metabolism, thereby burning more calories per day. All of these methods require effort on your part, but they do not require an increased heart rate to be effective.

Build Muscle

Although building muscle through resistance training may increase your heart rate initially, one of the lasting benefits of increased lean muscle mass is a faster metabolism, even at rest. This is very important as you age, as you most likely will experience a body composition shift that lowers your metabolism. As most individuals age, they tend to lose muscle and gain body fat. A research review performed by Wayne Westcott indicated that a standard resistance training program can increase lean muscle mass by 3 to 3.5 lbs., thereby increasing resting metabolic rate by 6.8 to 7.7 percent after three to four months of regular training.

Move More

You can participate in many activities each day that do not raise your heart rate above normal but that burn more calories than if you were resting. These activities are called activities of daily living. Examples of these types of activities are walking to your colleague's office down the hall instead of sending an e-mail, standing at your desk instead of sitting and performing isometric contractions when you must sit throughout the day (i.e., squeezing your glutes or your quads). All of these activities will contribute to more calories burned per day.

Avoid Drastic Caloric Deficits

In the course of weight loss, it is important to create a slight caloric deficit through diet and exercise. Calories in should be slightly less than calories out for healthy, permanent weight loss. However, many fad diets and starvation diets can actually lower your metabolism by slowing down your bodily processes and conserving calories for your ultimate survival. When you go back to a normal diet after being on a severely restrictive weight-loss plan, you will most likely gain the weight back. Eating small, regular meals throughout the day can keep your metabolism going at a steady pace while you lose weight healthfully and permanently.

Thermogenic Effect of Food

Researchers in Portugal reported that the composition of carbohydrates, fats and protein that you consume affects the amount of calories that it takes to digest your food. The energy required for digestion is known as the thermogenic effect of food. In their review, these researchers came to the conclusion that a diet with higher protein content has the highest thermogenic value. A high-carbohydrate diet has the lowest thermogenic value. Although the research is inconclusive, you can be assured that adding a small amount of protein to each meal can help you control your appetite, at the very least.