From the viewpoint of diet and weight loss, metabolism is the process whereby the body converts food into energy (or uses it for bodily repairs) or stores it as fat for future use. In simple terms, if we have a faster metabolism we burn calories more efficiently and store less fat. If we have a slower metabolism we burn calories less efficiently and therefore store more calories as fat. So knowing this, I thought you might like a few tips on how to speed up your metablolism.
Don’t Starve
Don’t be fooled into thinking that to lose weight you have to go hungry. If you override your body’s natural call for food, you could be doing more harm than good to your waistline. If you ignore your body’s hunger signals then your body will go into starvation mode and will conserve energy as opposed to burning it off as it doesn’t know when it will next be fed again. By getting in tune with your body and letting it know that food is always going to be available then your metabolism will work faster to burn off fat as it will know that there is no need to hang on to it.
Spice Things Up
Research has been done into the effects of eating hot spicy foods. It has been found that spicy foods raise your body’s temperature and increase your heart rate. Both of these require energy to do so and, therefore, your metabolism is raised. So don’t be frightened of those chillis.
Ditch The Decaf
Although we are always being told to reduce our caffeine levels, many believe caffeine is a metabolic stimulant.
Up the Exercise
By doing regular exercise which increases your heart rate, as well as improving your fitness levels you are also increasing the number of calories you burn off each day.
More Muscle Mass
Your metabolic rate is partly determined by your muscle mass. In general, the more muscle we have, the higher our metabolic rate; the less muscle we have, the lower our metabolic rate. For every extra 1lb of muscle you have, your body uses around an extra 50 calories a day! This means an extra 10lb of muscle will burn roughly an extra 500 calories a day without you doing anything – and that’s a sufficient amount to lose 1lb in a week. Therefore a great way to increase your metabolic rate is to add weights to your workouts.
When following a weight loss plan, be careful to lose the pounds at a steady pace (no more than 2lbs a week) or it is likely that you are in fact losing muscle and therefore slowing down your metabolism.
