If you are planning to lose your weight and remain healthy then you should increase your metabolism. A good metabolism plays a big role. It helps you to digest your food at the fast rate and burn off fat even while you are sleeping. On the other hand, slow metabolism can spoil your dieting and weight loss efforts and will leave you in a state of frustration. Metabolism is the process by which your body breaks down the food to produce energy. When you are young, muscle mass stores the energy and prevent weight gain. But with age, you lose that muscle and thus you ought to gain a weight. With the age, your metabolism starts slowing down by 5% every decade and make-weight loss challenging. However, it is very important to increase the metabolism. There are some foods and exercises that will help you to rev up your metabolism. Here are some ways to increase metabolism.
Your body size, gender, genes and age all play a vital role in determining your metabolic rate. As you know, the muscle needs more energy to maintain than fat cells. People with a higher muscle will have a higher basal metabolic rate. As you get older, you will gain fat and lose muscle. That is why the basal metabolic rate tends to reduce with age. In general, men have a faster metabolism rate as they have heavier bones, muscle mass, and less body fat than women.
Best Ways to Increase Metabolism:
1.) Eat Breakfast to Boost Your Metabolism
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It also helps to increase metabolism. People, who eat breakfast, lose more weight than who don’t eat breakfast. If you avoid breakfast, your metabolism will not burn many calories until lunchtime. So it is smart to start your day with 300-400 calorie meal.
- Aim for a breakfast that contains lots of high-fiber carbs.
- Include bran rich breakfast meal with low-fat milk, sliced banana, an egg white veggie omelet with whole grain toast and whole-grain toast topped with low-fat ricotta.
- Consume foods that are low in sugar. Refined grains and high in protein are the best way to increase your energy levels and maintain your metabolism. Include boiled eggs, yogurt, raspberries, fat-free milk and fiber cereal.
2.) Aerobic Exercise to Increase Metabolism Naturally
Aerobic exercise is very helpful in burning calories and keeps your metabolism high even after you finish the exercise. If you find difficulty in performing aerobic exercise at once, then do aerobic exercise in small intervals like 5, 10, or 15 minutes sessions.
- If you don’t do exercise regularly then you will tend to feel more hunger. That means your body needs more fuel to keep up with the new calories.
3.) Strength Training to Increase Metabolism
Building muscles will help to raise your metabolism. A pound of muscle will burn 6 calories in a day while a pound of fat will burn only 2 calories in a day. Muscle will burn more calories than fat. So, when you build more muscle, your resting metabolic rate will be high. Every muscle that you gain is like a little factory that will constantly burn calories for you and rev up when you exercise.
- If you move more than your metabolism will be high. So find small opportunities to move more as you go through your day.
- Take stairs instead of taking the elevator.
- Walk as much as you can.
4.) Drink Fluids to Gain Metabolism Fast
Drinking plenty of water is important for your metabolism. By increasing the amount of water, you can increase your metabolic rate by 40%. Always stay hydrated as water is important for many health problems.
- You can also have coffee because of the caffeine content. It helps to increase your metabolism. Drinking coffee will increase the metabolic rate. Don’t consume caffeine in excess because it may cause insomnia, nervousness, and other negative side effects.
- Green tea with exercise and diet will improve your metabolic rate. So prepare a cup of green tea and drink it 2 times a day with exercise.
5.) Reduce Your Stress Levels to Maintain Your Metabolism
If you feel that you are tense and have difficulty while relaxing then take steps to reduce your stress in a healthy way. Deep breathing, yoga, and regular exercise all are methods to reduce your stress levels.
- Avoid jobs that are too difficult and strenuous. In fact, look for the activities which you can perform easily and keeps the stress at the bay.
- Getting enough sleep is the best way to relieve stress. So try to sleep at least 7 hours each night.
- If you feel serious anxiety or you feel chronically stressed than consult a therapist. Therapists are trained to help people to relieve their stress and anxiety.
- Change your negative thoughts with healthy ones.
6.) Add Spices to Your Diet to Improve Your Metabolism Fast
A chili powder helps to improve weight loss and metabolism. It contains capsicums compound which will improve metabolism for a short period of time. Eating 5 grams of chili powder may increase your metabolism for half an hour. Add chili powder to your vegetables and meat to increase metabolism.
- Add spices like cinnamon and ginger. They will help in losing weight because these spices will relieve muscle soreness after intense exercise.
- Add cinnamon and ginger to smoothies or fruits especially after exercising.
- Hot sauce is another great option for metabolism.
7.) Eat Lean Protein to Increase Metabolism
Protein is an important nutrient which is important for muscle growth and will increase your metabolism. If you have a high amount of lean muscle, metabolism increases. To increase your lean muscle, diet and exercise are very important. You should eat the minimum of 0.8 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of your body weight. If a person weighs 68 kgs then he or she should eat a minimum of 54 to 82 grams of protein each day.
- Add lean protein sources like turkey breast or chicken, egg whites and low-fat dairy products in your diet.
- Don’t add protein that adds a high amount of saturated fat in your diet like whole milk, cheese, fatty meats, high-fat ground beef or turkey and high-fat dairy options such as steak.
8.) Almonds to Increase Metabolism Fast
Almonds and other tree nuts help to increase metabolism since they are packed with essential fatty acids. You can use almonds as a snack or you can chop them and use them to top a main or side dish. You can also take other nuts like cashews or walnuts. Almonds are the best nutrient containing nuts which are very helpful for your metabolism.
9.) Eat Right to Boost Your Metabolism Fast
Avoid processed foods because they are packed with sugar, salt, and fat. Moreover, they do not contain nutrients and vitamins. These foods are great in taste but they lower your metabolism. Processed foods will leave you hungry and lead to reduce more weight. Avoid chips, soda, sweet foods, fast food, candy and other processed foods.
- Eating occasionally is okay but make sure it is healthy, organic and natural.
- Try to bake your own cookies and muffins at home.
10.) Choose Best Foods to Gain Metabolism
The processed and junk foods affect the metabolic rate in the negative way. Whereas, healthy food will help to accelerate it. Fruits and veggies are the foods which will boost your metabolism. Almost any fruit or veggie can do this.
- Include more green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, and lettuce. Fruits like pineapple, apples and strawberries are also great.
- If you don’t like fruit and salads then try baking asparagus or eggplant.
- You can buy a blender and get your veggies and fruits in the form of smoothies.
11.) Avoid Weight Loss Diets to Increase Metabolism
Weight loss diets are those diets which include a few calories as compared to what the body needs. When your body denies the calories it needs, it will go into starvation mode. It is the mode in which calories are carefully preserved. Eat about 2,000 calories in a day.
- Don’t try to skip your meals. Eat at least 3 times in a day.
- Eat a small snack between your meals. An apple, a slice of watermelon and some whole grain toast all are good snacks.
12.) Get Enough Sleep to Increase Metabolism
If you are not getting enough sleep then you are slowing your metabolism. Adults should get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. If you don’t get enough sleep then take proactive steps to increase sleeping hours. Follow the proper bedtime and wake up time for yourself.
- For non-sleeping activities, don’t use your bed or bedroom.
- Don’t watch TV, don’t read or play video games in bed.
Additional Tips to Increase Your Metabolism:
- Avoid salty food, soda and salad dressing. Diet soda will make you crave sugar heavy foods that causing you to gain weight.
- Drink lots of water because dehydration will lower your metabolism.
- Some people say certain foods will increase your metabolic rate but that is not true. Eating in small portions and exercise is the best way to rev up metabolism.
- Metabolic rate has a little impact on your weight. So, if you want to lose weight then choose a healthy diet and do exercise for 60 to 90 minutes daily.
- Avoid alcohol because drinking alcohol before a meal causes people to eat around 200 calories more.
- If you want to drink then stick to wine which is packed with only 80 calories in a glass.
