10 Ways To Boost Your Metabolism

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Tips to increase basal metabolic rate The ability to increase your metabolism, is the holy grail of weight watchers. Because increasing one's metabolism means burning off more calories. However, one's metabolic rate is determined by several factors. Some are born with a higher metabolism, and men tend to burn more calories than women. Most people tend to gain weight after 40 simply because metabolism slows down with age.

The good news is that there are some things you CAN do, to help boost your metabolism. Here are the top ten.

1. Build Muscle:

The fact is that muscles burn more calories. Every pound of muscle burns 6 calories a day, just to sustain itself. Compared to a pound of fat which burns only 2 calories. That is why you should add weights training to your exercise programme. Build muscle and your resting metabolism will go up.

2. High Intensity Interval Training:

Aerobic exercises may not build much muscle, but they do increase metabolism. To really rev it up and make it more efficient, try High-Intensity Interval Training. High-intensity exercise delivers a bigger, longer rise in resting metabolic rate than low- or moderate-intensity workouts. What's more, this rise in metabolic rate tends to be sustained many hours after the exercise has ended.

3. Drink Up

Drink up .... on water, that is. Studies have shown that adults who drank eight or more glasses of water a day burned more calories than those who drank four. In adults, resting energy expenditure has been shown to increase by 24–30% within 10 minutes of drinking water. This increase was found to last at least 60 minutes.

The results are even more impressive when the water is cold. Drinking cold water, causes your body to use extra calories to warm the water up to body temperature. And if you drink cold water before each meal, having a belly full of water before you eat, means that you're likely to eat less. A great way to reduce calorie intake!

4. Healthy Snacks

Whilst no snacks will burn fat, eating snacks with the right ratio of nutrients and the right calories, will help keep you body energized and help you lose weight. The problem with having many hours between our large main meals, is that metabolism slows down between meals. Having smaller meals with healthy snacks in between will keep your metabolism cranking. Fruits and nuts are excellent snack choices.

5. Eat More Protein

Your body burns more calories digesting protein than it does carbohydrates or fats. Replacing some carbohydrates with lean, protein-rich foods can give your metabolism a boost. Good sources of protein include fish, lean chicken, tofu, nuts, beans, eggs, and low-fat dairy products.

6. Drink Black Coffee

Coffee contains caffeine, a stimulant substance that is proven to increase the release of fats from the fat tissues and boost the resting metabolic rate. Caffeine can help you feel less tired and even increase your endurance while you exercise. See why else coffee might be good for you!

7. Drink Green Tea or Oolong Tea

Green tea and Oolong tea have been found to increase metabolism by 4-5%. As they are low in calories, drinking these teas in place of other high-sugared drinks, are definitely better for both weight loss and weight maintenance.

8. Eat Spicy Foods

Spicy foods contain chemicals that naturally increase one's metabolism. A study of capsaicin, at acceptable doses, predicted that eating peppers would burn around 10 additional calories per meal. Over a 6.5 year period, this could account for 0.5 kg of weight loss for male of average weight. Doesn't sound like much, but it can be useful if combined with other metabolic boosting strategies.

9. Stand Up

Most of us sit too much. Our desk-bound jobs keep us seated for most of the day. It has been estimated that standing (as opposed to sitting) burns an extra 50 calories an hour. If you stand for three hours a day for five days that's around 750 calories burnt. Over the course of a year it would add up to about 30,000 extra calories.

10. Get a Good Night's Sleep

The lack of sleep seems to have an effect on glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, which determines how well the body is able to metabolise energy from carbohydrates. The recipe for the development of diabetes.

It’s also been shown to boost the hunger hormone ghrelin, which explains why many people who are sleep deprived feel hungry and struggle to lose weight.