Fitness & Exercise
7 Strategies To Keep Your Metabolism Revved Through The Day
Aug
A good metabolism is important for reaching weight loss goals. But often, due to lifestyle choices, our metabolism hits a slump leading to excess weight.
Eating right, adding protein to the diet along with some high-intensity workout routine will rev your metabolism for effective weight loss.
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Metabolism has managed to always keep us confused and unsure of how to shape it at according to our wishes. The answer to this confusion is – simple lifestyle changes.
We clearly need to understand that spending three to four hours in the gym is not the only way to speed up your metabolism.
A few lifestyle tweaks spark your metabolism instantly. If you think that your metabolism has gone in deep slumber and despite spending unending hours in the gym, your weight loss process has gone for a slo-mo, it is time to revive your metabolism.
From adding an extra ingredient to your smoothie to drinking that extra glass of water – we have got you a comprehensive pointer to be kept in mind if you want to shake up your metabolism.
6 Factors that affect your metabolism
The following 6 factors greatly affect your metabolic rate and they are:
Age: The older you get, the slower your metabolic rate becomes.
Muscle Mass: The greater your muscle mass, the more calories you burn.
Body Size: The bigger you are, the more calories you burn.
Environmental Temperature: When your body is exposed to cold, it needs to burn more calories to prevent your body temperature from falling.
Physical Activity: All body movements require calories. The more active you are, the more calories you will burn.
Hormone Disorders: Cushing’s Syndrome and Hypothyroidism slow down metabolic rate and increase the risk of weight gain.
7 Strategies to keep your metabolism revved
Here are some easy to follow the diet and work out rules to ensure that your metabolism is in top shape:
1. Add more proteins to your diet
Protein has profound effects on your metabolism. Protein forces your body to use more calories in digestion than carbohydrates do.
This thermic effect accounts for one of the ways that a high-protein diet speeds up metabolism.
In addition, protein builds metabolically active muscle and prevents body fat storage. In fact, adding whey protein to your smoothies can be equally beneficial.
Whey protein increases calorie burn and fat utilization, helps the body maintain muscle, and triggers the brain to feel full.
2. Drink water before you eat
Water can help you lose weight and keep it off. It increases your metabolism revved and helps fill you up before meals.
Drinking two glasses of water before every meal help dieters lose an average of 15.5 pounds over three months.
Taking quick hydration breaks throughout the day also boosts your metabolic machinery. Also, people who drink water instead of sugary drinks are more successful at losing weight and keeping it off.
This is because sugary drinks contain calories, so replacing them with water automatically reduces your calorie intake.
3. Drink green tea or Oolong tea
Swap your favourite cup of coffee with that cup of green tea if you really want to speed up your metabolism. In addition to giving you the metabolism-boosting caffeine jolt you crave, green tea is a rich source of antioxidants called catechins.
Green tea and oolong tea have been shown metabolism revved by 4–5%. These teas help convert some of the fat stored in your body into free fatty acids, which may increase fat burning by 10-17%.
Drinking green tea combined with a total of three hours of moderate exercise a week reduced abdominal fat in subjects over a three-month period. Studies suggest that unsweetened, brewed green tea was shown to increase calorie burn by about 100 calories per day.
4. Try high-intensity workout and weightlifting
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves quick and very intense bursts of activity. It can help you burn more fat by increasing your metabolic rate, even after your workout has finished.
This effect is believed to be greater for HIIT than for other types of exercise. What’s more, HIIT has also been shown to help you burn fat. Lifting weights are important for building and retaining muscle.
Higher amounts of muscle will result in a higher metabolism. Lifting weights will also help you retain muscle and combat the drop in metabolism that can occur during weight loss. Resistance training helps in maintaining muscle mass, metabolism and strength.
5. Eat mini meals
Eating small meals raises your metabolism every time you eat. The key is to include a lean protein and complex carb each time, not processed or junk food.
A few no-effort options: cottage cheese and fruit, peanut butter and an apple, or Greek yoghurt with berries.
6. Brew a cup of coffee
Caffeine’s ability to speed up the central nervous system makes it a powerful metabolism revved.
In addition, coffee beans provide antioxidants and real health value. Provided your cup is not laden with cream and syrup, coffee can be a great way to give you energy as well as some antioxidants.
Coffee has been shown to improve energy levels during exercise, especially endurance activity, and help people work harder longer, which therefore burns more calories.
Drinking coffee after a workout can also be beneficial. Consuming caffeine after exercise increased muscle glycogen by 66% in endurance athletes, enabling them to more quickly replenish energy stores used through exercise.
7. Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Lack of sleep is linked to a major increase in the risk of obesity. This may partly be caused by the negative effects of sleep deprivation on metabolism.
Lack of sleep has also been linked to increased blood sugar levels and insulin resistance, which are both linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
It is also been shown to boost the hunger hormone ghrelin and decrease the fullness hormone leptin. This could explain why many people who are sleep-deprived feel hungry and struggle to lose weight.
QUICK BYTES
1. What is metabolism?
Metabolism is a bodily function involving chemical reactions by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy.
2. How does it help in weight loss?
When your body has a good metabolic rate you are able to burn more calories than you are taking in, letting excess fat get burned off which leads to a slimmer you.
3. How do I boost my metabolism for weight loss?
Eat small meals and eat more protein, so that your body is in a constant state of burning calories. Also, ensure regular workouts to help build muscle mass which in turn burns more calories.
Regulating metabolism is not everyone’s cup of tea but it could be very well yours! Possible is with you in your journey of owning your metabolism.
Talk to our expert Possible Nutritionist and find your way through fitness and health. The first consultation is on us.
