(M.Sc. (FSN), CDE)
Boosting metabolism or raising the basal metabolic rate is a buzzword for many people seeking weight loss. However, how fast your body burns up energy from foods you consume depends upon various things. Body size, gender, age and genes all play a role in deciding your metabolic rate. Although you cannot change your age, gender or genetics-there are many ways to boost your metabolism.
Have you inherited your dad’s slow metabolism and feel stuck with it? Do not worry. Though much of our metabolism is determined by genetics, age, gender and size of the body, some lifestyle changes and natural foods can help to speed up your metabolism. Your metabolism includes all the things your body does to turn the foods you eat into energy, which keeps you moving. A faster metabolism can help you burn more calories and aid rapid weight loss. Nevertheless, remember, metabolism alone is not the cause for weight gain or weight loss. What foods you eat and the amount of physical activity along with that food supplement are equally responsible. Here are the five most beneficial natural ways to boost the metabolic rate and speed up your metabolism:
- Indulge in high-intensity exercise: While it is true that physical activity helps to increase your metabolic rate, it is very important to understand how we can make our metabolism work for us with exercise. Any kind of aerobic exercise, whether running or Zumba, will definitely help in burning calories, but increasing intensity can help you burn more calories and lose weight faster. Interval training is another good way. Weight training is also the fastest way to boost metabolism, because muscles use more calories than fats, which help improve resting metabolism as well.
- Eat more proteins and do not starve: Eating more protein rich foods may not cause magical weight loss, but these foods will definitely help you to burn more calories. Proteins stimulate the thermic effect of food, as the body burns more energy (calories) while digesting proteins than it does while processing carbohydrates or fats. Proteins therefore increase your metabolic rate more than any other nutrients. Foods that are high in proteins will also give you a feeling of satiety, making you eat less, another reason how protein-dense foods aid in weight loss.Having small and frequent meals is important;otherwise, your body will go into the starvation mode. As a defense to the starvation mode, the body stores the maximum amount of calories it gets from whatever you eat and drink, because it wants to protect its fat stores. This leads to muscle loss, which in turn reduces the metabolic rate and slows down the weight loss process.
- Support it with supplements: All these natural methods to boost the metabolic rate will definitely increase your metabolic rate, but sometimes these alone are not enough. Studies suggest that certain supplements help speed up the process when combined with other natural weight loss methods. They can increase your body’s ability to burn stored fats. But choose your supplements wisely. Choose supplements that will increase thermogenesis in the body and the body’s ability to burn fats. I suggest LOSE FAT™ by BestSource Nutrition to my clients as one such supplement that will help you achieve natural fitness with lasting good health. This advanced formulation has carefully picked fivenatural ingredients that work in tandem to improve your metabolism and support healthy weight loss. Its active natural ingredients are Garcinia cambogia extract, green coffee extract, green tea extract, grape seed extract and cinnamon extract.
- Get enough sleep: Inadequate sleep decreases the calories you burn, changes the way you process sugars and disrupts your appetite-regulating hormones. Lack of sleep increases ghrelin and decreases leptin, the hormones that regulate your appetite. This lowers your metabolism by increasing your appetite, leading to extra calorie intake and weight gain. Therefore, it is essential to get 6-7 hours of restful sleep to boost your metabolism and aid in weight loss.
- Stay hydrated: Drinking water helps to increase your metabolic rate. A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism reveals that drinking water increases the metabolic rate by 30 percent in healthy men and women. Studies also suggest that drinking a few glasses of water before a meal makes you feel full so that you tend to eat less, which ultimately helps in the weight loss process.
You can never change your life towards a healthier one until you change something you do daily. Incorporate a change!