Significantly Increase Your Metabolism – 10 Tips

Increase Your Metabolism

Increasing your metabolism is all about improving your metabolic rate, which is the speed and efficiency by which your body burns calories.

Improving your metabolic rate is desirable as it is calories that the body turns into fat, so the burning of calories is deemed to be the holy grail in the pursuit of weight control.

There has long been a misconception that those who possess a high metabolism (that is, metabolic rate) were born that way, and there is therefore very little that can be done to increase the speed at which your body burns through calories.

Fortunately, this is not true. With that in mind, here are some simple and effective ways in which you can work to increase your body’s metabolic rate, thus making it easier to regulate your weight.

Eat Protein

Eating any food creates something known as the thermic effect of food (TEF). Simply put, TEF is the fact that to digest and process the food one consumes, the more calories are required to burn. Protein is excellent for two reasons. First, it has the effect of making you feel more full, and therefore not required to eat more. Secondly, the TEF of protein produces a metabolic rate that is higher than any other food group. It’s all about the efficiency of the food you are consuming, and protein wins hands down.

Drink Cold Water

There are multiple advantages to drinking cold water, not least that it prevents dehydration. Yet from a metabolism perspective, water contains no calories (sugary drinks, in comparison, contain an abundance). And there is evidence that drinking water temporarily speeds up your metabolic rate. There is no drawback to doing it.

Exercise

Doing exercise raises the metabolic rate, and high-intensity workouts do this best. The benefits are even to be seen after completing the training, as the metabolism is still in a heightened state. It’s not a secret; it’s a fact: exercise is best for speeding up your metabolic rate.

Build Muscle

Muscle is more effective at increasing your metabolic rate than fat, so having muscle tissue, actually creates a virtuous circle of calorie-burning, as long as you remain active and work that muscle regularly. You don’t have to get down to the gym, just doing push-ups or lifting heavy items will do the job nicely.

Get Up, Stand Up

Sitting down is a disaster for burning calories. So, get up and get active. Here, a change of routine is highly recommended. For example, walk where you would usually drive, or begin working from a stand-up desk.

Sleep Well

Numerous studies have shown the links between sleep deficiency and an increase in blood-sugar levels and increased appetite. Combined with the lethargy, you will feel due to tiredness and the lack of motivation and energy this brings to exercising. Also, sleeping well is essential to increasing your body’s metabolism.

Eat Spicy Food

Peppers contain a substance called capsaicin, which, according to scientists, can act to increase your metabolism. However, realistically, you would need highly-concentrated levels of this substance to get any significant increase. But eating spicy food does have a slight effect, and it helps you sweat too, which removes waste substances from the body.

Drink (some) Caffeine

Studies show that consuming caffeine can increase your metabolic rate by up to 10%. However, there are also downsides to caffeine too. For example, it can have a negative effect on heart rate and sleep, so it is truly best to keep this as a balanced option in-built into a healthy diet mixed with lots of water.

Drink Green Tea

As an alternative, green tea or oolong tea can increase fat burning in the body by more than 10%. As a standalone option, it won’t give you the gains you are looking for. But again, it is an excellent option to build into daily routines for a more rounded approach to increasing your metabolism.

Avoid Solid Cooking Fats

It is all about the fat you are ingesting. Get rid of those saturated fats contained in butter, for example, and replace them with medium-chain fats, possessed in substances such as coconut oil, which can work to increase the body’s metabolic rate.

Many of these tips are based on small dietary changes, which I dearly recommend as the core principles increase your metabolism.