Increase Metabolism and Lose Weight

The key to a higher metabolism is to exercise more

So many ways are available today to help lose weight, from healthy recipes to diet pills but one area of weight loss that is not so easily understood or taken advantage of , is metabolism.

So, what is Metabolism? Metabolism is the amount of energy (calories) your body burns to maintain itself. For example, when you are eating, drinking, sleeping or walking, your body is constantly burning calories to keep you going. All activities performed by you contribute to some kind of energy burning but naturally, some more than others.

Metabolism is affected by your body composition i.e. amount of muscle you have versus the amount of fat. Muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat. People who are more muscular (and have a lower percentage of body fat) are said to have a higher metabolism than others who are less muscular.

Therefore, the higher your metabolism or metabolic rate, the better condition you are in to burn excess fat. The lower your metabolism, the more likely you are to retain or gain weight. A healthy metabolism is very important for weight loss, and it can continue to maintain weight loss.

The key to a higher metabolism is to exercise more and this can help much more than following fad diets or some miracle drugs to cure your weight problem.

It is important to state that if you have never exercised before or suffer from any illness that you consult your doctor before starting a new exercise regime. Because your problems with metabolism may be related to a medical condition and not due to lack of exercise.

Here are some tips we have gathered that can help you increase your metabolism. You are not expected to do everything mentioned but naturally the more you can do the more you can potentially benefit. Do appreciate the generalisation of these tips as everyone is different in size and build, and some may work better for some people than others.

• Exercise everyday. Start by small simple exercises such as 20 minute walks, using stairs instead of lifts, walking partly to work, spot jogging, walking the dog, using basic  exercise aids .  These simple exercises will gradually increase your metabolism, thus, giving you more energy to increase your level of exercise.
• Eat breakfast every morning. If you skip breakfast you may find yourself starving in the middle of the day and eating something unhealthy that can slow your metabolism down.
• Increase your muscle mass. Do some type of resistance exercise. For example, by  lifting weights, doing dumbell exercises, using exertubes, rubberbands and even using two tins of beans as weights!
• Do not diet. Just watch the types of foods you eat. Try to eat foods that are lower in fat so check the labels on the foods that you buy.
• Do some  aerobics exercise.  Build up your exercise routine to include brisk walking, jogging, step aerobics, hi/low aerobics, biking, swimming etc. You can decrease your level of body fat by doing some type of aerobic exercise at least 3 days a week for longer than 20 minutes.
• Have smaller meals everyday. Instead of 3 big meals have 5 to 6 smaller meals. Snack on healthy and filling snacks in between the smaller meals as they can actually jump start metabolism.
• Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water every day. Start out small if you wish, by drinking 4 glasses a day and gradually increasing it to 8 glasses a day, once your body gets used to it.
• Drink Green Tea. This is also a healthy way to increase metabolism and energy. If you are not a water drinking person, try drinking 4 glasses of Green Tea and 4 glasses of water instead of 8 to 10 glasses of water everyday.
• Increase fibre in your diet everyday. Fibre rich foods include beans, oatmeal, whole grains, healthy cereals and fruits and vegetables. More fibre in your diet will naturally increase metabolism.
• Get enough vitamins B and C. Foods with vitamin B include lean meats, poultry, beans, whole grains, potatoes, legumes, yeast, yoghurt and milk. Foods with vitamin C include, oranges, orange juice, melons, strawberries, green peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, dark green leafy vegetables, cauliflower, red peppers, blueberries, raspberries and cranberries. You can take vitamin supplements but having them in foods is better.
• High metabolic drink. Mix a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with a pinch of honey and garlic, and drink every day. Add the garlic only if you can stand the strong taste.
• Do not eat high sugar foods. High sugar foods might give you a quick fix on energy, but they slow down your metabolism and make you crash later.
• Do not starve yourself when trying to lose weight. Starving yourself slows down your metabolism.
• Genetics can play a role. Do not expect overnight results. Everyone has a different bone structure and body type (mesomorph, ectomorph, endomorph or combination). Therefore, given your body type and genetic make-up, you can exercise (with weights and aerobically) to look the best that you can.

After the age of 30, your body gradually begins to lose it’s muscle. If your activity level stays the same and the amount of calories you eat stay the same, you will gain weight because your metabolism has slowed down (you don’t have as much muscle as you did in your 20’s).  If you exercise with weights and do some type of aerobic activity on a regular basis, you probably won’t notice much of a change in your metabolism as you age.

Hormones play at least a partial role in determining a person’s metabolic rate. In general, men have a faster metabolism than women because they have more testosterone. Likewise, the speedy metabolism of infants, growing children, and teenagers is due in part to growth hormone.

So, there you have it, some points on how metabolism can play a key role in weight loss. Evidently, the combination of exercise which includes weight training and aerobic activity, and sensible eating, will result in a body that has more muscle and less fat. Hence, giving you the result of a higher metabolism.

What do you find helps you maintain you weight? Have you find desi food makes it very difficult to control weight gain? Do you think some of these tips may help you improve your weight? What is the one thing you do to help your body keep healthy?