10 Ways to Boost
Your
We all want to lose weight right? Or, if it’s not losing weight, you want to get fit or be
healthier. Well, boosting your metabolism is one of the simplest ways to be healthy and
lose weight faster! Let’s talk a little bit about what exactly your metabolism is and how it
affects your body, then we’ll chat about ways that you can actually boost your
metabolism, and what that means for you in the big picture. Just remember, no matter
how old, overweight, or out of shape you think you might be, EVERYONE has the power
to raise his or her metabolism!
So first, what is your metabolism? Well, it is a very intricate combination of chemical
reactions occurring in the body. Basically, it’s what determines how efficiently your body
burns calories from the food that you consume. So, if you have a high metabolism, your
body burns those calories from the food you eat, at a higher rate or faster than if you have
a slow metabolism. Your metabolism is made up of a series of reactions that take place,
ranging from your hormones to specific enzymes to macronutrients. Although
metabolism at it’s most basic level IS genetic, it doesn’t mean that you can’t boost your
metabolism if you weren’t blessed with a high one! Believe it or not, it’s not even that
hard! There are a few simple steps that you can take to ensure that you boost your
metabolism and by doing so, you’ll burn even more calories throughout the day, no
matter what you are doing. What does this mean? It means that you are well on your way
to a thinner, more fit version of yourself with each and every step you take! All you need
to do is find ways to increase your body’s need for energy.
You use energy no matter what you’re doing, even when you’re just sleeping! Your BMR
is your Basal Metabolic Rate; this is the number of calories that you would burn if you
stayed in bed all day. That’s your metabolism at work. Everyone has a different number,
but here is a simple calculation to determine what your BMR is. Based on this, you can
determine exactly how many calories you’ll burn on a daily basis, without exercise,
which means that you can extrapolate how many pounds you might lose in a given
amount of time if you account for a different calorie intake or an increase in exercise! I
know that can sound a smidge confusing, so let’s start from the beginning….
To determine your BMR, you need to know your weight, height, and age. This is a basic
formula so it is not 100% accurate, but it’s pretty darn close!
655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age) = _____ calories
This number is your daily calorie intake, or more basically, how many calories your body
need to take in every day to not gain or lose any weight, and without any activity. For
example, my BMR is 1485.3. This means that if I were to sleep all day, my body
naturally burns 1485.3 calories in 1 day. So, if I eat fewer than 1485.3 calories, I’ll lose
weight, if I eat more than 1485.3 calories, I’ll gain weight. That’s BMR on the most basic
level. When it can get tricky is when you start to add in exercise or change your diet. So,
if I am sleeping and burn 1485.3 calories, let’s assume that I work out every day and burn
600 calories in a workout. So, I can add 600 to 1485.3 and now it takes 2085.3 calories
daily to maintain my current weight. Do you see where I’m going with this? Based on
these numbers, if I want to lose weight, my diet needs to have less than 2085.3 calories.
Now, lets talk about how you can boost your metabolism to make that number even
higher! You’ll notice that every year, it becomes harder and harder to eat whatever you
want and stay slim, and as you can see, your BMR decreases as you get older. That
means it is even MORE important to make sure that you’re doing the right things to help
boost your metabolism now by making a few simple changes throughout your day, like
drinking more water (especially if it’s cold), getting more rest, eating more protein, and
strength training, just to name a few. Not too crazy hard, right?
Let’s go through each of these and explain them a bit better.
Water… Drinking water is SO incredibly important, yet usually completely
underappreciated. Drinking water is crucial because it helps promote your body’s
complex biochemical process that is important for normal health. If you aren’t properly
hydrated, toxic chemicals start to build up, your muscles tighten, and extra pressures are
exerted on your spine. Now that we know how important water is in your body, lets chat
about how you can boost your metabolism by drinking it! First, drink cold water. I know
it sounds basic, but it’s true! If you drink cold water, your body has to work that much
harder to warm it up, thus burning those few extra calories each time! It definitely won’t
make you just drop pounds, but adding a few glasses of cold water (shoot for AT LEAST
8-12 glasses) into your daily routine consistently, will absolutely help boost your
metabolism overall and help you lose weight! Your body needs water to be able to
process calories. If you are even remotely dehydrated, your metabolism will slow down.
To stay hydrated, you should drink at least 1 glass of water before every meal and snack
as well as throughout the day, for a total of 8-16 glasses of water. Think this is a lot?
Thank again. In one study, researchers found adults that drank at least 8 glasses of water
a day burned more calories than adults who only drank 4 glasses. You can also try
munching on fresh fruits or vegetables, which are FULL of water!
Lift weights! Strength training is crucial to boosting your metabolism. Did you know
that 1 pound of muscle burns between 30 and 50 calories per day, while 1 pound of fat
only burns about 9 calories per day? The more muscle your body contains, the more
calories you burn each day. I’m not telling you that you need to bulk up or go crazy and
increase your weight regime, but I am saying that you absolutely need to be lifting
weights and building muscle, even if it’s on the smallest level. Simple resistance training
with resistance bands or free weights will suffice. As we get older, we tend to lose muscle
and gain fat, so by strength training, you’re stimulating your muscles to become stronger
and healthier. Strength training also reduces fat mass and increases muscle mass to make
your body more lean and toned, NOT more bulky! After just a single strength training
workout, muscles are activated all over your body, whether you worked that particular
muscle or not. Lifting is a two-fold way to boost your metabolism. In addition to what
we’ve just discussed, strength training also uses up more energy because it is repairing
small, healthy muscle tears!
Eat Breakfast! I know you’ve heard this before, but do you understand why it’s so
important to eat breakfast? Your metabolism has been in a slow, steady state because you
were in a slumber so you weren’t exerting much energy. When you wake up, your body
could have potentially gone 8 or more hours without food, sending your body into
“starvation mode” and slowing your metabolism. By eating a simple breakfast, you can
jump start your metabolism by almost 10%!!! If you’re not a big breakfast eater, you still
have to eat something, just snack on something small instead. My personal favorites? A
small bowl of Greek yogurt or a piece of whole-wheat toast with peanut butter. If you do
have an appetite, even better! You want to eat a good breakfast with plenty of protein and
“long lasting”, low fat options like egg whites or oatmeal. By eating a breakfast like this,
you’ll perk your metabolism up, and prevent it from going into starvation mode.
Stop slashing your calories! I hear it all the time—people cut calories to a dangerous
level to “lose weight”. What those people don’t realize is that depriving your body of
calories, or fuel, you will most definitely slow your metabolism down. Eating food
stimulates a process called dietary induced thermogenesis, which is needed for digestion.
So, when you cut your calories, you also cut the number of calories burned by eating and
digesting, therefore, cutting your metabolism significantly. The other HUGE problem
with cutting calories causes your body to go into the starvation mode we talked about
above. If there is a restricted number of calories available, your body thinks that there
won’t be food available, so it tries to conserve it’s stores of carbohydrates and fat by
slowing down it’s metabolism. That’s the opposite of what we are trying to achieve, so
instead of restricting yourself, eat regular meals with healthy snacks when necessary.
Protein anyone? Eating more protein is a multi-tiered tool to help boost metabolism!
Your body burns more calories digesting protein than digesting fat or carbohydrates.
Almost twice as much, in fact! Try replacing some carbs with lean, protein-rich foods
like lean beef, turkey, fish, white meat chicken, tofu, nuts, legumes, and eggs. How much
protein do you really need? You can actually calculate exactly how much you need based
on your weight. Every 2.2 pounds (1 kg) a person weights, translates to needing about .6.8 grams of protein daily. Therefore, if someone weighs about 150 pounds (68 kg), he or
she needs about 48 grams of protein daily. Make sure you make smart choices when
you’re picking proteins! Remember that a 6 oz high-fat steak will provide about the same
amount of protein as a 6 oz filet of salmon, yet that steak has about 16 g of saturated fat
and 44 grams of total fat. The salmon, on the other hand, has a mere 18 grams of total fat
and only 4 grams of saturated fat. Ideally, you should always choose chicken and fish
over beef, but if you must eat beef, try to make it a lean cut. Don’t forget to pack in the
veggies to fill you up and complement your proteins so you feel full and satiated.
Get more sleep. Sleep is very important, yet usually underrated and easily pushed aside.
Did you know that a lack of sleep can actually decrease the number of calories your body
burns just resting? There are 2 main reasons for this: hormones and late night snacking!
Sleep deprivation actually changes which hormones are released in the body. Not only
are energy-regulating hormones not created in the same volume, but stress hormones like
Cortisol are also altered. Your body is wired to respond to daily stresses by gearing up
and releasing a hormone called Cortisol to help you get ready to fight the stress. Cortisol
triggers sugar to be released into the bloodstream in the form of glucose, giving your
body energy to move and think fast to fight that stressor! It also suppresses your immune
system and slows down digestive function, neither of which are helpful to speed
metabolism. So how does this contribute to a lack of sleep and a lower metabolism?
Well, if you’re sleep deprived, you have higher levels of Cortisol, so you have higher
levels of glucose. When glucose isn’t used, it is stored in the body as fat. On top of that,
your body works so efficiently, that when you have less sleep to process regular
functions, everything slows down because your body actually becomes confused about
what to do! You have different levels of different hormones and your body doesn’t know
quite how to react, so your metabolism is significantly slowed! The other cause we
mentioned in this section is late night snacking. Try to not do it! =) Typically, late night
snacking leads to unhealthy, high fat choices. Although we do promote eating more often,
it has to be small and healthy choices. Generally, that late night snacking that you catch
yourself doing is not a healthy food choice!
Eat more often but eat right! You should be eating every 2-4 hours. Each time you eat,
you are actually stimulating your metabolism for a brief amount of time. Therefore, the
more often you eat, the more you’ll boost your metabolism. Take into account, however,
that this frequent eating MUST be healthy! Instead of eating on whatever is handy or
available, focus on making each “meal” complete with a serving of vegetables and a
healthy source of protein. Increase your fiber intake to boost your metabolism even
further, as well as making you feel full for longer. Fiber is a non-digestible carbohydrate,
but the body tries hard to break it down anyway, using up extra energy, meaning that it
boosts your metabolism. Other great options include peanut butter and a banana, trail
mix, hummus and baby carrots, or an apple with low fat cheese. The combination of
protein and carbohydrates also helps to regulate blood sugar, energy levels, and feelings
of satiety. Many people will skip breakfast, eat only a sandwich for lunch, and then pig
out at dinner. These types of eating habits actually scare our body into storing fat because
your body isn’t sure when it’ll get it’s next meal! In fact, researchers at Georgia State
University found that people who eat every 2-3 hours have less body fat and faster
metabolisms than those who only eat 2 or 3 meals per day.
Get moving! Moving around will always boost your metabolism. Never sit when you
can stand, and walk around if at all possible. Generally, most people move a lot less after
the age or 30 or 40 than they did in their teens and twenties. Whether it’s because of a
desk job or a great TV show lineup with the kids, moving around is crucial to keeping
your metabolism up-- even if that means just taking regular breaks to the water cooler or
a quick walk around the block after lunch! Regular periods of movement help to nudge a
sluggish metabolism into high gear AND lift your spirits!
Keep your cool! Recent studies have shown that our reliance on modern day appliances
like air conditioners or heaters have an effect on our metabolism! Think about it… if you
keep your body too comfortable, you actually reduce the amount of energy required to
stay warm in the winter or cool in the summer. On top of that, people actually eat less
food when they are too hot or too cold. Now I’m not saying to freeze yourself out at
winter or die of heat during the summer, but changing that thermostat just a few degrees
will make a world of difference for both your metabolism and the environment! Plus,
you’ll burn extra calories without even trying!
Intervals anyone? Do you know what intervals are or how vital they are to boosting
metabolism and burning calories?? Intervals are when you alternate between moderate
intensity and an all out effort intensity. That means, alternating between running and
walking, or between a high resistance and a low resistance on the bike, etc. By adding
intervals into your workout, you not only burn more calories during your workout, but
you actually maximize your calorie burn after your workout, throughout the day, even if
you’re just lying in bed or sitting on the couch. You can actually burn another 100-300
calories this way!
You’ve just been shown 10 different, simple ways to boost your metabolism! These
aren’t all huge, metabolism firing tasks that will change your body overnight, but little by
little, you’ll start seeing the differences if you stick with it! Good luck and I hope you see
those results fast!!