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7
Things To Do To Boost Your Metabolic Rate
- Build Muscle Mass
Strength training builds lean muscle tissue, which burns more calories
at work or at rest, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The more lean
muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be. How do you start
strength training? Try some push-ups, or a few squats or lunges. Use
5 lb. free weights to perform simple biceps curls or triceps pulls.
Do these exercises three to four times per week, and you'll soon see
a boost in your metabolism as well as an improvement in your physique.
- Do Not Skip Meals or
Drastically Reduce Your Caloric Intake If your body senses that
food is in short supply, it will slow your metabolism to conserve energy.
Over time, the result is that when you do eat (even if you consume the
same foods as always) your body will be slower to use the calories as
fuel, thus creating a backlog of unwanted pounds. A good strategy is
to cut your caloric intake by no more than 500 calories per day and
never less than 1200 calories total each day. Once you determine your
goal for calorie consumption, divide those calories into 6 different
small meals/snacks through out the day.
- Increase the Amount of
Protein in your Diet Most researchers agree that protein helps
to stabilize the secretion of insulin into your blood stream, a process
that can affect metabolism. The average person would benefit from protein
intake at a minimum of 70 grams or higher each day.
- Aerobic Workout 3 Days
a Week Even though exercise doesn't affect your RMR, the extra
calories you burn could add up to an additional 1-2 pounds of weight
loss per month.
- Increase Movement in
Daily Lifestyle The more you move, the more you burn! You can
actually make a significant addition to the number of calories you burn
each day by relatively minor changes in lifestyle. This can be as simple
as taking the stairs instead of the elevator; park a distance from the
mall or office; window-shop with your best friend rather than sit over
coffee; walk the dog instead of just let him out; do a little gardening
or clean house while you talk on the phone. Making these types of changes
for just 20 minutes of your day will cause you to burn an additional
100 calories per day or an additional pound per month. Making more of
these changes can help you burn as much as an additional 1,000 calories
per day!
- Go For an Evening Walk
Although exercising any time is good for you, evening activity may be
particularly beneficial. Many people's metabolism slows down toward
the end of the day. Thirty minutes of aerobic activity before dinner
increases your metabolic rate and may keep it elevated for another two
or three hours. What that means for you: those dinner calories have
less of a chance to take up permanent residence on your hips!
- Get Adequate Sleep
As funny as it sounds, sleep deprivation may make you fat and not just
because you're susceptible to cases of the late-night munchies. According
to researchers at the University of Chicago, women who got less than
four hours of sleep per night had a slower metabolism than those who
slept for a full eight hours.
What about supplements? Diet supplements that
claim to increase your metabolism have flooded the marketplace. Our advice
is to beware. Stimulants (such as caffeine, ephedrine, nicotine, and others)
have not been clinically proven to increase metabolic rates. It may be
that they stimulate a person to simply be more active, which then burns
more calories. Some of these products can be harmful and we do not recommend
their use. Hot peppers (specifically jalapeno and cayenne) may increase
your body's release of stress hormones such as adrenaline, and may stimulate
you to burn more calories. Green tea drinkers were shown to burn an extra
70 calories per day in a recent study. Researchers believe the increase
is caused by antioxidants known as catechins.
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