Your friend eats whatever she wants, whenever she wants, but seems never to gain extra weight. You, on the other hand, try to eat healthily but cannot seem to lose a pound. Not fair, right?
So you try to find out why, which led you to download a free weight loss e-book and learn that it all comes down to metabolism. Fortunately for you, you have the power, to an extent at least, to boost your metabolism and help you maintain a healthy weight.
Put Some Muscle Into It
Having lean muscles would help your body burn more calories, even while at rest. So, having ample muscle mass would help boost your metabolism and help your body burn more fat quickly. This is particularly crucial as you grow older since aging naturally slows down your metabolism and increases your risk of losing muscle mass. Build lean muscle by lifting weights or performing bodyweight exercises.
Spread Out Your Meals
Spreading out your meals could positively impact your metabolism and help you better regulate your blood sugar levels. Reevaluating how you eat could likewise lead to more sustainable weight management. For instance, if your usual breakfast is yogurt and cereal, eat the cereal for breakfast and then eat the yogurt as your midmorning snack. During lunch, eat your usual fare and save the fruit for your midafternoon snack.
Avoid Super Low-Calorie and Starvation Diets
Skipping meals and diets that are very low in calories could easily thwart your efforts to boost your metabolism and lose weight. While it is possible for you to shed extra pounds with a low-calorie diet, you would also need fewer calories for maintaining your body weight following an extended dip in calories. In addition, a majority of people gain back the extra weight quickly, and when they attempt to lose it again, it would be more difficult.
Increase Your Physical Activity During the Day
Being inactive for long periods could slow down your metabolism and increase your risk of developing serious health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. If you spend most of the day in your office, do not just sit down at your desk and move around whenever you can. For example, walk around while talking on your cell phone or walk over to your colleague’s office instead of emailing. When watching TV, you could do house chores during commercial breaks or exercise while watching.
Get Sufficient Sleep
Having an irregular sleep schedule or being deprived of sleep on a daily basis could slow down your metabolism. Not to mention the fact that insufficient sleep could increase your risk of developing metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
There are plenty of things you could do to increase your metabolism. As you could see, however, there is no miracle trick to boost your metabolism instantly. In order to restart how your body works, you have to change your daily habits. Just start small and take it one day at a time.
