How many times have you heard a person say they are overweight because they have a slow metabolism? I hear it everyday! Frustrated weight loss enthusiasts constantly blame a slow metabolism for their weight woes. But is that really the case? True, some people, genetically, have challenged metabolisms, while most others use it as an excuse for why they can’t lose weight.
Let’s eliminate this excuse by firing up your metabolism to its full genetic potential. While following your best weight loss program, doesn’t it make since to speed up your metabolism to its greatest genetic potential possible?
There are certain tactics available to power boost your metabolism. Some are lifestyle techniques, while others are nutritional tricks. Before I list all of the metabolism boosting tricks, let me explain exactly what metabolism is.
Metabolism is the way your body uses energy, as measured in calories. One way the body uses calories as energy is to sustain vital body functions like heart rate, cell development, breathing, cell repair, and temperature control. This accounts for up to 75% of the calories you burn daily. The other 25% of metabolism is the result of physical activity, digestion and absorption of food. The rate at which your body burns calories is its metabolism.
The following tips below will help you increase your metabolism to it greatest possible potential. However, please be aware that the calories you take in and your activity level play a much greater role in weight loss than metabolism alone. It is best to go through the weight loss battle with your metabolism firing on all cylinders.
Metabolism Boosting Tips and Tricks
1. Increase Your Physical Activity – This is no secret, but really works!Individuals who exercise regularly burn more calories and have more metabolically active, calorie burning muscle mass than those who are less active. Cardiovascular activity boosts metabolism by burning calories, while strength training slows the metabolically active muscle loss in aging people. Both of these activities have shown to increase metabolism immediately after participating in the activity, while the long term results of strength training help burn even more calories 24 hours a day, even while sleeping.
I recommend doing 30 plus minutes of aerobic activity, 3 to 5 days per week, in addition to doing 2 short, 24 hour metabolism boosting strength training sessions each week.
2. Protein Consumption – Some evidence suggests their is a slight metabolic boosting power in higher protein diets versus high carb, low protein diets. Please be aware that the vast majority of weight loss results from decreasing calories, and increasing activity, not by changing the percentage of carbs versus protein in your diet. Very high protein diets have shown to cause potential health challenges.
3. Sleep – Getting 7+ hours of sleep each night may affect hormones that regulate body weight and appetite. In a current, rather large, ongoing study, people who slept less, have a tendency to weight more.
4. Don’t Skip Meals – It is important not to wait more than 5 hours between meals to eat. Waiting longer and skipping them has a tendency to slow your metabolism down, and deprive you of crucial energy. It is also important to rev up your metabolism by breaking the fast at breakfast each and every morning to give you energy, and prevent binging at later meals. Please note: It is also always important to closely monitor your overall caloric intake.
I recommend following these 4 tips in order to tune up your metabolisms engine so you are burning food at the highest rate your body can possibly handle.
For more detailed information regarding weight loss and metabolism visit www.walnutlakewellness.com or schedule a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) test with us to get your baseline metabolism numbers and track progress.