Weight Loss Tips

 

How To Boost Metabolism For Faster Weight Loss

 
Do you want to eat more and weigh less? We all know someone who eats like a horse and is thin as a rake. We all know someone, maybe yourself, who eats next to nothing and weighs more than the always starving friend.

How does this happen? Well the answer pretty much comes down to metabolism. However, the best ways to lose belly fat and boost metabolism easily are also the safest.

Your metabolism is defined as the body's ability to convert food consumed into energy sources that your body can utilize for activities such as breathing, blood circulation and organ survival. What your body cannot utilize is ultimately stored as fat.

The more efficiently your metabolism runs, the more calories your body will burn at rest. Obviously, the goal for most people is to have their resting metabolism running as fast as possible to maximize calorie burning and minimize fat storage. There are many ways to help to improve your metabolism. Have you tried all of these?

Sleep

Studies have shown that individuals who are sleep deprived have slower metabolisms than their counterparts who get a solid 7-9 hours sleep per night. The 7-9 hours is important for the body to rest, recover, and more importantly, produce the correct amount of hormones. Sleep deprived individuals also tend to have worse eating habits, which does not help with the weight loss.

Snacking

Your friend who is perpetually eating, and very skinny, is that way because the constant snacking boosts the metabolism, as the body never goes into starvation mode. Once the body goes past about 3-4 hours without any food it automatically decides to start holding on to calories for the next fast.

By supplying your body with a steady stream of small, healthy snacks every few hours your body's metabolism will speed up. Your body will happily burn calories, as it’s not under the impression that starvation is imminent. The trick of course, is to ensure that the snacks are small and nutritious. Eat 6 full meals daily, and of course, you will gain weight.

Mix it up

Your body can quickly become accustomed to what you are eating if you consume exactly the same thing day in day out. Try and mix up your meals so your body cannot adjust to exactly the same amount of calories daily.

You should also mix up your physical activities as well. Your body also becomes quickly accustomed to your workouts. Try switching from walking to swimming, jogging to weights, and aerobics to dancing. Alternate your weight program.

Keep your body guessing what you are going to do next. Having a few activities that you can alternate between can keep your metabolism humming.

 


 

 

Breakfast

Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day. Your body has been deprived of food overnight, and the quickest and most effective way to boost your metabolism every day is to eat breakfast.

Until you eat breakfast your body will remain in starvation mode. Individuals who skip breakfast also tend to slump more in the afternoons, resorting to sugary snacks to get them through the remainder of the day. These sugary snacks end up totaling more in calories and fat than a healthy and nutritious breakfast.

No crash diets

Those diets that promise monstrous weight loss in a short period of time are only going to slow down your metabolism, not speed it up.The initial weight loss is fluid and lean muscle tissue.

The less muscle tissue a body has, the slower the metabolism runs. Once the diet is finished, you have rebound weight gain and a slower metabolism than before you embarked on the diet. This will make newly gained weight even harder to budge.

Increased activity

The more you move around in daily activities the more calories you are burning. Take the stairs, ditch the remote, get your butt off the couch and start moving around. The more you move around, the better your metabolism will be.

Interval training

One of the most effective ways to boost your metabolism is interval training. This type of workout is the best way to burn calories and to keep your metabolism in high gear for longer periods of time.

Interval training is working out at varying intensities at various time intervals. For example, you may jog at a moderate pace for 2 minutes and then sprint full out for 30 seconds, and then return to moderate pace for 2 minutes, followed by 30 second sprint, and so on.

Depending on initial fitness levels there are huge time variations to select from. Interval training can be performed with swimming, walking, running and weights.

Interval training is only performed in 20-30 minute intervals. Due to the intensity, interval training should never be done on consecutive days.

Interval training should only be contemplated by individuals with some level of prior fitness. Due to the intensity levels involved, a check up with your doctor is recommended before beginning any exercise program.

Weight training

As we have already discussed, the more muscle mass you have the higher your metabolism will run. This is because muscle mass requires far more energy than fat tissue.

This doesn’t mean you have to look like a body builder - toned muscles will do the job nicely. The other great thing about weight training is that the actual resistance work burns a lot of calories while doing the workout. Free weights, weight machines, hand weights and resistance tubing can all be used for weight training workouts.

Conclusion

It is possible to safely boost your metabolism permanently to maximize weight loss. Eating breakfast, getting enough sleep and incorporating a weight training program will all help to boost your metabolism. Eat more, sleep more and burn more calories, what a win-win situation!

About the Author: Scott Gray is currently a fitness enthusiast who enjoys providing health and fitness tips to people looking to lose weight and get in shape. He maintains a fitness web site where you can find tips to help reduce your belly fat and get six pack abs.