How to Speed metabolism
93A slow metabolism makes it nearly impossible to lose weight. Fortunately, there are a number of natural ways to speed metabolism and make it efficient once again. The benefits of an efficient metabolism are the ability to burn the necessary amount of calories daily, replace fat with muscle and increase energy. It is important to understand what metabolism is, find out what is influencing it, counteract those influences with the correct exercise and diet and the appropriate number of daily meals.
What is metabolism?
Metabolism in the simplest terms is the rate at which the body burns calories. This varies in individuals because of different lifestyles and how those lifestyles influence metabolism. You and someone you know may have the same level of activity, diet, and weight but lose or gain weight at different rates because of different metabolisms.
What influences a Slow Metabolism
There are a number of things that will slow down your metabolism: Going on starvation or low calorie diets - These diets never work because the body holds on stored fat as an energy source when it doesn't get its needed calories from food. If these types of diets are continued for a long period of time, the body will begin to break down muscle tissue for fuel. This releases nitrogen which the body will quickly wash away, causing unhealthy muscle and water loss. The water will quickly be regained and the muscle loss will cause problems with the metabolism for a long time.
Other factors that slow metabolism include lack of daily physical activity, overeating and drinking foods and beverages full of sugar, more body fat than lean muscle (your metabolism will increase as your muscle mass increases) and throwing your metabolism into overdrive because of too little sleep.
Effective Ways to Get a Metabolism Boost
Aerobic exercise - At least 30 minutes a day is needed. This will increase your metabolism for 4 to 8 hours after you stop exercising so you will be burning calories long after you stop exercising.
Weight training - Muscle burns more calories per day than fat does. So the more muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate will be. The more muscle the better because it burns calories 24 hours per day. This is the only way to increase your resting metabolic rate, which is responsible for 60 to 70 percent of the calories you burn each day.
Drink lots of water - Lack of water will have a similar effect to lack of food. It will result in the body holding on again and restrict proper metabolism. By drinking enough water the liver will be able to work on metabolism rather than water retention.
A Healthy Diet - There is no concrete evidence that any food will increase metabolism significantly enough to effect weight loss. However, a healthy diet (this means avoiding junk food) when combined with the proper exercise training program will eventually turn a overweight body into a lean, muscular body, increasing the burning of calories 24 hours a day.
Determine your resting metabolic rate and adjust your diet accordingly - Click Here to determine your resting metalic rate. Once you know your resting metalic rate you can calculate what your daily calorie intake should be to safely lose weight. For example, if your resting metalic rate is 1800 multiply this by 1.15. Your maintainance intake is 2070. You can count calories by looking up the calories for each food item (check the food packaging, look at calorie tables online or in the appropriate books).
Eat small meals more frequently throughout the day - Eating smaller meals more frequently will avoid starving the body for calories, which will prevent it from holding on to calories and storing them as fat.
Conclusion
The key to effective weight loss, proper weight maintainance and ideal energy levels is to speed the metabolism to a level of peak efficiency. Taking the necessary steps to accomplish this will be well worth the effort in the long run.
For more tips on speeding up metabolism read the article Metabolism - Speed Up Your Metabolism
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Comments
Fantastic hub... I will be using some of your advice.
-Nicki B.
This was great information. I certainly will file this away as I work out at the gym 3 times a week. AND try to eat right.
Thanks
Thanks for sharing all this information.
regards Zsuzsy
Great job on this hub. I'll be visiting often to view your others.
Great information. I'll have to put some of your suggestions into practice.
Great info I really will think about this. Thanks for sharing.
Great post. Also, Hyper or Hypo thryroid can affect your metabolism. I have hypothryoid, which slows my metabolism down. Bummer!
Great advice, thank you.
I've heard that drinking green tea can also speed up your metabolism quite a bit. Not sure if it's true or not, though. Nice hub, by the way.:-)
Great Hub! Very informative with lots of sound advice. Works for me! Kudos.
This is really good information. I've heard that working out in the morning will increase your daily metabolism.
Excellent! I learned a lot about Metabolism that I did not know before! Why I am ready this though is not because I want to lose weight. I want to learn more about the Metabolism so that I can gain weight. At the moment I only about 135 lbs and have never been over 145 my entire life. To gain 10 lbs I had to do much weight training and eating! I guess because I have like no fat on me that my muscle content burns much more calories, with my active lifestyle. Do you have any suggestions to high but cost effective calorie intakes? Or healthy way to slow down the Matabolism a little bit?
THanks for your comment Tyhill27. There is no quick answer to your question of how to increase calorie intake in a cost effective manner. I have been planning to write a hub on this topic later this week so stay tuned.
great hub. I really despise those diets that restrict calories to near starvation. They give people false hopes! It really important to keep a balanced diet and lifestyle. Thanks!
excellent hub, now I just to need to cut down on the mocha frappucinos.
Good call on the Mocha Fraps, jreuter. They are my addiction as well. Thank you for the insights, Steve. I tend to forget to eat and after a while start to gain weight. It seems backwards and now I know why. Thanks again, Andromeda
Thanks for all the great comments everyone. Much appreciated!
Thanks for your expertise. I could use a speedier metabolism! I've always heard these kinds of tips and I should really start trying them!
I picked up a couple of great tips from somewhere! Tip #1 Drink cold water: your body has to use energy to warm it up. It doesn't send cold water through your system because it would throw your homeostatis way off! It has to warm it up before sending it on from the stomach. Tip #2: Chew gum after eating. I swear by this one. See when you are chewing (even if it's gum) you are setting the whole digestive process in motion. Chew gum after you eat (for about 15 or 30 minutes) and your body thinks it's getting more food so it works hard to digest the food you've already eaten in anticipation for more.
Hey, I'm a girl and every calorie counts! Gotta do what you gotta do!
Information to live by!! way to go again, Steve, we should soon be living longer with your good tips...uh o, look out Social Security!! LOL
Thanks marisue! Hopefully the increased metabolism will give us all so much energy we will reach financial independence long before then. LOL
What i like most about this Hub is that it has motivated me to try your tips. Starting with drinking more water. I mean that can't be too hard can it?
Thanks and regards,
Doug
wow, nice post, very informative, i like it alot.
keep going ;)
thanx alot for the useful info
keep hubbing :)
A wealth of solid information. Often people think avoiding food is the solution to weight loss....wrong! Eat wise and stay active! Nice Hub!
Thanks for this. It's really helpful!
this hub is great
Very informative hub! My advice to most of the people is; Determine your resting metabolic rate. Drop 200 calories in your intake, wait until you stop losing fat, and drop another 200 calories. Just keep on doing this, or add some cardio.
What's your opinion about this approach?
Thanks for your comment Sascha! As long as the body is getting enough calories per day for its energy needs it won't hold onto stored fat. So decreasing calories can be effective but only to a point.
this hub is very helpful esp especially to us who sit infront of the pc practically the whole day..Guess i need some stretching and doing some physical activity in between work..
and yeah, small meals spread evenly throughout the day..
Thanks!
I love your tips. Isn't it funny that almost no one is doing any of these things at all. If people would just starte ating small meals, doing a bit of cardio and weights then they would be healthier all around
These article can help a lot of people who have either problems gaining or losing weight.
Thanks for the reminders. I knew most of that but it is so easy to forget.
Very sensible advice, thanks for your hub.
Great Hub. I loved your advice of eating smaller meals more frequently. Overeating is probably the most common problem for people. What do you think of a glass of water with apple cider vinegar before meal? I heard it enhances metabolic rate.
Cheers.
-Oksana
I've been told that eating breakfast is greatfor speeding metabloism. Do you find this to be true. i have the hardest time eating breakfast on the days I am home.Any suggestions?
Thanks for your comment Denise! I'm not sure why you find it difficult to eat breakfast. If it is because you are not hungry a simple solution is to make a meal replacement smoothie. They are great for speeding the metabolism and I find I enjoy them whether or not I have an appetite. They are also great for weight loss. I wrote a hub about smoothie meal replacements that you may find interesting.
I enjoyed reading your hub. It was very informative. I will come back to read more of your other hubs.
hubby7
Great hub. Clear, engaging, informative. I'm off to learn about stoking my immune system. Thanks!
dear steve,
i am an endocrine surgeon and i am happy about your hub. i validate it . what ever has been hyped up in the media is farce about calorie watch and dieting. dieting is a wrong concept.
good hub
I've not confirmed this, but supposedly, eating hot food such as chili also increases your metabolism.
Good write-up steve. Great hub.
Great discussion! I never knew that too little sleep would contribute to a slow metabolism.
A lot of these seemed to come naturally to me as a younger person but once I was well into my 40's I became more sedentary...and I've had to be much more conscious of what I do and return to more routine physical activity. I recently began doing just a little weight lifing to try to rebuild a bit of muscle. It's not something I enjoy! Great overview.
Great Hub...Im always interested in ways to keep my body healthy and will be practicing some of these techniques.
Great Article! thanks for all the usefull information.
What, no magic pill I can take to lose weight? What a bummer! Seriously though, great article and good advice for anyone wanting to lose those extra pounds.
this is an excellent article. I know from experience that these tips work. I started to get back into shape and lose some weight a couple months ago by exercising everyday for at 30 minutes (sometimes more) and eating better foods. I would drink protein shakes for the small meals in between (snacks). Protein is great for the body and because it gets burned fast it needs to be replaced and helps us to build muscle instead of store fat. I was able to lost 11 pounds and 4 inches in two months. I definitely feel healthier.
Great hub. I just wanted to add some things too. The things in your hub are awesome and need to be done for anyone to lose fat properly and in a healthy way. For the readers that are already doing these things and are looking for advanced ways to speed up metabolism I have some tips that work well and are healthy. Spicy foods that are spiced with red pepper and cheyenne pepper, green tea extract, and celery are also great metabolism increasers. Again healthy diet and portion control are vital and should be the first steps taken. There is no substitution for diet and exercise. Thanks for the hub and information.
Great information! Metabolism is something we all want to speed up. Thanks for bringing this great information so we have the tools we need.
Thank you. Water was a new one to me. Plan on starting that tomorrow.
excellent hub, thaks for sharing this information and advice.
Great hub Steve I followed your link and calculated my resting RMR. Now I will know how to planb my reducing diet. I actually knew how to workit out but I keep forgetting the formula. Thanks for this hub.
Steve,
Great hub and on the course.
Metabolism, I believe is controlled by the primitive part of the brain. That part was good at taking food that was hit or miss (literally) and not knowing when the next meal was coming, stored it in the fat bank which is referred to as the bread basket.
Great in the ancient times but not in modern times. Unfortunately, we never got the last upgrade to the brain-ware.
In modern times the metabolism has been compromised by stress. Stress triggers another primitive brain response, that of flight or fight. However, stress is virtual rather than real but perceived by the brain as real. Food acts as a stress reliever making the threat dull. The increase in food is captured as fat to help us when the next stress attack occurs and we need energy.
It would be nice if we could control these primitive protection mechanisms directly, but until we find a way to do that, all your suggestions work just fine.
Thanks
hey Steve, I've had my thyroid removed and am on thyroxine. Is there a natural remedy I can take as well to stimulate my metabolism as the thyroxine doesn't seem to be doing it for me
Steve,
I like the way you take sometimes confusing information and explain it in understandable and concise terms. Great advice that I intend to practice.
Cindyvine--I was hypothyroid from birth, and have been on levothyroxine all but the first 13 weeks of my life. You have my utter sympathies. I don't personally know about natural remedies, other than getting LOTS of exercise, which, as a writer and mystic, is challenging for me to do, as I find academia and writing a LOT more personally interesting than pumping iron. :-P
What you can try at some point, if you can get to a licensed naturopath who works with thyroid patients, is the natural supplement called Armour. You can try getting it through an allopathic (Western medicine) doctor, but many are trained to tout the synthetic stuff as the so-called "gold standard."
In the meantime, all you can do is the common sense stuff described above--but double it because of the lack of natural thyroid hormone, which can lead to diabetes and other issues.
Now, to go take my own darned advice on exercise. ;-)
Hi Steve
I'm a newby to hubpages.
Your article is simple to understand which made it a joy to read; easy on the eyes. I need to lose some weight so will follow your advice and see what happens!
Will be reading some more of your articles.
Georgiecox
Great hub! I used to work construction and so I got plenty of physical activity in my day. Now I am stuck at a desk and I can tell I need to rev up the metabolism to make adjustments to my new lifestyle.
Thank you, great hub, very useful information - easy to understand!
you wrote on the natural ways which is very good and not harmful for body. This things not only increase our metabolism but very helpful in making live longer and healthy.
thanks for the information
Nice article and has shed a lot of good infromation. I've learned a lot.
Wow! Lots of great information here. Thanks for sharing with us.
Your one of the reasons which make hubpages so surprising.
good info that is easy to read and without subscription =) thanks
Nice info.Viewed your other post also. Quiet interesting.Joined your fan club to-day.
Thanks for the info. Very helpful.
Eating to 5 to 6 mini meals a day is definately the key for boosting that metabolism. Thanks for the tips Steve.
Great advice. I love this hub.
I will be using your advice for myself, and I will start my little son for his health's future.
Thank you for this hub.
Wow! I never heard or read anything about a RMR (Resting metobolic rate). RHR, (resting heart rate) yes, but never RMR. Thats why calorie restriction can actually work against you if you don't know what this number is. Great info!
great hub
Very well written hub .....
very much informative ......
Thank you very much for your great hub, for good advice, good wishes and support. Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us.
Wonderful Article.. Cool hub.. This will benefits a lot of hubbers.. Thanks and more hubs to come..
Great hub Steve..my opinion to speed up metabolism is through exercises...that's the best way so far...
Great article! Thanks for sharing and for laying this information out in such an easy-to-understand way...
Great Hub
It makes sense that keeping the metabolic rate at the optimum level means that calories are burned more efficiently. I agree with the small meal options for continued boosting of the metabolism . Check out the plan which worked for me
Hein Marais says:
17 months ago
Great Article. The advice you give on eating small meals throughout the day definetely worked for me. :)