Tips to Boost Your Metabolism

Metabolism:  The rate by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories to support life.

There are many people who try to increase their metabolism.  Having a high metabolic rate enables one to maintain burning of the fat and losing of weight quickly with the least amount of activity.

There are several factors that affect  the metabolism in a person such as: the amount of muscle tissue, the frequency of the meals one consumes, genetics, stress levels, personal diet, and activity levels. 

There are times in life when metabolism narurally slows down. It may be when your bod experiences a loss of muscle because of not enough physical activity. There is a natural tendency of the body to cannibalize its own tissue when it thinks the body is in starvation mode. Slowing metabolism comes naturally with old age.

Here are 10 ways to fire up the old metabolism:

Build up on lean, mean body mass.  It is natural that metabolism decreases with age, but it is also possible to counter the effects.  The amount of muscle a person has is a very strong boundry in the ability to burn calories and shed fat.  So it goes without saying that exercise is essential in building strength between workouts.  Simple tasks such as walking the dog and using the stairs in place of the elevator can assist in burning off calories.  The key is to match the amount of eating to the amount of activity one has.  Here are some guidelines for getting the right exercise.

For Strength training:

• Increase the repetitions
• Add to the level of resistance
• Utilize advance exercise techniques if possible

For Cardio Training:

• Combine exercises or cross train
• Add up on resistance and speed
• Insert intervals between exercises like at Curves for Women

Eat breakfast.  Many people ignore the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  It is a surprising fact that most people who eat breakfast are thinner than many people who skip breakfasts. Metabolism can slow down if breakfast is ate during mid morning or if you wait until the afternoon to eat. Do you remember our discussion of what happens when your body enters starvation mode?

Avoid Sugar: Sugar enables the body to store fat.  It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood-sugar.  Additionally, progressive exercise 2 to 3 times a week should be able to stabilize blood sugar.

Sleep:  According to research, people who do not get enough sleep gain weight.  Muscles are regenerated during the last couple hours of sleep.

Increase Your Water Intake:  Water flushes out toxins that are produced whenever the body burns fat.  The majority of bodily functions involve water. If there is a lack of water, this will cause the body system operations to decrease its speed, and produces stress as a result.

Eat smaller meals:  It is advisable to consume 4 to 6 small meals that are timed 2 to 3 hours apart.

Never Skip Meals:  People tend to skip meals to lose weight, which is a huge mistakes because this will slow the metabolism down to a snail's crawl.

Plan Your Meals In Detail:  Always prepare the right amount of food to be consumed at the designated times.  Do not commit to  the mistake of eating meals in spasmodic intervals.

Ditch the stress:  Stress, whether it is physical or emotional, it triggers the release of a steroid called cortisol, which decreases your metabolism.  People also tend to be emotional eaters during stress.

Metabolism... It is the master of your diet destiny. You must learn to use it to your advantage. You must understant it to use it and you must master it to control your weight loss journey.

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