Metabolism and Weight Loss
Unfortunately those of us with lower metabolic rates burn fat slower than others but there are ways to boost your metabolism and hence the burning of calories. The amount of energy we burn while at rest is known as the basal metabolic rate and we inherit that from our parents. We can however increase our metabolism by exercising, building muscle tissue and watching the food we eat.
Increasing your muscle mass is an effective way to approach increasing meatbolism as mucle burns calories even while at rest, whereas fat does not. Muscle needs those calories you intake which is why muscular people sometimes seem to be able to eat just about anything without gaining weight. Your basal metabolic rate drops a little with age but building muscle will help to combat the infamous middle age spread.
Other factors, particularly stress also come into play. Studies have shown that people who suffer stress can sometimes also lose efficiency in their metabolism so stress busting activities like yoga and aerobic exercise can be vital to these folk in more ways than one. Happily regular exercise of course also has its direct effect on weight loss.
Tips for raising your basal metabolic rate:
Eat your breakfast! Starting the day with a meal wakes up your metabolism, high fibre carbs are best as they take longer to digest so stop you feeling hungry for longer.
Increase your body temperature, your metabolic rate rises significantly with body temperature though perhaps confusingly we also tend to use up more calories if we are a little cold!
Reduce stress, it interferes with your ability to effectively burn calories. Any stress busting activities are good, walking or yoga for example. Long term stress can cause weight gain and lead to various other health problems.
Weight training can help you build muscle tissue which needs to burn calories even at rest.
Eat small regular meals, regular eating helps to raise metabolism as your body needs to work on digestion. Skipping meals on the other hand can actually reduce your metabolic rate as the body thinks it needs to survive a food shortage. Protein consumes more calories in digestion than other foods so make lean protein like chicken or fish a healthy share of your intake.
Spice up your food, several studies have shown that capsaicin found in chilli peppers gives a temporary boost to our metabolisms, enough to make a difference if you make it a habit.
Exercise at morning as there is some evidence that morning exertion raises the metabolic rate well into the day, this point is still debated but most agree that exercise at night is definitely not good as it hinders good sleep.
Get enough sleep. If your body is exhausted it is not going to be able to bun calories efficiently so your metabolism is lowered. Being low on sleep also leads to other problems such as lack of motivation to do the walking or other exercise already mentioned.
Drink green tea, there is now a lot of evidence it helps to raise metabolism and burn calories. Also many folk swear by the power of acai berry to help with raising metabolism and losing weight. Its available as a juice or in capsule form as well as in berry form.
