Best Ways To Raise Your Metabolism

Forget the pills at your health food store that promise to burn fat while you do absolutely nothing. Don’t buy into the fancy bottles that make claims sounding too good to be true.

You know the old adage, so be sensible: there is no pill that will cause you to lose weight or fat without also doing something else; probably something you could have done without the pill and still achieved the same results, only for less money. These promises really are too good to be real. The best way to raise your metabolic rate is to follow a healthy lifestyle and to incorporate all of the following elements.

Raise Metabolism Naturally

The first thing you have to do is probably contrary to everything you believe about weight loss. Isn’t it counter-intuitive to eat in order to lose weight? The human body will not be fooled: it has got a lot of work to do and needs fuel in order to do it.

While you have been consumed with the notion of shedding fat, your heart, brain, and organs have been functioning invisibly. Out of sight is out of mind and that is the problem: a lot of dieters forget that their entire system — including the metabolic system — runs on more than fresh air.

Eat to Lose Weight

While you should not buy into gimmicks like special diets or $50 books about “secret foods you should never eat,” you really should be eating regular, healthy meals. Starving your body prepares you for metabolic problems.

Compare the human metabolism on a diet to that of an animal going into hibernation or a sick person who feels tired all the time. When animals prepare to sleep through the winter, they only use stored energy to breathe and to operate their internal organs, etc. Their bodies are going into “starvation mode” in which they are forced to slow down in order to conserve energy.

If you are fighting disease or infection, you become very tired because every cell in your body is needed to fight the invader. There is nothing left over for a brisk walk or a round of tennis.

Extreme dieting does the same thing: it forces your body into a state of starvation and conservation because it believes that the food supply is slowing down. You will feel too tired to exercise, thinking will become foggy, and you want to sleep all day. That is when you become very hungry and can’t find the energy to cook or prepare something wholesome like veggies and hummus.

Breakfast Breakthrough

Start the metabolism first thing each morning with a light breakfast. It doesn’t have to be much: a bowl of oatmeal with your favorite topping is just fine. Stay away from breakfast cereal and bread with jam as these refined foods will cause a spike in your appetite and lead to cravings for unhealthy food. Pick something that will sustain you: eggs (sans bacon) are also good. Now your metabolism is ready to go for the day. The result of skipping breakfast is a sluggish metabolism.

Exercise

Metabolism also benefits from exercise. It can take a little while to feel inspired to move but the benefit of committing to a walk every morning or half an hour on the elliptical trainer is that you continue to burn calories afterwards. Other positive effects include a better mood, clearer thinking, and a thirst for nothing more than plain water. Do your body a favor and drink lots throughout the day.

Incorporate muscle-building moves into your day and your week. These will benefit your metabolism all the time as long as you don’t give up the routine. Muscle burns fat constantly and it doesn’t take much.

Do some push-ups every day. Buy light hand weights and perform routines like bicep curls and tricep extensions every other day. Perform squats to rousing music. Enjoy exercise and feed muscles with lean protein so they grow stronger.

It’s not necessary to become a body builder or to eat whey protein shakes: do what feels good as long as you aren’t feeding your muscles chocolate bars and hamburgers.