Ways You Can Speed Your Metabolism

Your metabolism is simply the rate at which your body burns fuel. A fuel-efficient metabolism, ironically, is one that needs very little fuel to support life, and which stores all excess fuel as fat; in primitive times, an efficient metabolism was an advantage, since it allowed the individual to store fuel on which to live during times of hardship. In modern society, a fuel-efficient metabolism is a distinct drawback, since our society encourages human interaction and bonding through the exchange and consumption of great quantities of food.

If you are overweight, your goal should be to turn a fuel-efficient metabolism into a fuel-hog, burning fuel even while you are sleeping. The easiest way to turn up your metabolism is through exercise. This turns off many potential metabolism-raisers, since it implies gyms, equipment, trainers, hard bodies and scorn. But metabolism-raising exercise can be as simple as a few minutes of marching in place at your desk, or lifting a weight (a phone book? a liter of water?) as you talk on the phone.

Exercise not only burns the calories required to perform the activity, it raises the rate at which your metabolism operates for some period after you have ceased the activity. The length of the period of raised metabolic rate depends on the vigor and duration of your activity, but even moderate activity for a few minutes can result in a higher fat-burning rate for an hour or more afterwards. Enough mini-workouts throughout the day and you can have a significant effect on your resting metabolic rate.

Exercise that builds muscle is a more effective metabolism booster than aerobic exercise, since muscle mass burns fat twenty-four hours a day. One pound of fat can be maintained by a mere two calories a day, while a pound of muscle burns seventy-five calories a day; when you lose fat and add muscle, your body is burning fat even when you are sleeping.

Exercise that builds muscle must work against resistance, either the resistance of gravity (weight training) or against the resistance of elastic; exercise bands that are essentially giant rubber bands are very portable and can be used anywhere, without having to join a club or buy large workout equipment.

Since lean muscle weighs more than fat, you can easily grow discouraged if you are exercising, eating low fat food and yet gaining weight. Ignore the scales; heed the tape measure. If your potbelly is shrinking, it shouldn't matter that your weight temporarily goes up. You are looking better, you are healthier, and you are increasing the rate at which you can lose the rest of the fat. Stop thinking in terms of 'losing weight' and start thinking in terms of 'losing fat'.

More metabolism boosters:

Sunlight. When you get up in the morning, go outside briefly and catch a healthy dose of sun on your face. This alerts your body that it's time to gear up for activity. Our bodies are programmed by hundreds of years of experience to believe that low light levels mean low activity levels, and indoor lights do little to counteract that. Sunlight on your eyelids tells your body that it's time to prepare figuratively for the hunt.

Water. Many people have trained their bodies to confuse thirst for hunger. When they're thirsty, they eat. Drinking plenty of water retrains your thirst-detector to recognize thirst for what it is and helps you avoid the calories you don't need. You should be drinking plenty of water during any fat-loss program in any event, to flush the toxins that are a byproduct of fat burning.

Green tea? Peppers and spice? Some studies have shown that green tea can boost your metabolism if taken regularly. Spicy food and red pepper are also being studied for their effects on metabolic rate. Whether or not the metabolic increase caused by these foods actually amounts to enough to result in significant burning of body fat remains to be seen, but if you like Cajun or Hunan cuisine, go ahead and indulge - just make sure the fat content of the meal doesn't overcompensate for whatever fat-burning effects the spices might bring.