Natural Metabolic Boosters: How To Increase Your Metabolic Rate and Lose Weight (even when you sleep!)

Oct 12 by Joanna Verdan

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Being overweight contributes to a host of health problems, including diabetes (high blood sugar), high cholesterol, high pressure, and other, plus extra weight makes us feel sluggish and makes it hard to stay active, so no wonder so many people are constantly trying to lose weight.

If you are have a few pounds to lose and have been trying to shed weight for a while without much success, perhaps you think that your slow metabolism is the culprit. Some people just have bad genes that make them overweight, while other people stay slim, even though they eat exactly the same foods that we do, and there is not much that we can do about it, right?

Well, not exactly.

While it’s true that some people seem to have inherited some kind of “fast metabolism gene”; and it’s also true that as we get older our metabolic rate goes down; however, regardless of your age or your current weight, you can rev up your metabolism to burn more calories using the natural methods that I outline below.

Even though your metabolism is slow (or, as some say, the more precise term is “inefficient”), your genes should not get all the blame.

Each and everyone of us — no matter how old, overweight, or out of shape — has the power to increase their metabolism, lose weight and maintain that weight forever.

Metabolism Explained

Metabolism refers to the biological and chemical processes that your body’s cells engage in, in order to maintain life. Simply speaking, your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. There are three aspects that we can talk about here:

• Basal metabolism (also known as basal metabolic rate or BMR) – is the amount of calories that you burn just to keep your body alive. Over 60 percent of calories that you consume daily goes just to maintain your body functions. So, this is what you need, even when you are sleeping all day. The amount of energy required for a body to maintain its weight depends on the amount of muscle it has in comparison to fat. Muscles burn more energy to sustain themselves than fat tissue, so two individuals of the same weight and height can have two different metabolic rates if one has a higher percentage of lean muscle mass.
• Physical activity – a quarter of your total calories goes to physical activity.
• Thermic effect of food – the last ten percent of calories are spent processing the food you eat. It’s the cost of processing food for storage and use. For instance, if you consume 2200 calories daily, you should be burning about 220 calories simply eating, digesting, and eliminating what you eat.

Surprisingly, overweight people have relatively higher metabolic rate because they weigh more, but if their weight is staying constant then their metabolism is not fast enough to offset their caloric intake.

Your metabolism can be a your ally when trying to lose weight, combat diabetes or high blood pressure. Fortunately, increasing your metabolism is not as hard as it may seem.

Metabolic Formula for Maintaining Optimal Weight

The metabolic formula to maintain your weight is that what you take in should equal the calories you expend:

CALORIES CONSUMED = CALORIES USED FROM BASAL METABOLISM + CALORIES USED BY ACTIVITY + CALORIES USED BY THERMIC EFFECT

If your goal is to lose weight, you’ll need to cut down the number of calories consumed, burn more calories, or both.

Some people find that their metabolic rate is lower than average — for example, thyroid patients. If that is you, you will need to work a little harder on increasing your metabolism so you lose weight.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) Calculator

To calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMI), enter your weight, height and age to find out how much you need to maintain your body mass. Keep in mind that this is just an estimate, that doesn’t take into consideration your fat to lean muscle tissue ratio.

BMR Calculator
Weight (lbs):
Height (inches):
Age:
Sex :	MaleFemale
BMR
BMR Calculator

How to boost metabolism?

There are some supplements that you can buy that claim to boost metabolism, and many of them make many scientific claims about their benefits; however, before you resort to that, I recommend that you try the old-fashioned metabolic boosters described below.

Metabolism Booster #1: Exercise

Definitely the most effective way to rev up your metabolism is by exercising. For best results, you should be doing some aerobic exercises and some strength training exercises, as they each offer some unique benefits.

Aim for some physical activity every day. You may exercise first thing when you wake up, and you will reap the benefits of a faster metabolism throughout the day; fit a few brief 10 or 15-minute sessions throughout the day, or just one 30 minute session – if that’s all you can do. The bottom line, do it whenever fits your schedule.

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise, such as walking, running, swimming or cycling, provides the benefit of speeding up your metabolism for 4 to 8 hours after you stop exercising. This means, more calories will be burned long after you stop exercising.

Try interval training to pump up your metabolism and make your workouts more fun. Interval training alternates short bursts of intense exercise with periods of lower intensity activity. For instance; alternating sprints with a slow jog, or powering up a hill followed by an relaxed downhill walk. This type of exercise conditions the heart and muscles to use oxygen more efficiently. It will help you burn more calories, increase your metabolic rate and your level of fitness at a faster rate than with your old familiar workout.

Muscle Building Exercise

Strength training exercise. As we get older we tend to lose muscle, gain fat and our metabolism slows down as a result. Lifting weights using weight machines or free weights, or doing other strength-training activities just using your body weight (for example, pushups, or pullups) will increase your lean muscle mass. Since muscle tissue needs more calories to maintain itself than fat tissue, so your body will be burning more calories increasing your resting metabolic rate.

A combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training is best for optimal fat burning and metabolism boosting.

Metabolism Booster #2: Foods that Increase Metabolism

Eating a healthy diet is crucial if you want to increase your metabolism. Finding the right foods to accomplish this is easier than you think. Here is how.

Choosing healthy foods, especially whole plant foods – fresh vegetables, greens, fruits, whole grains, some lean protein will help increase your metabolic rate naturally. By eating these foods, you will naturally increase the amount of dietary fiber in your diet.

The best foods to increase your metabolism and help you lose weight are fresh, raw vegetables, dark green leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, blueberries and other fruits; as well as legumes, whole grains, and at least 8 glasses of water a day. For faster weight loss, avoid high-fat foods completely. Avoid sugary foods, alcohol, caffeine and don’t smoke.

When your cells need energy they use carbohydrates first, then fat and finally protein. Your body converts all carbohydrates into a form of sugar called glucose which is then used as fuel by your body. All excess carbohydrates you eat will be stored as fat for the future use. Also, any fat you consume will be stored as fat too. You need to eat a healthy diet and you exercise to be able burn those fat stores and increase your metabolism.

Eat Your Breakfast

Studies show that eating breakfast may increase resting metabolism by 10 percent and reduce the risk of obesity and diabetes. Make sure it’s a healthy morning with whole-grain cereal and fruit. You may even choose to eat a big soup and salad breakfast, if you like.

Stop slashing calories – Avoid Calorie Restrictive Diets

Food stimulates energy metabolism needed for digestion, so when you slash calories, the calories burned are greatly diminished and so is your metabolic rate. Restricting calories also signals the body that there is no food available, so it tries to conserve stores of carbohydrate and fat by slowing down its metabolism. That is why it’s so difficult for many people to lose weight by just restricting the number of calories eaten. Eat regular meals and snacks during the day to give your body a constant supply of healthy fuel.

Don’t Eat Before Sleep

Another no-no is eating before sleep. Your body naturally slows down in the evening, so it’s best to eat the bigger meals earlier during the day and skip the late dinner. Consistency is important because your body metabolism adapts to your current weight. If you have been dieting or skipping meals your body’s metabolism slows down to compensate for the lack of nutrients.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Do you have a question or comment or would like to contribute a tip or recipe? Enter it in the comment section of this Science of Healthy Living blog. Thanks!