Thursday, July 24, 2008

3 Great Ways to Boost Your Metabolism in Order to Lose Weight

Boosting your metabolism is one of the most important things you need to do if you want to lose weight. Your metabolism is what determines how many calories you burn. If you have a high metabolism, it will be easier to burn calories. On the other hand, if you have a low metabolism, it will be harder to burn calories, and therefore lose weight.

Boosting your metabolism does require a bit of work, but it's not hard once you know how to do it, and if you read on, you will learn some of the things you can do to speed things up.

Before I go on, there is an important factor you must keep in mind when wanting to lose weight. Muscle requires more energy to maintain than fat does. This means that if you have more muscle, you will have a higher metabolism. So the next time someone suggests you can lose weight without any exercise, remember this! You cannot build muscle without some form of exercise!

So, if you want to boost your metabolism, here are some things you can do:

1. Exercise regularly - Your exercise routine should contain no more than 15 minutes of resistance training followed by 15 minutes of intervals training, 3 days a week. Follow your exercise routine with an easy to digest protein drink. This helps to build muscle, therefore increasing your metabolism.

2. Eat whole foods - lean meats, fish and chicken (for protein), plenty of vegetables and fruit if you need something sweet. Whole foods take a lot more energy to digest than processed foods do, so fresh fruit and vegetables are a great way to go. Proteins also help to make you feel full for longer.

3. Eat around 5 to 6 times a day, starting with breakfast - this is by far the best way to give your metabolism a boost each morning.

Of course you must eat the right amount of calories each day too. If you consume too many, you will gain weight. If you consume too little, you will also gain weight. This is because your body goes into "starvation" mode and will become very efficient at storing fat, so the very next time you eat - it's straight to the hips! This is the same when you skip meals and especially breakfast.

If you're unsure as to how many calories you should consume each day, then you should use a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculator. Visit the site below, type "BMR" into the search field at the top, and you will be directed to a page that will show you how you can download one for free. This calculator will be a great tool to help you determine if you're eating enough (or too much).

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