To boost your metabolism, it requires effort and discipline at your end. Exercise and diet being an important part, here're 10 effective ways to boost your metabolism and stay fit.
What Is Metabolism?
When defined scientifically, metabolism is all kind of chemical reaction that takes place in your body. These chemical reactions are responsible for keeping your body active and alive. But, many of the health enthusiasts often use metabolism word to either define your metabolic rate or to calculate the number of calories you burn. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you will end up burning, which plays a vital role in losing weight and then keeping it off. High metabolism keeps your refreshed, gives you energy and makes you feel better throughout the day.
How To Boost Your Metabolism?
Here are 10 effective ways to boost your metabolism –
1. Eat Plenty Of Protein
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Eating food can give a boost to your metabolism for a few hours, but eating protein rich food can keep your metabolism high for a longer period. The thermic effect of food (TEF) requires extra calories to digest, absorb and then process the nutrients present in the meal. Protein rich food gives rise to TEF thus increasing your metabolism by 15% to 30% as compared to any carb or fat-rich meal.
In addition to it, eating protein prevents you from over-eating as it makes you feel fuller for a longer time. If you experience a sudden drop in metabolism, then it is best to include protein rich foods in your meal as it will help in losing fat.
2. Drink Cold Water
People who prefer drinking water over any harmful aerated drink experience more success in their weight loss and also manage to keep it off well. Sugary drinks are high in calories so replacing them with water automatically reduces your calorie intake. Also, drinking water can speed up the metabolism temporarily. Studies have shown that drinking 0.5 liters of water can increase your resting metabolism almost by 10-30% for an hour. The calorie burning effect increases when you drink more of cold water as your body uses energy to heat up the water to your body temperature. Water can also make you eat less if you drink a glass of water half hour before your meal.
3. Indulge In High-Intensity Workout
For intense burn of calories and high metabolism, there is no better thing than a high-intensity workout regimen. It can help in burning fat more efficiently as it increases your metabolic rate even after you are done with your exercise. Juggling your exercise routine and adding some high-intensity workouts can not only improve your metabolism but can also help in burning fat.
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4. Lift Heavy Weights
Your muscles are more metabolically active than fats, and muscle building can help in increasing the metabolism, which means you will end up burning more calories even when you are resting. Lifting heavy weights helps in retaining the muscles and also combat any decrease in metabolism that may occur at the time of weight loss. Lifting weights are important not only for building muscles or retaining them but a high amount of muscle also results in improved metabolism.
5. Stand up More
Sitting too much can be of grave danger for your overall health. The long sitting hours lead to fewer calorie burn and make you gain weight. When you compare your long sitting hours with an afternoon of standing up at work, then you will realize that you are burning at least 75 calories more.
If you are in a desk job, then try standing up after every short interval to take a break or just break up the length of your sitting time. You can also make use of standing desk to utilize that time beneficially.
Must Read – Simple Exercises You Can Do At Work To Stay Fit
6. Drink Green Tea
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It has been shown that drinking green tea can increase your metabolism by 4 to 5 percent instantly. The antioxidants present in green tea help in converting the fat stores in free fatty acids which lead to increases fat burning by almost 17%.
It is also believed that the metabolism boosting properties of green tea prevent the much-dreaded weight loss plateau that might take place during the decreased metabolism. However, some studies have negated the effects of green tea in improving metabolism saying that they have a very minimal effect and may apply to a few people only.
7. Drink Coffee
Studies have proved it several times that caffeine present in a coffee can help in boosting metabolism by as low as 3% to as high as 11%. Just the way green tea does, coffee also promotes healthy fat burning, but it seems that it is more effective on lean people. The metabolism and fat burning effects of coffee are also said to contribute significantly to weight loss and then maintaining the same.
8. Sleep Well
Lack of sleep has often been referred as a major reason for the increase in the risk of obesity. This is primarily caused because of the ill effects of sleep deprivation on your metabolism. Lack of sleep also leads to increase in blood sugar levels and hampers insulin resistance. Both these two conditions are linked with increased risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Sleep deprivation also leads to a sudden boost in hunger hormone ghrelin and a decrease in leptin, a hormone that makes us feel full. This explains well why people who are sleep deprived feel hungry often and have problems in losing weight.
9. Replace Your Regular Cooking Oil With Coconut Oil
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Most of the cooking oils are rich in saturated fats, but the coconut oil contains a lot of medium chain fats that can have a prolong increasing effect on your metabolism as compared to the long chain fats, which are particularly present on cooking fats like butter. Medium chain fats can boost your metabolism by almost 12%, whereas the long chain fats can give a boost to your metabolism of only 4%. Due to its healthy fatty acid profile, the coconut oil can be a great replacement for your regular cooking oil. Coconut oil will also have decent benefits to support your weight loss game.
10. Eat Spicy Foods
Capsaicin present in pepper plays a significant role in improving your metabolism. But, not all can handle the hotness of these spices in quantity required to have the desired metabolism boosting effect. One study done on the effects of capsaicin predicted that eating peppers in acceptable doses can help in burning additional ten calories with every meal. If you rely only on spices for boosting metabolism, then the effects may be small, but if you combine it with other metabolism boosting activities, then you will get desired results.
Final Word
Incorporating these small changes in your daily life can go a long way in improving your metabolism. The higher metabolism rate will not only help you in losing weight and maintain it but will also give you more energy to remain refreshed throughout the day.
