Boosting Your Metabolism. Articles | Exercise

By: Darren Williger

Trying to increase your metabolism can be very difficult.  The higher the metabolism the better your body is at burning fat and losing weight or not even gaining as much weight.  Your metabolism is how fast your body uses calories.  Your metabolism is affected by muscle tissue, frequency of meals, genetics, stress, age, diet, and activity level.  Your metabolism will slow down with loss of muscle due to inactivity and decrease of activity due to age.

Here are some ways to increase your metabolism naturally, they are:

• have a leaner body mass, the more muscle you have the more calories your body will burn.  Increasing your exercise level will also speed up your metabolism.  When doing strength training increase the reps per exercise, add resistance, and utilize advanced exercise techniques.  If you are doing cardiovascular  training then have intervals between exercises, use cross training, and add resistance and speed.
• always eat breakfast, it really is important to have this meal to get your body ready for the rest of the day and right away starts your body off with fuel to burn.
• try to avoid sugars, they store fat, instead eat foods that help control blood sugar levels.
• spicy foods increase metabolism also.
• drink lots of water, this fills you up and flushes out toxins.
• get enough rest, to help regenerate your muscles so they can heal.
• eat smaller meals, four to six times a day.  It is easier for your body to digest and use the food as energy then.  Less food gets stored as fat and more is used as actual food for your body.
• do not skip meals, you need food to keep your energy up.  Skipping meals makes your body essentially cannibalize itself.  It needs food to operate and use every day.
• plan your meals so you eat the right portions at the right times.  Knowing what you are going to eat and when means you will not over eat or eat the wrong foods.
• try to lessen the amount of stress in your life or try to learn how to relieve your stress.  When stressed the body releases a steroid called cortisol which decreases metabolism.
• drink green tea, it has been found to increase metabolism along with having many other benefits for your body.
• eat more fruits and vegetable, along with beans and whole grains.  This should be eaten the most out of any food out there.

Developing the ideal body weight can be achieved by also increasing the metabolism.  Eating right and getting enough exercise will get your metabolism going.  Having a sluggish metabolism does not have to stay that way.  Try the different tips and techniques to get yourself started and increase your metabolism and your health.  It is not as hard as it seems.