Boosting your metabolism will make you healthier, help you reduce body fat, and let you feel stronger and active. Having a fast metabolism means that your body will absorb nutrients from digested food faster. However, it is important to know that metabolism is not digestion. Digestion is the process where acids break down food in your stomach and passes it through the intestines. Metabolism, on the other hand, is what happens after the digestive enzymes have done breaking down the food.
Fitness coaches and health experts often tout the benefits of a faster metabolism. So, naturally, convinced of its wide-ranging health benefits, you think of speeding up your metabolism. But you don’t know how.
Don’t worry, the article below will show you how you can speed up your metabolism safely.
Eating more meals
This might sound counterintuitive at first, but eating more meals throughout the day will help you speed up your metabolism. How? First, if you are eating 5-6 times in a single day, you will naturally exercise portion control. Second, the reduced portion sizes are going to mean less work for the stomach each time you eat. This translates to a boost in your metabolic rate. As assimilating nutrients from each portion and turning food into energy becomes easier, you will start feeling light and active.
There is just one caveat, however, while dividing meals throughout the day, make sure your portion sizes don’t increase from what they are now. Engorging yourself with food, and not practicing restraint, will actually result in a weight gain and not an increase in metabolic rate.
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With that out of the way, normally, it is best to portion your meals into smaller parts spread throughout the day. If you opt for smaller and healthier snacks throughout the day, instead of binging on 3-meals a day, you’ll feel a lot more active throughout.
Eat more protein
The more protein you consume, the faster your metabolic rate becomes. As compared to carbs and fats, the protein digestion requires less time and leads to an increase in metabolic rate. However, carbs, too, can lead to a spike in metabolic rate, but it is significantly lower than that produced by proteins.
Studies show that eating protein-rich diets can increase your rate by 15 to 30%, and while eating a carb-heavy diet can increase the metabolic rate by a mere 5 to 10%.
Proteins help build muscles, and with a faster metabolism to boot, you’d also be able to lose fat and start seeing the tone in your muscles.
Get your heart racing
Another great way to boost your metabolism is to perform a little cardio. Strength training can also help you get your metabolic rate up. Due to the increased blood flow, your body’s metabolism is going to fire up. The rise in demand for oxygen and blood, induced by strenuous workout, can lead to an increased nutrient absorption.
Another great benefit of working out is that it ups your metabolic resting rate, which is the metabolic rate for when you are resting. That is why experts recommend eating something in the 90-minute window after you’ve stopped working out. The earlier you eat in that window, the better the assimilation of nutrients is because of that fired up metabolism.
In trying out cardio and weight training, make sure that you observe proper technique and ease into the exercises. Getting injured while running or lifting weights can lead to bed rest, which is not what you want if you want to increase metabolic rate and lose fat.
Drink more water
Sadly, drinking water is the most commonly neglected healthy habit that can also help you shed pounds. We should be hydrated whether or not we want our metabolisms increased. Apart from being a great way to help your metabolism speed up, proper hydration can also lead to the efficient working of your body’s organs and systems.
Drinking water before your meal increases your body's resting metabolic rate and helps improve digestion. Moreover, studies show that drinking half a liter of water increases metabolic rate because it signals the body to turn calories into energy in order to keep warm.
When you feel hungry, don’t just reach out to open your fridge door to find something to snack on, instead, drink a glass of water. What seems like hunger might be easily staved off with a glass of refreshing water. Additionally, drinking a glass before your next meal can also help you reduce your portion size.
Conclusion
These tips can go a long way in helping you fire up your metabolism and feeling healthier in the long run. We recommend that you follow whichever tip suits your lifestyle and try to incorporate the others later on. These are not meant to be cookie-cutter remedies, and you have to watch out for the ones that may not be ideal for you. These tips will bring about lifestyle changes related to your eating, drinking, and resting habits. If you are trying to lose weight naturally, then upping your metabolism should be the first thing you look into.