Are you planning to lose weight but struggling to do so? Even after eating healthy food and exercising, you are not losing weight as you might have envisioned. That’s because when it comes to weight loss, metabolism plays a crucial role. You might have heard the terms “slow” and “fast” metabolism. These are directly related to your weight loss. If you have a slow metabolism, it may take you longer to lose weight compared to people who have a faster metabolism. The safest and healthy way to lose weight is to boost your metabolism.

Metabolism is the process of breaking down food in the form of energy, so boosting it can help you lose weight. But how do you naturally increase metabolism more efficiently? Boosting metabolism may sound complex, but it’s actually really simple. You just need to take some steps, and your metabolism will boost, helping you lose weight faster.

What is Metabolism?

Metabolism is a process in which your body breaks down the food and drinks you eat into energy. Everything you do, from breathing to growing, moving, and eating, requires energy, meaning you burn calories even when you are doing nothing. Your body burns calories to maintain steady energy levels, circulate blood, breathing and thinking.

Did you know? Not everyone’s metabolism is the same. You might have noticed that some of your friends can eat whatever they want and still stay slim. But on the other hand, there are some people who can gain weight even after drinking water, or, sarcastically, even after smelling cookies.

The higher a person’s metabolic rate, the more calories they burn at rest. So, you must boost your metabolism, not only to help you with your weight management goals but also to support overall health. And here’s the good news, you don’t have to worry about taking pills or eating diets, you can tweak it simply.

What are the Types of Metabolism?

You might have just heard about the fast and slow metabolism. Right? Well, those are the types of metabolism based on speed. The metabolism types mentioned below are based on function. These are always at work behind the scenes in our bodies.

Anabolism

Anabolism is the type of metabolism that focuses on building and repairing the body. This is your body’s building mode that can help convert the small molecules into the larger ones. This is a type in which your body uses energy from food to build and repair tissues, such as muscles, bones, and connective tissues. Anabolism is a type of metabolism in which energy can be stored for later use. Whenever you are growing, healing, or gaining strength, anabolism is the one responsible for it.

Catabolism

Another type is catabolism, which is like your body’s breaking-down mode. In this type, your body breaks down stored food, stored fat, and even muscle to release energy for you to perform various functions. In catabolism, complex molecules are broken down into simple ones that can help in providing energy for daily activities.

Both anabolism and catabolism work together all the time, where one acts like a building block, while the other provides energy to keep moving.

Why is Boosting Metabolism Crucial?

Metabolism is one of the crucial aspects of your body that helps keep your body moving. Metabolism is also known as the internal engine of your body that powers everything in your body. This is the fundamental process that powers every function of your body, from breathing to exercising. Many think that metabolism is crucial for losing weight, but that’s not true. Weight management is just one of its functions. There are several other reasons why metabolism is crucial to your body, which will be discussed below.

Key Reasons Why Boosting Metabolism is Crucial

• Energy Production
• Weight Management
• Disease Prevention
• Hormonal Balance
• Improved Vitality

What are the Factors That Influence Metabolism?

You might have witnessed that some people burn more calories than others. That’s because there are different factors that can influence metabolism, and not everyone has the same metabolism. Some factors can’t be controlled when it comes to metabolism, but others can be with your daily choices. Read on to know what the various factors are that influence your metabolism.

• Age: The older you are, the slower your metabolism will be.
• Body composition: If you have more muscle mass, then you will be burning more calories than others.
• Body size: If you are larger, you will burn more calories because your body will require more energy to function.
• Genetics: You can’t control genetics when you wish to boost your metabolism. These also influence how efficiently your body metabolizes.
• Health status: Conditions like hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism can also impact your metabolism.
• Physical activity: All sorts of physical activities burn calories, from walking to high-intensity interval training. But it depends on what exercise you are engaged in.
• Medications: If you are taking any medicines like antidepressants, then they can impact your ability to boost metabolism.

These were just a few factors that can influence metabolism. If you wish to boost your metabolism, then you must change your lifestyle and opt for habits that you’ve never had. Moreover, your food choices can also impact your metabolism.

Diet and Metabolism: Are They Interconnected?

Yes, diet and metabolism are interconnected. Diet plays a crucial role in your metabolism, but as already mentioned, diet is not the only factor. You might have witnessed or read somewhere that some foods require more energy to digest or contain compounds that might increase calorie burn, leading to higher metabolism. Here’s a list of food items that can help you balance your diet and boost metabolism, too.

• Coffee: Caffeine, a stimulant, can help boost your metabolism. You might have heard that drinking coffee helps you lose weight; that’s because it boosts metabolism, which helps in weight management.
• Green Tea: Just like coffee, some green teas contain caffeine and a compound called catechins that help in increasing metabolic rate.
• High-Protein Food: Food items such as eggs, lean meats, fish, and even nuts are high in protein and require your body more energy to digest them, increasing metabolism.
• Spicy Food: Food items like chili peppers are spicy because they contain a compound called capsaicin, which increases your body temperature and metabolism.
• Cinnamon: This is one of the foods that helps stabilize blood sugar levels, which in turn helps regulate metabolism.
• Ginger: Ginger is a thermogenic food that can help increase your body’s temperature and metabolic rate.

These were just a few food items that can help boost your metabolism and even stabilize it, leading to a healthy life.

8 Natural Ways to Boost Metabolism

Alright, now comes the part that you’ve been waiting for. So how can we speed up this process a bit faster than a bunch of bizarre “magic pills” from late-night TV infomercials? You must boost your metabolism naturally, and here are the best ways to do so.

Getting lots of protein

Every time you eat, you kick your metabolism into high gear for a few hours. And to boost metabolism, you must consume a lot of food items that are rich in protein. Protein is like your super-duper star of this show. Food items like hard-boiled eggs, lean meats, fish, or a bowl of Greek Yogurt are perfect. It takes around 20 to 30 percent of your calories to digest it, and it also keeps you full for longer.

And when you don’t want to eat extra or junk, protein-rich foods are your best friend. They keep you full and satisfied for longer.

Drinking Green Tea or Coffee

If you love the taste of coffee, this next one has made my day: that cup of coffee that you love so much really does help out your metabolic rate. Caffeine has been known to help your body mobilize fats, which, combined with an increased resting metabolic rate, can really help your diet. And, if that’s the case, green tea must be absolutely amazing. You see, green tea has a minor amount more caffeine than the average cup of coffee, but it’s also known to contain something known as ‘catechins’ that help your body shed more pounds.

One thing, however, you have to avoid is not messing up your tea or coffee by adding five pumps of sugary syrup, half a cup of cream, and an entire mountain of whipped cream. Honestly, if you do that, it’s no longer a metabolism booster, it’s simply a milkshake!” Try drinking it black or adding a splash of milk if you do choose that route.

Lift Some Heavy Stuff

Heavy lifting is essential. If you just do cardio, like running on a treadmill for an hour, you burn lots of calories. But as soon as you stop exercising, this calorie-burning rate shoots down fast. Now, if you exercise with weights or go for push-ups, for example, you build muscle mass. This muscle is “expensive” for your body to maintain.

It takes lots of calories just for your body to maintain this muscle mass, just sitting there in your arms and legs. This means you can burn more calories when you sleep, eat, or watch TV. You don’t have to be pumped up like an average bodybuilder to make a significant difference in the volume of food that you consume without gaining a pound.

Don’t Sit Back in Your Chair

Our current lifestyle makes us entirely too many seated-in-one-place people. We sit at work in our offices, in cars to get home, and on our coaches so we can plop down and watch TV. Scientists have started calling this type of lifestyle “the new smoking” since it’s so bad for us.

One effect of this lifestyle is that our metabolism enters what they call “sleep mode.” This issue is fixed if you adjust what they call “NEAT” or (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). This is basically just an activity outside of actual exercise. Want to know what these activities basically are? Here are some ideas:

• Get up whenever you have to make or take calls.
• Use the stairs as soon as possible if you have an elevator.
• Park your car as far away from the store’s door as possible.
• Fidget around.

And surprisingly, people who keep tapping their feet or wiggling around in their chairs actually burn more calories than people who sit still as statues. Oh, get yourself a standing desk if you can. Even standing around will raise your metabolic rate more than sitting.

Spice Up Your Life

Do you like spicy food? If you can handle a little spice, your metabolism will appreciate the extra kick. You see, spicy peppers have something that other peppers don’t, something called capsaicin. You might notice that when you eat something spicy, you feel like sweating or that your body feels warmer.

That’s right: that’s your metabolic rate going into overdrive. Now, this isn’t exactly a metabolic supercharger, like eating pizza by the bucket load, but it’s something that can give your metabolic rate that extra boost to burn an extra few calories after lunch.

Get More Water, Especially Icy Water

Water is an honest miracle worker for your system. If you are even a bit dehydrated, your metabolism will slow down, and you will feel sluggish. Your body requires water to process calories, so if you are not drinking enough water, you are really harming your metabolism speed on your own.

Your ZZZ’s

In reality, sleep is something that people need, but don’t necessarily get. We live in a world where sleeping is seen as something lazy people do, but the truth is, sleeping in large quantities can save your life.

You see when your body doesn’t get enough sleep, it becomes stressed out, big time. There are two main hormones that help to determine your relationship with food, two main hormones that exist in your body:

• Your ‘I’m starving!’ hormone, known as ghrelin, shoots through the roof when your body doesn’t get enough sleep.
• Your ‘I’m full, man’ hormone, known as leptin, which, when your body doesn’t get enough sleep, becomes nonexistent.

That’s why, when you get four hours of sleep, all you can possibly want is a big plate of donuts and pizza. Trust me, your body is begging for help. In reality, this affects your body’s insulin levels, which, when mixed with lack of sleep, leads to an increased amount of body fat, which escalates into more serious problems like diabetes.

Eat Small, Frequent Meals

You do not have to eat six meals per day like you see advertised in some fitness magazines, but you also should not go 10 or 12 hours without chowing down during the day. When you do not eat for too long, your body can get a mite concerned that you’re not getting enough snacks. And when that happens, your blood sugar can drop, leading you to feel like you’re ‘hangry,’ or hungry and angry.

When you finally do eat, you’ll be bound and determined to eat twice as much simply because your brain is screaming for calories. Eating an excellent, healthy snack or meal every few hours will regulate your blood sugar and allow you to maintain ‘thermic’ activity in that area.

Conclusion

Boosting your metabolism is not about short-sighted solutions and crash diets, it is about making long-term lifestyle changes that help your body to operate in the manner it was created. Eating foods rich in protein, eating water, sleeping, and engaging in frequent activities are only some of the simple habits that can go a long way in raising your energy levels and improving your health.

It is always in mind that metabolism is not only about losing weight, but it is the engine that drives all the operations on your body. Through these strategies of nature, you will not only increase your metabolic rate, but you will also increase your vitality, balance, and long-term well-being. Begin big, remain steady, and have your metabolism on your side.