If you find it impossible to lose weight and keep it off, even when you follow all the traditional guidance on dieting and exercising, it is very likely that a sluggish metabolism is one of your problems. It is important to understand how your unique body metabolizes food because that determines how food turns into energy or fat in your body. Most diets don’t factor in each individual’s metabolism. They focus on dietary changes but don’t factor in how your individual metabolism is affecting your weight gain. This is why some people have great success with one diet but others get no results from it at all.
If you have a sluggish metabolism, your body won’t respond to traditional diets and weight-loss programs. The traditional diet approach of decreasing calories won’t work because weight is determined by your body’s response to how foods are processed or metabolized within your body.
The good news is that you definitely have the ability to speed up or slow down your metabolism. Because everyone’s body is different, some of the methods to speed up your metabolism will work extremely well, while others not so well. I know for me, drinking green tea gives me a very noticeable boost in my metabolism, because I not only burn fat, I also notice less cellulite as well.
In my new book, Lose Weight Without Dieting or Working Out!, I provide 12 ways to boost your metabolism and I also include a list of certain foods that are especially effective at speeding up your metabolism. To get you started, I will provide my 3 favorite metabolism boosters below. However, be sure to check out the other methods described in my new book so you can incorporate as many metabolism boosters as possible. This way you can figure out which ones work best for you so you can continue with the most effective methods on a regular basis.
Here are three ways to boost your metabolism to burn more calories:
1. Eat breakfast.
Have a hearty breakfast to rev up your metabolism for the day. Eating a high-protein breakfast wakes up your liver and kicks your metabolism into gear. A high-protein breakfast can increase your metabolic rate by 30 percent for up to twelve hours, which is the calorie-burning equivalent of a three- to five-mile jog. It is important to feed your body every three to four hours and not skip any meals. You especially don’t want to skip breakfast. When you skip breakfast, it means your body goes without fuel for about fifteen hours including the overnight hours. This causes it to automatically store fat over the next twenty-four hours because it thinks it’s in starvation mode or a deprived state.
2. Eat more frequently.
The goal is to not let more than four hours pass without a meal or snack. Yes, ironically, it is important to eat to lose weight! The number of times you eat is important to keep your metabolism revved up. Every time you eat, you have to burn calories in order to digest your food and eating increases your metabolic rate. When more than five hours pass without eating, your body automatically lowers its metabolic rate. In contrast, by eating meals and snacks throughout the day, your body stays at a steady metabolic burn rate that helps you burn calories and fat all day. Remember we are eating every three or four hours because eating less will slow your metabolism. It sends a signal to your body that it is starving and deprived, causing the body to respond by slowing the metabolic rate and holding on to existing fat reserves in the body. So, eat more. Yes, you can do that!
3. Drink more cold water.
German researchers found that if you drink six cups of cold water a day, it can raise resting metabolism by about 50 calories daily, which in a year can help you to shed about five pounds. This is because it takes more work for the body to heat the water to your body temperature. This is a small thing that can help you lose weight with very little effort. The Germany researchers also suggest that for up to 90 minutes after drinking cold water, you will keep your metabolism boosted by as much as 24 percent over your average metabolism rate.
You can learn how your body works and how to speed up your metabolism so you burn more calories and fat throughout each day.
JJ Smith (www.JJSmithOnline.com) is a nutritionist and certified weight-management specialist who has been featured on The Montel Williams Show, The Jamie Foxx Show and on the NBC, FOX, CBS and CW networks. Her advice has also been featured in the pages of Glamour, Essence, and Ladies Home Journal. Since reclaiming her health, losing weight, and discovering a “second youth” in her forties, bestselling author JJ Smith has become the voice of inspiration to women who want to lose weight, be healthy, and get their sexy back! JJ may be contacted by email at info@jjsmithonline.com and on Twitter: jjsmithonline and Facebook Page: RealTalkJJ