Your body is constantly using up your store of energy. Whether your body is busy breathing, pumping blood, digesting food, moving, thinking, or controlling temperature, it takes energy to make it happen. The process of converting and using energy for these normal bodily processes is called metabolism, a process that determines how fast you burn calories and therefore how quickly you gain or lose weight.
Some people are known to have a fast metabolism and some people’s metabolism is considered slow. Those with a faster metabolism tend to be younger (metabolism slows as you age), have more muscle (muscle burns calories faster than fat), male (men burn more calories than women), and overweight (your body has to work overtime to sustain itself). Genetics also play a role. Some people just naturally have a fast or slow metabolism.
What can you do to increase your metabolism and help your body lose weight faster at the same time? Read on to see what the boot camp in San Antonio has to say on the matter.
Exercise Boost
If you’re looking to give your metabolism a boost, look no further than those running shoes and free weights. Aerobic exercise gets your metabolism revved up for a short time and weight training builds muscle to keep your metabolism running at a faster rate over the long run.
Exercises such as running, cycling, and swimming may burn more calories than lifting weights, but using weights to build muscle will prolong your body’s calorie burn. As you sit reading this article, your body is burning calories. But the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns—even when you’re busy doing nothing but resting. A person with more muscle than fat can generally eat more without gaining weight as fast. This is possible thanks to a higher metabolism.
Want to burn calories all day long? Get your metabolism up and running all day long by exercising first thing in the morning.
Eat Often
The trick to an increased metabolism isn’t to eat less or more. Rather, the trick is to eat more often. Start your day with a healthy breakfast that includes fiber and protein. Don’t have time for breakfast? Yes, you do. No skipping allowed!
Following breakfast, go with smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. While you may think not eating will help you trim down, fasting or skipping meals is one of the worst things you can do for your metabolism. Going hours between meals causes your metabolism to slow down to save energy. When metabolism slows and then you eat a large meal, your body thinks it must hold on to every calorie to make it until the next meal so you don’t starve. The end result? Weight gain.
By eating several healthy snacks throughout the day, you’ll eat less at mealtime and keep your metabolism high.
Eat and Drink These
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a super food to rev your metabolism? You may have heard that green tea, grapefruit, and celery increase your metabolism, but these assertions are unproven. Spicy foods and hot pepper may speed your metabolism, but only for less than an hour, and not by enough to make a difference. Your body has to work harder to digest protein, so your best bet is to eat high-protein, low-calorie foods to keep your metabolism working hard.
The San Antonio boot camp wants you to keep in mind that after the age of 40 your metabolism slows by 5 percent every decade. This means, you’ll need to eat 5 percent fewer calories or burn 5 percent more calories each decade to maintain a healthy weight.
Also, drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep your body hydrated and functioning at its best. Without water, your metabolism may slow. And ice water may have a similar effect on your metabolism as spicy foods. When you drink ice water, your body has to work to warm the liquid to the same temperature as your body, so your metabolism may increase slightly for a short time.
Fast Tips for Faster Metabolism: Exercise, eat small frequent meals, and watching what you eat. It’ll keep your metabolism in tiptop shape and improve your overall health!
