Use These 7 Great Tips to Increase Metabolism

Article by Bill Hildebrand

Dieting is no way to try to increase your metabolism. Diets and weight loss pills do not affect how your body’s metabolism works, at least not in a healthful way. Most people end up dropping their diet even before losing much weight. As a result, they become distressed and unhappy without achieving any significant benefits. Help has arrived. Put these seven proven tips for increased metabolism into practice immediately and start to notice changes for a healthier and hotter you.

1. Seeing to it that you sleep well at night is one of the most important steps to increasing metabolism. There have been scientific studies that demonstrate people getting four or less hours of sleep may have slower metabolic rates as compared to individuals who get eight hours of sleep per night. The advisable sleep for most adults is seven to nine hours but can vary from person to person. After a short time you will see what is best for your body.

2. Some studies show that as we get into the later afternoon and early evening our metabolism tends to slow down. Therefore, is would be wise to get into a habit of taking walks or dong some other form of exercise later in the day to ramp up your metabolism to burn more calories. Increasing lean muscle is an excellent way to speed up metabolism and burn more calories over a longer period of time. Weight lifting exercises have been shown to be an excellent way to achieve those extended calorie burning hours. Be careful not to exercise so late that you disrupt your sleep pattern.

3. Get mobile and increase the activity in your life. Increased activity will give you the benefits of boosted metabolism and more calorie burning. As an alternative to driving a car everywhere you go, consider walking to a few of the closer locations. Adjusting some life routines will start to show steady progress as time passes. Some adjustments will take longer to implement but some will come easy. Instead of watching reruns on TV, you might consider pumping some dumbbells, doing pushups, or even dong some good stretching exercises. You may decide to make some other changes such as taking the stairway instead of hopping on the elevator or walking instead of riding somewhere. I’m positive you can think of additional ways to get more active also.

4. When planning meals, try to incorporate more protein and healthy fats into your diet. One of the benefits of more protein intake is that it can help stabilize the amount of insulin released into your bloodstream. Reducing carbohydrate intake especially from snack food and soda is very important. Try to get rid of that low feeling that comes after eating high carb meals by changing to such foods as nuts, avacado, and salad dressing with olive oil that provide healthy fats instead. Stay away from most store-bought salad dressings since most contain sweeteners such as corn syrup. Search the web for healthy, easy to make dressings that fit your tastes.

5. Some people think they can achieve weight loss by skipping meals in order to reduce their calorie consumption. As far as losing pounds or increasing metabolism, skipping meals is not healthful or advised as the method to accomplish that. Slower metabolism and increased weight gain may actually end up being the result of this approach. The body thinks you are trying to starve it and will take action by producing fat to store for the future. A much better idea is to eat six smaller portion, healthy food choice meals spaced out over the day. A big benefit of eating these smaller and more frequent meals is your bodies ability to better increase metabolism and help you reduce weight.

6. Drink a few glasses of ice water throughout the day. Not only does your body require the water to make sure you maintain proper digestion, but you can burn more calories warming the ice water to body temperature. If you find it difficult to drink enough plain water, try adding a little lemon or lime juice to give it a bit of a citrus buzz. Water is essential for detoxifying your system and maintaining metabolic balances for all your organs. Staying properly hydrated will keep you energized and help you maintain optimal health.

7. Try adding raw juices from fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet. You could even go so far as to try juice fasting or going on a juice diet for a few days. This may be over the top for some people, but definitely adding juices from fresh produce will increase metabolism and help to detoxify your system. You also get the added benefits of increased antioxidants and the vitamins and minerals that are found in these fresh fruits and veggies. Using a juicer is the ideal way to accomplish this and then just get creative or purchase a juice recipe book to give you some good ideas for some refreshing juice drinks.

There is no simple magic formula to help you increase metabolism and lose weight. However by applying all or some of these methods you will see noticeable changes for a healthier you. Then see if you don’t start getting some surprised looks from some of your friends or jealous looks from people on the street.