People often blame their weight on a slow metabolism, but what does that mean?
Metabolism is the process of breaking down what you eat or drink into energy. Your metabolism depends on a variety of factors, including age, body fat, muscle mass, activity level and genetics.
While your metabolism influences your energy needs and potentially weight loss, what you eat and exercise is what really matters. In fact, restricting calories can actually slow down your metabolism!
Here are some ways to boost your metabolism today:
🍳 Avoid Skipping Breakfast – Breakfast may have an influence on metabolism and research shows that it can help increase resting metabolism by up to 10%. Starting the day in a healthy way can also set the tone for choices throughout the day.
⏰ Eating Often – Eat 3 meals per day plus snacks in between. This helps the body to run at full capacity which is known as thermogenesis (the burning of calories). This helps to keep the metabolic rate going and is based on having smaller meals rather than big meals.
🐔 Eat More Protein – Protein-rich foods can increase the metabolic rate by up to 30%, so having a protein element in your meals may help kick-start the metabolism. However, individuals should be careful not to adopt a diet only focusing on protein, your diet should be varied and include all nutrients for optimum health.
🔄 Variety In Meals – Variety in meals may shock the metabolism. When a person consumes the same food, the body gets adjusted to undergoing the same digestion process, absorption and excretes the same hormones. By consuming a diet with lots of variety, the body is forced to deal with different nutrients. This variation keeps the metabolic rate constantly working, thus supporting weight loss.
🏃 Exercise – One of the easiest ways to influence metabolism is by exercising. It is recommended that for optimum health most people should do around 30 minutes of exercise per day. A person with more muscle will burn calories (faster metabolism) quicker than someone with a higher body fat %.
Comment below and let us know how this helped you today.
