You know how some people stay slim despite eating whatever they want? It’s because they have a fast metabolism, which means they burn more calories not only when exercising, but even when sitting at their desks or sleeping. But if you’re not blessed with a naturally high metabolic rate, don’t worry, there’s plenty you can do to boost your metabolism.

Strength Training

Strength training to increase your muscle mass is the single most effective way to increase your metabolism. Because muscle requires a relatively high amount of calories to build and maintain, any sort of muscle development has the effect of boosting metabolism dramatically, whether toning your muscles for a sleek, streamlined appearance (if you don’t want to increase bulk) or building up larger muscles for strength and power. Muscles are such heavy users of energy in the body that even a small increase in muscle tone has metabolism-boosting effects.

Aerobic Training

We all know aerobic activities like running and swimming burn calories, but you might be surprised by how little of the effect is direct. Have you ever gotten off of a treadmill, looked at the number of calories burned during your workout and thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me! An hour of running and all I’ve burnt off is one fruit smoothie!”

The bitter truth is that you have only burnt off one smoothie’s worth of calories. But here’s what you probably didn’t know: That training you did for an hour is like hitting the nitrous button in a sports car! Just like the car maintains the extra speed even after you’ve let go of the button, that hour of high intensity training keeps your metabolism speeding faster for the next 24 hours! So keep training every day to keep your metabolism burning calories at a higher rate around the clock.

Metabolism Boosting Foods

Some of what you eat and drink naturally boosts your metabolism. For example, coffee is an especially good diet food, as it not only speeds up your metabolism but suppresses appetite as well. And moderate coffee consumption has been proven to not have any bad health consequences–just don’t drink it too close to bed time!

But eating foods that increase your metabolic rate isn’t the most important way diet affects your metabolism. How much and how often you eat is even more crucial. Make sure you eat at least a little to start your day, and then eat several small meals throughout the day, instead of just a couple of large meals. Don’t actually eat more, mind you, just eat more often, as the very act of eating and digesting burns calories and keeps your metabolic rate up.

No Starvation Diets, Please

When you go on an extremely low calorie diet, your body senses the low calorie intake, and millennia of evolutionary adaptation kick in. Until very recently in human history, low calorie consumption has meant scarcity of food. Our bodies are wired to go into energy saving mode when this happens. Your metabolism slows down, and you suddenly need far fewer calories to maintain your current weight.

And that’s not the worst of it. Your body also begins consuming muscle for energy, which in turn lowers your metabolic rate even more dramatically. This combination of factors means that you not only need less food to maintain your weight, but you will also put on weight much more easily in the future. At the same time, being in starvation mode makes you mentally tired, decreasing your motivation to remain active, meaning you expend even less energy and gain weight even more easily.

The solution? As I said above, only cut back moderately in what you eat, while eating more often throughout the day, and choosing foods that boost your metabolism.

Now it’s time to combine these elements and put them into practice! You can implement them yourself, or join one of our fitness boot camps, where we’ll provide expert guidance each step of the way. And when that’s done, you’ll be able to celebrate your new found massive metabolism increase, and tell yourself, “Congratulations! I’m now a calorie-burning machine!”

 

Danny Kettoola