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6 Ways to Rev Up Your Metabolism


When it comes to dieting, most people concern themselves most with cutting calories and burning fat. You’re measuring food, walking on the treadmill, and trying to stay away from temptations.

One good way to lose weight and tone up is to focus on gradually improving your metabolism. If you’ve been a yo yo dieter for years, then chances are your metabolism is struggling, which means you have a harder time losing weight. There are six ways you might be able to change that.

#1 – Build muscle to burn fat for you even when you’re just sitting there.

No one has time to exercise all day long, You’re probably lucky if you can squeeze in twenty minutes of it, much less a full hour. But you can still burn calories even while you’re sitting still or resting if you build a little muscle to work for you.

Muscle works almost like a furnace. It helps burn calories at a higher rate than fat. So even if you haven’t shed enough pounds to see those six pack abs yet, don’t quit lifting weights, because each time you do, you’re one step closer to increasing your metabolism and reaching your goals.

#2 – Stay hydrated throughout your day.

You’re probably already drinking water in order to stay fuller and steer clear of snacks. But water also helps you rev up your metabolism. Even a couple of glasses of water can begin boosting your metabolism up to 30%.

It may not sound like a lot, but when you drink that water daily, or even more for bigger benefits, you start to see a long-term weight loss that you can enjoy almost effortlessly over the course of a year.

#3 – Choose interval training when you exercise.

There are all sorts of exercises that will help you lose weight. Lifting weights, doing cardio exercises – they’re all beneficial. But certain programs like HIIT or other interval training programs boost your metabolism even more because your body is getting intense workouts buffered by short resting periods.

#4 – Eat enough (and the right kinds of foods) to fuel up your body throughout the day.

You may have already chosen a diet program to follow in order to lose weight. Maybe you cut carbs or sugar, or switched to a whole foods program. You might even simply be cutting calories or using mindful eating.

Just make sure you’re getting enough food, because it fuels your metabolism and ultimately helps you keep the weight off for good. Of course, not every food will help with this situation. Sugary donuts won’t help as much as lean protein, for example.

#5 – Stop drinking alcohol.

Even if you’re only a weekend drinker, your metabolism might take a hit if you consume wine, beer or other alcoholic beverages. The reason for this is that your body focuses on alcohol digestion first, so it ignores the food calories you have consumed, slowing it down to a crawl and causing some of it to be turned into fat stores.

#6 – Improve your sleep habits.

If you’re running on fumes, it’s hard for your body to have a fast metabolism. Find out why you’re feeling sluggish and tired. It might be that you’re using technology before bed and finding it hard to get or stay asleep.

Or maybe it’s other sleep hygiene issues, such as uncomfortable bedding, a room that’s too warm, or too much noise in the bedroom. Target the problem, make changes and see if your body is able to begin burning fat faster.

Five Day Fasting for Better Metabolic Health

Fasting has been a health and anti-aging method for centuries. Not only does a five day fast provide a boost to the immune system, but it also reduces your risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

A five day fasting plan was recently introduced which doesn’t completely cut out all food, but restricts calories to either a third or half of your usual daily consumption for five days.

Improving your metabolic health by fasting can give your body a boost, which will slow the aging process and help you enjoy long term health benefits by regenerating the complete immune system.

But, complete (no food at all) fasting can be dangerous and few people can stick to a long term fast of eating nothing. You can choose a fasting diet which restricts calories, but triggers the same results in your body that a complete fast can do.

A new fasting diet has emerged through many studies which can have the same effect as all-food restricted fasting. Named “Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD),” this diet involves following the diet plan for five full days per month and then eating what you want the remainder of the month.

The diet consists of the following caloric and nutrition input:

Day 1: 1,090 calories (10% protein; 56% fat; 34% carbohydrates)
Day 2 through 5: 725 calories (9% protein; 44% fat; 34% carbohydrates)

The amazing results for this diet plan on a group of people indicated that within three months, the group had reduced biomarkers connected to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and aging.

The people had also reduced overall body fat and lost unwanted pounds. The study also had the participants eat as they usually did on the remaining 25 days of the month. They were not to change their diet habits at all – good or bad – they ate as they normally would.

Positive results were achieved and maintained even after the end of the 25 day period. A same study conducted on young mice with the equivalent of the restricted diet fed to humans showed a regeneration of the stem cells in the organs.

During this time, the brain created new neurons which tend to improve learning ability and memory. When the same study was conducted on middle-aged mice, the results showed the immune system was boosted, cancer risk factors and inflammatory conditions were lowered and the cognitive abilities of the mice were improved.

Researchers believe the FMD plan virtually tricks the body into a slower aging process by reprogramming it and rejuvenating stem cells. For those who can’t stick to a complete no-food fasting program, this plan has been found to have the same results and is much easier to complete.