People often confuse the words metabolism and metabolic rate. The former describes all the chemical reactions in your body. However, metabolic rate means the number of calories you burn. Basically, the higher number of calories you burn, the easier it is to lose weight and even keep it off! That’s not all, it can also give you more energy and overall make you feel better.
1) Eat more protein
Eating can increase your metabolism for a few hours, but protein increases it the most, almost by 15 to 30 percent. Whereas carbs only increase it to about 5 to 10% and fats to 0 to 3%. This is because of the thermic effect of food, also known as the TEF. It’s caused by the extra calories that are needed to digest the nutrients in your food fully. And protein needs the most calories to be broken down. Moreover, eating more protein can also help reduce the decrease in metabolism when you lose fat. It stops your body from losing muscle, which often happens when you’re dieting.
2) Do some HIIT workouts
HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training, which usually consists of quick and very intense bursts of activity. This type of workout is the best for increasing your metabolic rate since it can help you burn fat even after the workout has finished! One study even showed 12 weeks of HIIT workouts helped overweight young men reduce fat by 4.4 pounds and belly fat by 17%!
Consider watching this video to know more about 5 ways to boost your metabolism…
3) Have some green or oolong tea!
The one natural remedy everyone knows to either lose weight or speed up your metabolic rate is to drink green tea. That’s because it’s been scientifically proven to increase the rate by 4 to 5 percent! These teas help turn some of the stored fat into free fatty acids, which can increase the burning of fat by 10 to 17 percent. They even taste good and are quite low in calories, that is only if you don’t add extra sugar into them!
4) Replace your fats with coconut oil
Coconut oil will be your savior if you want your body to speed things up. Unlike other saturated fats, coconut oil has more medium-chain fats which increase your metabolic rate as compared to long-chain fats found in butter and such. Thanks to its unique fatty acid profile, it can have huge benefits if you’re trying to lose weight.
5) Sleep well
A lack of sleep can make you lazy and lethargic. This can obviously lead to a risk of obesity. Ore over, a lack of sleep has also been linked to increased blood sugar levels and insulin resistance. These two conditions are further linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Moreover, it’s also shown to boost the hormone that makes you hungry, ghrelin, and can decrease the hormone that makes you feel leptin. Now it makes sense why sleep-deprived peels feel hungry and even sometimes struggle to lose weight!
In conclusion, you need to examine your life and make long-term changes to up your metabolic rate. Make changes but do them slowly so that they stick and you don’t get discouraged after the first week!
Until Next Time,
Team Doctor ASKY!