Speeding up your metabolism is the single best thing you can do to accelerate your weight loss and stay lean year long. You can win the war against fat with foods that are metabolism boosters and exercises that burn the most calories in the least amount of time. Check out these 17 ways to burn more calories all day long…
First Thing in the Morning:
Eat a Complete Breakfast – Eating a balanced breakfast every morning is important to keeping your metabolism racing; without it, your body goes into starvation mode to conserve energy.
Greek Yogurt and Lemon – This indulgently flavored dynamic duo will help you start your day with a mega metabolism boost. The vitamin C in the lemon can help your body absorb the metabolism-boosting calcium in the Greek yogurt.
Drink Coffee – Caffeine is one of the oldest tricks in the book to speed up your metabolism. But it has to be black-no dairy creamers, no skim milk—they have sugar that stops fat from burning. Caffeine stimulates your metabolism and nervous system, and a recent study published in Physiology & Behavior shows that those who drank coffee in the morning had a 16% faster metabolic rate than those who didn’t.
Drink Cold Water – Studies have shown that drinking 8 – 12 glasses of water per day boosts metabolism, and drinking ice cold water means your body has to do a little extra work to warm it to your natural core body temperature.
At Work:
Eat a Protein Rich Lunch – Eating protein with each meal helps keep your lean muscle mass Muscle burns more calories than fat, even while you’re sitting at your desk.
Drink Green Tea – Numerous studies have shown that green tea helps people lose weight and burn more calories, thanks to its power-ingredient, ECGC. For maximum effect, drink it hot and let it brew for about 3 minutes.
Snack on Apples – Look at metabolism like a fire… You have to keep feeding it fuel in order for it to burn. So have an apple around 3 p.m. each day; that’s when metabolism starts to decline. An apple a day keeps the fat away.
At the Grocery Store:
Spice It Up – Chili peppers get their heat from a bioactive compound called capsaicin, which may help curb your appetite by raising your body temperature. Get the fat-fighting benefits by incorporating more red peppers, cayenne, jalapeños, habaneros, Sriracha, or Tabasco into your diet.
Add Vinegar – Cooking with vinegar can slow the absorption of carbohydrates and help prevent sudden surges in your blood sugar. It may also slow the passage of food through your stomach, keeping you fuller for longer.
Use Black Pepper – Black pepper contains the alkaloid piperine, which can help speed up metabolism. Try reaching for the pepper mill when you’d normally use salt; you’ll boost your metabolism and reduce your sodium intake. If you want to multiply black pepper’s metabolism-boosting effect, try adding it to tomato juice. Tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant that helps protect your mitochondria.
At the Gym:
Train H.I.I.T. – High intensity interval training gets you more fit in less time, makes you smarter, and supercharges your metabolism. The workouts usually include short bursts of intense exercise followed by short breaks to recover. A Colorado State University study found that thanks to a boost in your metabolic rate, you can burn as many as 200 extra calories in the next 24 hours from only 150 seconds of intense exercise.
Check out HASfit’s HIIT Workouts
Add BCAA Powder – Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) can help repair and build muscle even when you can’t make it to the gym! Muscle burns at least three times the number of calories as fat, which makes building muscle a priority for boosting metabolism. BCAA does just that by helping your body repair and rebuild muscle. Get the benefits by adding 1000 mg of BCAA powder to your pre or post workout drink.
Take Fish Oil – A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that people who worked out 3 times a week and took 6 grams of fish oil lost more weight than those who skipped the supplement.
In the Evening:
Dine on Fish – Omega-3-packed fish like salmon, tuna, and sardines help your body recognize “I’m full” signals sooner, plus fish is full of protein, helping maintain your body’s calorie-torching lean protein. The lighter and whiter the fish, the better it is for your metabolism.
Enjoy Cacao Nibs – Cacao nibs are the unsweetened, raw material that chocolate is made from. They’re chock-full of healthy, anti-inflammatory polyphenols to blast belly fat without the unwanted refined sugars in candy bars.
Avoid Alcohol – Keeping your alcohol intake to a minimum will not only save you from a hangover binge the next day, but studies have shown that having two drinks (mixed, bottles of beer, or glasses of wine) stops fat burning by 73%. The alcohol is converted by the liver into acetate, and your body starts using that as fuel instead of your fat stores.
Get to Bed Early – When you sleep less than you should, you throw off the amounts of leptin and ghrelin—hormones that help regulate energy use and appetite—that your body produces. Researchers at Stanford University found that people who snoozed fewer than 7.5 hours per night experienced an increase in their body mass index. So make sure you get at least eight hours of rest.
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