Your metabolism is the result of all the processes in your body working together to create the energy that keeps you going.
Great. We know what it means. Now we want to know how to kick it into high gear to lose these extra pounds we’ve put on in the last 5 years...
Or maybe we want it to work faster so we have more energy. Whatever the case may be, your metabolism is slowing down and you aren’t the least bit happy about it.
When you were younger, your metabolism was through the roof. You had energy to last all day, you maintained a healthy way and you felt great. These days, not so much. What went wrong? Why is this happening to you?
Our metabolism slows down for several reasons.
- Age
- physical activity
- our diet
- gender
... just to name a few. Clearly we can’t do anything about the age factor but we can certainly control the other factors. Let’s take a closer look at a few and see how we can change them to speed up our metabolism and get our groove back on.
1. Physical activity
It’s no secret that the more active we are, the more energy we have.
Physical activity is essential for keeping us healthy and fit. What you may not know is this: being active increases your muscle mass and an increased muscle mass drives your body into the calorie burning zone.
Muscle works harder than fat. Physical activity doesn’t necessarily mean you have to join a gym and start lifting weights, though that won’t hurt you either. Physical activity can be fun -- you can get exercise from playing sports, swimming or any other kind of activity that requires full body movement with a little bit of exertion.
If you can’t get active every day, aim for at least 3 times a week. Do something, anything. Get moving!
2. Diet
Have you ever noticed how you felt after eating pizza or a cheeseburger and fries? I’m guessing you felt like a bit of a slug and laying on the couch afterwards offered great relief
.
The couch probably did feel great but this action does nothing for your metabolism, and neither does the greasy grub you just consumed.
Food is energy. It fuels our bodies. Proper food obviously does a better job of it then junk food. The more junk food we eat, the slower our bodies move. Slow motion=slow metabolism.
Pay attention to what you eat. Just as your car needs gas to run, your body needs food to run. You give it junk food, it will run like crap. You give it wholesome food, your body will run smooth and efficiently. Your body, your choice.
3. Eating regularly
Not only is nutritious food vital to increasing the speed of our metabolism, how often we eat throughout the day is also very important.
Ask any nutrition councillor and they will tell you that eating 5-6 times a day is mandatory not only to keep your body at a healthy weight but also to boost your metabolism.
Related: Learn to Control Your Hunger
Going back to the topic of your body needing fuel to run, it needs fuel continuously throughout the day because it runs out every 2-3 hours. Crazy, I know, but it does.
To prevent your body from going into starvation mode and shutting down, give it more fuel. A handful of almonds, a banana, celery and peanut butter or anything else that is good for you. Just give it something.
4. Rehydrate
I have this conversation with so many friends and most of them tell me the same thing, they have a hard time drinking water.
Water is bland, boring, tasteless and worse yet, hard to chug down when you’re not even thirsty. You may not think you are thirsty but your body is telling you a different story.
Related article: 11 Reasons to Drink More Lemon Water.
When you start feeling tired or headachy those are two clear signs that you need to hydrate. As you start to slow down, so does your metabolism.
Drink water. If you have a hard time doing this, add a splash of flavor to it. Many water enhancers are made from natural fruit sugars. Remember, though, to stay away from the ones made with artificial sweeteners. When you see the word artificial, think “chemical shit storm”. They are super bad for you.
You can see there are a few easy ways to boost your metabolism. Unfortunately, sometimes medical conditions play a major role in our metabolism. Before you try anything new, or have any concerns about your metabolism, speak to your doctor. They may have some tips to help you.
Do you have a few tricks of your own to speed up metabolism? Share them below. Sharing is caring.
