When it comes to weight loss, boosting your metabolism is an important factor in ensuring you lose weight and keep it off. Metabolism refers to the process through which your body breaks down the food you eat and turns it into energy. The rate at which your body breaks down food into energy can increase or reduce weight.
Even when resting, the body still needs energy for necessary functions such as breathing, blood circulation, and cell growth and repair. The number of calories the body consumes when resting is known as basal metabolism or basal metabolic rate.
The basal metabolic rate may be determined by your weight, sex, age, hormones, and even genetics. However, there are several ways you can boost your metabolism and ensure it functions optimally. These usually involve around three primary areas of our lives that work together to create an amazing environment for your metabolism to function well.
- Food
- Sleep
- Exercise
Food
The kind of food you eat affects your weight in general. For starters, your body uses energy to digest, absorb and transport the nutrients you get from food. This is referred to as the thermic effect of food (TEF). Eating fat-burning foods like protein and spicy food may require more energy to digest, thus burning more calories.
Studies have shown that protein increases TEF. It uses 20 to 30 percent of energy in metabolism. Protein also promotes the building of lean muscle tissue. It has also been shown to create a sense of fullness, preventing excessive eating or snacking.
Spicy foods such as peppers contain a chemical called capsaicin which helps to boost metabolism. One 2016 study has shown that peppers can help burn an additional ten calories per meal.
How you eat can also affect your metabolism. Eating two or three large meals during the day can slow down your metabolism in between. Having a snack after every three or four hours can help keep your metabolism going. Nevertheless, your choice of snack also makes a difference.
Incorporating nutrient-dense such as spinach for weight loss can help you stay satiated for longer and reduce cravings.
Another way to boost your metabolism is to drink more water. Drinking water is a no-brainer. However, people still do not drink enough. Water is vital in burning calories. Dehydration can slow down your metabolism, while drinking the recommended amount of water can increase your metabolism by 25 percent for almost one hour after drinking it.
Exercise
Exercise has amazing benefits for your overall lifestyle. It is a critical factor that affects metabolism and weight loss. Though daily activities such as walking around the house, cleaning, gardening, and playing with kids are physical activities that can burn calories, they may not be enough to burn calories for significant weight loss.
The more active you are, the more energy is required and the more calories you burn. To burn more calories, you are recommended to mix aerobic activity and strength training.
- Aerobic activity. Also known as cardio, this refers to any type of cardiovascular exercise. Cardio exercises help with cardiovascular conditioning, aid in lowering blood pressure, controlling blood sugar, and improving lung function. Cardio includes exercises such as walking, running, jumping rope, swimming and cycling. The American Heart Association suggests 30 minutes of cardio exercise 5 to 7 days a week.
- Strength training. Strength training, also known as resistance training, involves using your own body, weights, or resistance bands as you exercise. As the name suggests, this type of exercise builds strength, muscle mass, and endurance, reducing body fat. As mentioned earlier, your body burns calories when resting, and the resting metabolic rate of people is higher in those with more muscle.
Adding an exercise regimen to our daily routine will help boost your metabolism. You can even include interval training to help you burn more calories in less time.
However, if you have any physical limitations, consult your physician before starting an exercise regimen. In addition, if you develop any symptoms such as shortness of breath, dizziness, joint pain, or tightness in the chest, consult your physician as well.
Sleep
Studies have shown that a lack of sleep can affect your metabolism. Not only do you eat more the longer you are awake, but sleep deprivation disrupts your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels.
When food is metabolized, blood sugar levels increase in the body. Insulin is produced to regulate blood sugar levels. When asleep, the metabolic rate reduces, reducing glucose and insulin production levels in our system. When we are awake, our bodies increase cortisol production, resulting in elevated blood sugar levels and insulin production.
Therefore, a good night’s sleep is crucial in regulating your metabolism.
Conclusion
Though countless metabolism myths can misinform you about how metabolism works and its effects on weight loss or gain, knowing what works is essential in ensuring you maintain a healthy lifestyle that boosts your metabolism.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
