Are you unhappy with your body? Are you struggling to lose weight, even with diet and exercise? A slow metabolism might be the culprit.
Your metabolism is all of the chemical reactions that keep your body alive and functioning, and it’s what converts anything you eat or drink into energy.
Several factors impact metabolisms, such as genetics, gender, age, and body type. I know what you’re thinking: I can’t change genetics, how can I increase my metabolism? Fortunately for you, metabolism is also affected by our lifestyles.
I’m going to tell you how to jump-start your metabolism in 5 ways, all of which involve simple lifestyle changes!
1. Get Moving
One of the easiest ways to increase your metabolism is by increasing your daily activity.
Physicians recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise, or approximately 10,000 steps, every day. If you’re unable to find 30 minutes in your schedule, try breaking it up into smaller sessions of 10 minutes each.
The key is consistency. As an additional tip, you’ll have much more success in making time for exercise if it’s something you enjoy.
2. Get Muscle
When you start planning out your workouts, prioritize weight lifting and strength training. Through strength training, you’ll increase overall muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat and will continue to burn calories even after your workout ends.
3. Stay Hydrated
Over 60% of our bodies are made up of water.
Water helps our bodies regulate temperature, transports nutrients, and aids in our circulation and digestion. Therefore, water is essential for the metabolic process. The more water we drink, the more efficient our body functions.
How to boost your metabolism? Make sure you’re drinking water! The recommended intake is 64 ounces, which evens out to about eight glasses.
Be sure to increase your water intake after intense exercise or during especially hot days.
4. Prioritize Nutrition
While losing weight or pursuing a healthier lifestyle, nutrition is especially important.
Focus on incorporating fruits, vegetables, whole-grain carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Additionally, increase your protein intake. Protein requires more energy to digest than carbs and fat, which can speed up your metabolism.
When cutting calories for weight loss, make sure your deficits aren’t too low. If the body isn’t properly fed, it attempts to conserve energy by slowing down metabolism and lowering calorie burn.
Nutrition is also important when engaging in rigorous exercise.
Eat a snack before your workout. Or, try out a pre-workout drink. Pre-workouts, often mixed with water, can be powder fat burners, or try other supplements that enhance workout performance!
5. Sleep
Lastly, for how to speed up your metabolism, we need to talk about sleep.
Some research found that sleep deprivation can alter our hormones and increase hunger. It also causes energy depletion. Eating more frequently with less desire to be physically active hurts overall health and weight.
Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep a night for optimal health benefits.
Now You Know How to Jump-Start Your Metabolism
When thinking about how to jump-start your metabolism, there are plenty of tips and tricks out there. However, I believe the most successful method for metabolism improvement is by making small changes to your lifestyle.
Through exercise, proper nutrition, and adequate sleep, you’ll not only experience faster metabolism but also notice huge improvements in your health and fitness goals.
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