Give That Metabolism A Boost

01/20/2012

The dictionary says that your metabolism is the chemical process your body goes through to maintain life. So – it’s pretty important.

And as we get older, our body’s metabolism naturally slows down, so in order to keep your metabolism rate up, you have to take action and train your body to keep burning those calories. Here are a few tips on how to get your metabolism and body to a good place.

  1. Don’t starve yourself. Going down under 1500 calories a day on some super-strict diet will cause your body to adapt to that
  2. Increase your cardiovascular fitness. I recommend that you work particularly with interval training where you get your heart rate up to 120, then push it up to about 150 – leave it there for a minute, and then bring it back down. Then work it back it up again. Over and over. What this does is trains your body to burn calories much more quickly and boost your metabolism. It’s not about distance or how fast you go – it’s about your heart rate. Do it running, swimming, rowing, or the elliptical.
  3. Build muscle mass. Going hand in hand with the cardiovascular (which helps you replace the oxygen as you work out with weights), it doesn’t take a lot of weight to get what you need. Start out light, and build your way up. A good exercise is to warm up with some lighter weights, then do your maximum weight for as few as six reps. Then do a burn out with lighter weights.
  4. Coffee drinkers, you’ll like this: Black coffee (without the sugar and additives – just black coffee) will actually boost your metabolism. As it is a cousin of speed, the caffeine will boost activity in your metabolism in a natural, effective way. Four or five cups a day is fine.
  5. Put ice in all of your drinks. Dropping your body’s core temperature will fool your body into thinking it is colder than it actually is, and it’ll get that metabolism engine running as your body tries to warm itself. That burns calories. Gatorade, tea – whatever – add some ice.
  6. Protein. Low-fat, high protein meals.
  7. Use certain spices – cayenne peppers, gingers.
  8. Go to six small meals a day. About a handful size each. This trains your body to consistently burn calories throughout the day.

If you’re concerned about your weight or you’re not dropping pounds like you’d like to, think about your daily activities and compare to some of the tips above. If there is a change you can make to match the above suggestions, give it a go and see what happens. I think you’ll like the results.

Be Well,

Dr. R