I know you all have THAT friend. You know that friend. The one who orders (and eats in it's entirety) an appetizer, a salad, a double bacon cheeseburger and fries, and still has room for dessert all while sitting there in her size 2 jeans. It's enough to make you want to throw your small salad AND the side of dressing at her. ;) I always thought that we were born with our metabolism, destine to be a slave to it. As it turns out, I was wrong. Everyone, regardless of age, weight, or level of physical fitness has the power to boost his or her metabolism. This becomes particularly important as we age. After age 25 the average person's metabolism decreases by 5% to 10% per decade (a total of 30% - 40% in over the course of adulthood). This primarily occurs because Americans tend to become less active as we age. Research shows that people who maintain their physical activity level throughout their lives only see a decrease of .3% per decade (1% to 2% over the course of adulthood)! Our genes only determine 5% of our metabolic rate. The rest is under our control. Here a few ways to boost your metabolism and keep it going into your 100s!
1. Exercise. Metabolism is like a fire and exercise is like stoking that fire. When the body needs energy to complete a task like biking, running, walking, etc it revs up to burn more calories and provide the body with needed energy. This supercharged metabolism can remain boosted for 2 to 24 hours after the exercise. Resistance training with weights or resistive bands is also important as this boosts your lean muscle mass. Muscle mass burns significantly more calories at rest than fat. For every pound of lean muscle mass the body burns 35 to 50 calories a day just to maintain itself vs 2 calories for every pound of fat. This means that if I am standing next to a woman who is of equal weight but has less muscle than me, just standing there, I am burning more calories than her. Research has also found that adding high intensity intervals to your workout can boost your metabolism by 100 to 200 calories a day. To do this, simply alternate 3 minutes of moderate intensity running or biking with 30 seconds of all out effort and repeat.
2. Eat, Eat, Eat. If exercise is like stoking the fire, then eating is like adding wood to the fire. In order to keep a good fire burning you have to add wood regularly, otherwise your fire dwindles out and dies. Your metabolism is no different. When we go for long periods without eating or skip meals altogether our bodies think we are starving and go into survival mode, slowing our metabolism and storing everything we eat as fat. Conversely, if we eat every 2 to 3 hours our body knows that food is readily available and it burns the food instead of storing it. One study showed that those who ate every 2-3 hours had higher metabolism and less body fat than those who ate 2-3 times per day.
3. Eat smart. The best mini meal to choose is one that includes a lean protein such as eggs, low fat dairy, chicken, or nuts and a high fiber food such as a vegetable. In order to break down protein the body needs to expend 25%- 50% more energy than is required to break down fat or carbs. Fiber is non-digestable, but the body will still try very hard to break it down, burning calories in the process. Plus the vegetables are low in calories and high in nutrients-an added bonus!
4. Don't forget your Omega 3 fatty acids. EPA and DHA found in fish oil supplements have been found to boost metabolism by increasing levels of fat burning enzymes and decreasing levels of fat storing enzymes. Aim for a supplement that has at least 300 mgs of EPA and DHA total.
5. Drink green tea. Green tea has been found to increase calorie burning by 17% for a short period of time after you drink it.
6. Don't forget your H2O. People who drank 8 glasses of water a day had higher metabolisms than those who only drank 4 glasses a day.
7. Watch your calories. Never eat less than 1200 calories a day as this puts your body in starvation mode. See #2 above.
8. Get adequate sleep (6-8 hours a night). Lack of sleep deceases your Basal Metabolic Rate (the number of calories that you burn at rest performing basic necessities such as pumping blood, breathing, etc.).
Remember, this is not "all" or "nothing". If you can't integrate all of these metabolism boosters into your life, do what is practical for you. Every little bit helps! :)
The info above can be found on WebMD and Dr.Oz's realage.com.
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