How To Increase Your Metabolism?

1. Get into a regular exercise program. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five days a we
2. Do aerobic exercise such as walking, biking or using a stair-climbing machine for at least 30 minutes.
3. Incorporate weight lifting or other muscle-building or maintenance programs. The more muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolism.
4. Exercise twice a day if possible. Do your vigorous workout in the morning, and then take a walk after dinner. This way you will continue to burn calories at a higher pace for almost the entire 24 hours.

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Step 1
Eat small, frequent meals and increase the protein in your diet.
EAT FREQUENTLY, AND EAT MORE PROTEIN.

Digestion takes energy! The "thermic effect of food" is the term describing the amount of energy (calorie-burning) that it takes your body to digest and process the food you eat. You can increase your metabolism by adjusting your diet in two ways:

1. Eating smaller meals more frequently will keep your digestive system constantly working. If you normally eat two or three large meals a day, try switching to 4-6 smaller meals spaced every 2-3 hours or so. Don't change the total amount or calories that you eat in a day -- just break it up into smaller meals and snacks.

2. Eating more protein and less fat will cause your body to burn more calories. This is related to the molecular structure of fat, carbohydrate, and protein molecules -- protein molecules have a structure that requires more processing than usual to make them useful to the body. So if your diet consists of more protein and less fat and carbs, you'll increase your metabolism with every meal/snack you eat.

Step 2
Eat ice to boost your metabolism.
INCREASE YOUR "NEAT" ("NON-EXERCISE-ACTIVITY THERMOGENESIS").

Studies have shown that using your muscles during the day, even when you're not intentionally exercising, can burn a significant amount of calories, too. For example, standing or sitting up straight (using your muscles to maintain your posture rather than leaning on a chair back, or even worse, lying down) will burn more calories; fidgeting or kicking your legs rather than sitting still is a big metabolism booster, too. Even chewing gum uses your jaw muscles and burns extra calories -- just make sure it's sugar-free gum, or the calories in the gum could overshadow the calories you burn by chewing! The more you move, the more you burn.

Similarly, your body must work to maintain its temperature close to 98.6 degrees -- therefore, if you drink a lot of ice water, your body has to waste energy warming it up; if you sit in a cold room and don't bundle up in extra blankets, your body will have to work harder to keep you warm. Think of the extreme example of shivering -- that is actual muscle contraction/activity that occurs in your body involuntarily to create heat... and all that heat-generation burns calories.

Step 3
Lift weights.
BUILD MUSCLE.

Muscle-building will boost your resting metabolic rate (RMR).
Strength training will help build muscle -- and the more muscle you have in your body, the more calories it takes you to maintain your weight, even while you sleep. This is why men have faster metabolisms than women do -- they simply have more muscle, and muscle accounts for about 40% of the RMR. For every pound of muscle that you gain by weight-training, your body will burn approximately 5-10 extra calories per day at rest.
Keep in mind that even women *bodybuilders* generally only increase their muscle mass by 5-10 pounds, so the average woman doing less strength training than that will not be able to add more than a pound or two of muscle. And even adding a whopping 5 pounds of muscle would cause you to burn only an additional 25-50 calories per day. Compare that to running -- a 150-pound woman can burn 25-50 calories by running for just 3-5 minutes! This is why aerobic exercise is the key to boosting your metabolism -- for the amount of time and effort involved, nothing beats weight-bearing aerobic exercise, as is described in step 4....

Step 4
Running is by far the best metabolism-booster out there.
EXERCISE AEROBICALLY.

This is *by far* the most effective way to increase your metabolism! Note that aerobic exercise is a much more effective way to increase your metabolism than muscle building is -- see step 3 for the comparison.

* The most effective calorie-burner is outdoor running, followed by indoor running. The more large muscles you engage and the more force you have to work against, the more calories you burn. The average 150-pound woman will burn about 100 calories for each mile that you walk or run. Weight-bearing exercise which uses your large quadriceps muscles (thighs) and requires you to hold your body up and use your postural/core muscles to balance yourself will burn the most calories; and the more weight you're moving around and balancing, the more you'll burn. So the best calorie-burners are running or walking outdoors (where you have to go up hills, balance on uneven surfaces, etc). The next best option is to use a treadmill, stair climber, or elliptical machine (without holding onto the handles -- this will decrease your calorie burn!). Adding ankle weights or a weighted vest or belt will increase the force you're working against and thereby increase calories burned. When I was working out as a contestant on The Biggest Loser, I would frequently strap on ankle weights and a weighted belt to add 20-30 pounds to my bodyweight.

* Biking is good for cardiovascular health and will certainly burn more calories than no activity at all, but because you're not using your legs to support your own body weight, you won't burn as many calories. Similarly, swimming is great for your heart, but burns significantly fewer calories because your body weight is buoyed by the water.

Protein Shake Smoothie

1/2 cup Fat Free Yogrut (plain or vanilla)
1 scoop protein powder
4-6 fresh or frozen strawberries (frozen without syrup)
if you desire add on equal or splenda (but not necessary)
additional fruits as desired (other berries, 1/2 banana)
Add 1 cup of water and ice (as desired) and blend thoroughly

The Smoothie is a good breakfast meal and snack. (please note only 2 bananas per week---they are high in sugar)

Everyone to get started on this journey we need to start at the beginning. I would like everyone to take a few days to consider what caused their initial downfall in their fitness level or maybe fitness has never really been your thing. The reason why I want to start here is because you cannot fix what you cannot see.