Please enjoy this 18 min live video recording where I give you 5 scientifically proven ways to boost your metabolism.
Or you may prefer to read on for a brief overview:
Metabolism refers to all the chemical processes going on continuously inside our body that allow life and normal functioning.
Our Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories that our body needs to accomplish its most basic life sustaining functions.
If you’re trying to lose weight it’s preferable to have a fast metabolism as you’ll naturally burn more calories throughout the day.
Our BMR is influenced by many factors:
- Gender
- Genetics
- Age
- Hormone function
- Body composition
- Lifestyle choices
Obviously some of these we can’t change, however there is a wealth of research that show that these 5 factors will increase your metabolism.
There is little scientific evidence that foods, drinks, pills or supplements can significantly boost your metabolism.
1: Increase your muscle mass
- BMR is much higher in people with a higher muscle mass. Roughly each kg muscle burns double the amount of calories than a kg of fat.
- How do we do that? Strength training! Start easy and progress slowly, allowing your body to adapt to increasing loads. Here are some 30 min training videos where you can follow along with me.
2: Exercise – HIIT using weights
- High Intensity Interval training will increase your BMR for hours after your workout.
- HIIT workouts deliver a higher and longer-lasting rise in metabolic rate compared to low-intensity, moderate exercise.
- Here are some 30 min training videos
3: Sleep
- Sleep loss is associated with impairments in glucose metabolism (how the food we eat is transferred to energy in our cells).
- Lack of adequate sleep alters our hormones which affect our appetite – leptin and ghrelin.
- Leptin inhibits appetite and increases our energy expenditure and ghrelin has the opposite effect.
- Sleep restriction is associated with lower levels of leptin and higher levels of ghrelin and therefore likely to increase our hunger and appetite.
4: Diet
- Eat regular snacks rather than fewer large meals (however be mindful of your total daily calorie consumption). Our metabolism rises after we eat because we require energy to digest our food
- Eat protein at every meal – protein has a much higher thermic effect than fat or carbohydrate (it requires more energy to digest protein so you’ll be burning more calories whilst eating).
- Don’t crash diet! This wrecks havoc on your hormones and can take years to stabilise.
5: Cold / Heat exposure
Exposure to both heat and cold can impact metabolism through thermoregulation, the body’s process of maintaining core body temperature. The extent of their impact will vary depending on factors like duration, intensity, and individual differences.
- Our body has 2 main processes to either maintain or restore normal body temperature in cold environments:
- Shivering Thermogenesis: Rapid, repeated muscle contractions leading to the production of heat.
- Non-shivering Thermogenesis: A major tissue responsible for producing heat when activated is brown fat.
- Our body has 2 main processes to either maintain or restore normal body temperature in hot environments:
- Sweating: Sweat glands extract water and electrolytes from the blood plasma and transport them to the surface of the skin through ducts. Once on the skin’s surface, sweat evaporates, cooling the body and helping to regulate its temperature.
- Vasodilation: This is the widening or relaxation of blood vessels allowing for increased heat dissipation through the skin’s surface.
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