Revving up your metabolism can significantly boost weight loss, help you feel healthier and sustain all that hard work you put in at the gym.
Small tweaks to your lifestyle — from knowing which foods to eat to switching up your fitness routine — can have a serious impact on how fast your body burns fat.
1. Eat More
We’re not talking bigger portions, but two or three healthy snacks a day — like a handful of nuts, raw vegetable sticks, natural yogurt and fruit – keeps our digestive system busy, which helps burn calories more effectively.
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2. Choose Protein
Protein maxes metabolism by building muscle. Stick to lean options like chicken, fish, lean red meat, milk, yogurt and cottage cheese.
3. Drink More Water
Gulping eight glasses a day keeps our metabolism in tip top shape, according to researchers at the University of Utah, who found dehydration can slow it down by up to two per cent.
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4. Lift Weights
Muscle burns more calories than fat, so we don’t want to lose it when we’re watching what we’re eating. Keep lifting weights to ensure muscle tone won’t slide, and our metabolisms will be working that much harder in the future.
5. Go to Bed Earlier – and Fuller
Rumbly tummies don’t make for a peaceful night’s sleep and when we don’t get enough shut-eye, our metabolism slows right down. Good quality sleep also helps produce metabolism-boosting growth hormones, keeping evil appetite-increasing stress hormones at bay.
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6. Walk off Dinner
A post-dinner stroll boosts circulation, gets metabolism burning, helps digestion and fights off the mid-afternoon slump.
7. Milk It
A glass of the white stuff can leave us with more than a milk moustache. Drinking fat-free milk after working out can build muscle and help burn fat, researchers at McMaster University have found.
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8. Eat Spices
That overwhelming internal heat we feel from eating spicy food may actually be working in favour of our figures. Chili, cinnamon, turmeric and other spices temporarily spike metabolism by around 23 per cent, heating up our body temperature and heart rate.
9. Stand Up
Yes it’s tempting to be a couch potato, but inactivity can nearly shut down the enzyme that controls metabolism. Keep your metabolism on its toes by moving around and standing up, especially in the office.
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10. Change Your Fitness Routine
When an exercise plan gets easier, our body isn’t working as hard to keep up. That could lead to muscle loss and fewer calories burned. Keep things fresh by changing it around, or getting advice from a trainer.
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