Easy Ways To Speed Up Metabolism

So you want to speed up metabolism? Well lets first understand what your metabolism is and then we will move on to ways for you to increase metabolism. Your metabolism is the sum of all chemical reactions that occur in your body. These chemical reactions require energy to take place and this energy comes into the body in the form of protein, carbohydrates and fats. To speed up metabolism basically means that you will require more energy to keep up with this raised need for energy, however if you do not supply your body with this extra energy it will start to take what it needs from what it already has (fat stores, muscle etc). Now there is more to long term, healthy fat loss than a simple calorie in/calorie out equation and just trying to eat less than you burn is a very basic and vague way of looking at things but in general burning a few more calories throughout the day is beneficial to weight loss.

Foods That Speed Up Metabolism

Eating the correct foods is the quickest and easiest way to speed up metabolism. Foods that speed metabolism are ones that are natural, healthy, unprocessed and very nutritious.

Water: Drinking extra water over what you are supposed to drink will not speed up your metabolism, however if you are dehydrated your metabolism will be lowered. Being fully hydrated will also mean that you eat less throughout the day as dehydration is often mistaken for hunger. To work out how much water you should drink multiply your body weight in kilos by .033.

Broccoli: Of course all vegetables are fantastic for fat loss but broccoli is in a league of its own. Not only is it packed full of vitamins and minerals such as calcium and vitamin C but it also helps to lower oestrogen which if is too high in people will store fat around the thighs and bum.

Green Tea: Studies show that green tea extract can help increase metabolism so may aid in fat loss. Other benefits include boosting your mood, anti cancer and preventing heart disease.

Multivitamin: I know its nice to think that we could get all we need in our diets but unfortunately the fact is that we don't. Even if you have a good diet, the food today isn't as nutritionally dense and it used to be and there is a good chance that your diet isn't as varied as it should be. Being deficient in a particular vitamin or mineral can really mess up the way our bodies work and result in problems like hormone imbalances, muscle loss and weight gain. Go for a quality brand as you get what you pay for with multivitamins.

So as you can see foods that speed metabolism are already in your diet. All you need to do is put more of them in there to send you on your way to fat loss. Remember your new metabolism diet needs to stick with you at least 80% of the time. As soon as you start dropping below 80% your results will slow dramatically and you will need to make quick changes to increase metabolism once again.

Exercise To Speed Up Metabolism

If you want to burn body fat and boost your metabolism through exercise then you must perform big compound movements that involve a lot of muscle to perform. The more muscle you use for the exercise, the more muscle you will be strengthening and building which means your metabolism will be raised the most. These few exercises I have chosen are some of the best around. It is important that you perform them correctly to gain the most benefit from them all.

Squat – The squat often gets called the king of exercises. This is an excellent exercise to speed up metabolism. When done correctly you could start seeing huge benefits in a very short space of time. This not only includes firmer, stronger legs and bum but also an overall reduced body fat. To really target the biggest muscle in the body (glutes or bum), you need to sit right back into the squat so that your thighs break parallel. This deep squat second half of the movement shifts the emphasis away from the quadriceps and to the hamstrings and glutes.

Deadlift – When you perform a good set of deadlifts your whole body feels the benefits. The areas that it particularly works well are the legs, lower and upper back and your grip.

Clean and press – This is the most technical and difficult to get right in this list but because of there being two stages in the lift there is a lot of benefits to it. The clean stage works everything that the deadlift works but with more emphasis on the upper back and shoulders. Then the press stage works the shoulders to a large degree.

Press up / Bench Press – This exercise works mainly the chest, fronts of shoulders and the backs of arms. The press up is the best option to go with until you can do over 20 repetitions. Once you can do this you need more resistance so start using dumbbells and a barbell.

Bent Over Row – There is a large element of stabilisation for the lower back and hamstrings here but the prime mover is the upper back, backs of shoulders and arms. This coupled with press ups virtually covers the whole upper body!

Lunge – Another lower body exercise as exercising the legs are so vital to boosting metabolism. The advantage of this one is that your legs are working independently of each other which means they get different benefits from the squat. They can be performed in a static fashion where you lunge forward, backwards or sideways and then back to the starting position. Or they can be performed in a walking lunge style. This basically means that you are that you are taking very large, very deep steps which really target the hamstrings and especially the glutes.

Lifestyle Changes To Speed Up Metabolism

There are simple lifestyle changes that you can make to speed up metabolism and daily calorie output. I have listed just a few below to get you started but they are very individual and you will have to make up your own to fit into your own lifestyle.

Walk to work rather than catch the bus – That little walk that you see as being totally unnecessary not only makes you feel healthier and more alive but also will burn a few extra calories which could tip the scales between weight loss or weight gain!

Take the stairs rather than the lift – Walking up stairs is an underestimated exercise. By regularly taking the stars you will boost your metabolism that little bit more, wake yourself up and make you more alert and also build a bit of endurance into your legs so that they don't start burning after a few steps!

Sit with good posture at your desk – It may seem strange that i am telling you to sit up straight to speed up metabolism but its very true and important. Sitting with bad posture will not only put a stress on your body which means excessive release of cortisol (muscle loss and fat gain) but it also restricts the amount of oxygen that we are able to get into our system. This will subsequently reduce our energy, metabolism and also make the muscles around our back ischemic which means that they become painful which will eventually benefit from a sports massage.

Stand and walk with good posture – This has the same sort of reasoning as the point above (sitting with good posture). Standing and walking with good posture will boost the amount of oxygen that you are able to breath and will also boost your energy and mood. This obviously will result in increased metabolism and a better body composition.

So it is clear that there are lots of very simple but effective things you can start doing today that will increase metabolism and help you to start burning that extra body fat.

To get a more tips on foods that speed metabolism click on this link and be sent directly to a big list of fantastic foods that also speed up metabolism.