Balancing
work, family, hobbies, and other commitments often means that our
lifestyle isn’t so much a choice, as it is a necessity, but we can
do little things that help speed up our metabolism.
Do you
know people who carefully choose low-fat, low-calorie meal choices,
are very disciplined when it comes to resisting the Chef’s Special
pecan pie for desert, yet order a glass or two of wine with their
meal?
These
people are undermining their efforts to boost their metabolism.
Studies
show that drinking alcohol with meals actually encourages over
eating, which means more calories that need to be burned away or
transformed into fat.
Many
people are simply unaware that many alcoholic drinks are laden with
calories, almost as much as sugary soft drinks.
A bottle
of beer or a cocktail is a few hundred calories. Wine is less, but
still adds your calorie count. The tip here isn’t to stop drinking
alcohol altogether, but to be aware that it's adding to your calorie
intake.
Sleep
Most of
us don’t have as much control over the amount that we sleep as we
should. Work, family, education, housekeeping, and so many other
tasks can literally prevent us from getting the amount of sleep that
we need.
Experts
tell us, getting enough sleep actually improves metabolism. People
who are constantly sleep deprived, typically find that they have less
energy to do regular, daily activities.
As a
result, sleep-deprived people often lower their own metabolism. They
simply don’t have the strength to break down food efficiently,
particularly carbohydrates. This is a very difficult issue, because
many people can only find time to exercise by borrowing from their
rest time.
For
example, after a long day of work and dealing with family and home
commitments, a person may find the only time they have to exercise is
late at night. So what should you do?
Ultimately,
it’s a question of balance. Naturally, if you’re willing to
exercise, and your doctor agrees that it’s healthy for you, then
you’re not going to get fit by sleeping instead of exercising.
Yet, if
you steal time away from your sleep in order to exercise, you can
actually do more harm than good, because the following day, you won’t
have enough energy to digest what you eat. The answer to this
catch-22 lies in balance.
You
don’t have to work out every night. Or perhaps you can integrate a
workout into your life during the day, maybe at lunchtime or right
after work.
Most
fitness clubs are open very early, some are even open 24 hours. You
can also get some fitness equipment for your home and workout there.
If you
find you have trouble sleeping, this can also negatively affect the
speed of your metabolism, because you won’t have enough energy the
following day. Insomnia and other sleep disorders are very common
problems.
Some
non-medical tips to help you fall asleep include:
Don’t
eat late at night
Try
drinking warm milk before bedtime
Don’t
turn on the TV at night
Try
yoga or other stress-relieving practices
Try
having a warm bath before bedtime
Don’t
exercise close to bedtime, your body can become so energized that
it doesn’t want to sleep.
We
briefly noted yoga in the list of Things to Do above, and that brings
us to another key influence of your metabolism, stress.
Experts
believe stress can send unwanted signals to our body, signals that
lead to slower metabolism. Essentially, when the body is under
constant stress, it releases stress hormones that flood the system.
These stress hormones actually tell the body to create larger fat
cells in the abdomen. The result can be both increased weight and a
slower metabolism.
Some
easy stress relievers are:
Walk
more
Listening
to relaxing music
Meditate
Practice
yoga
Eat
non-stimulating foods (e.g. no caffeine, no sugar, and so on)
Re-center
yourself and de-stress
So
there's a link between how much stress you experience and your
ability to break down cells and lose weight.
If you
don’t want to relax, because you don’t have the time, your
stressed-out life is probably playing a role in your weight gain or
your inability to lose weight.
Ladies
Only
Scientists
have determined that the 2-week period prior to menstruation is a
premium fat burning time. Australian studies have shown that women
were able to burn off as much as 30% more fat in the 2 weeks
preceding their period.
At
this time, the female body’s production of estrogen and
progesterone are at their highest. Since these hormones tell the body
to use fat as a source of energy, exercising during this time, can
really pay off. The body will be inclined to target fat cells for
catabolism.
The word
calorie has a bad rap. We constantly come across calorie reduced or
low calorie foods.
The
calories that come from cake are empty calories, which means there’s
no real nutritional value that your body can squeeze out and make use
of. But in the bigger picture, it’s unwise for your metabolism to
become calorie-avoidant.
If you
suddenly decrease the amount of calories that you eat, your body
won’t try to do more with less. It won’t necessarily provoke
catabolism and thus reduce weight and fat cells. Instead, your body
will try to keep you alive by slowing down its metabolism. It will
simply believe that something is wrong, maybe you’re trapped
somewhere without food, and it will just begin to become very stingy
with energy.
So
what’s the end result? If your body needs 2000 calories a day to
survive, and you suddenly give it only 1000, it won’t begin to burn
off 1000 calories worth of cells that you have lying around on your
love handles.
Instead,
your body will slow down its metabolism. It will really try and get
as much energy out of those 1000 calories as it can, because it
doesn’t want to waste anything.
You’ll
feel more tired because your body is being very miserly with energy,
and will devote its 1000-calorie ration to essential systems, like
blood and oxygen supply.
Metabolically,
you won’t be burning off extra calories. In fact, you can actually
gain weight by dramatically reducing your calorie intake.
The
flipside of this is, you should consume a daily caloric intake that
is proportionate to your body size, type, and weight loss goals.
Once you
determine the amount of calories that you need, you can provide that
to your body via healthy, efficient calories. For example, if your
body needs 1500 calories per day, and one slice of double-fudge
chocolate cake delivers 500 of those, you can see that eating just
one slice will take up a full 1/3 of your daily caloric needs, and
that’s not good.
On
the other hand, you can see that drinking a tasty fruit smoothy made
with yogurt and nuts can deliver half as many calories, but provide
you with essential nutrients, vitamins, and other elements that your
body needs to healthily do its work.
Eat
More?
Fresh
on the heels of the discussion on calories, it’s also helpful to
note that eating frequently throughout the day can be very good for
boosting metabolism. There are a couple of reasons for this.
The
first reason is people who tend to eat throughout the day do
considerably less snacking. As a result, they tend to avoid potato
chips or candy bars that they might otherwise consume if they
suddenly felt hungry.
People
who eat throughout the day don’t tend to experience severe hunger
pains, because they have a steady stream of food entering the body.
The
second reason is, by eating throughout the day, you are constantly
keeping your metabolism in motion. It’s kind of like having a
generator run all the time. It will use more electricity than if you
powered it on 3 times a day.
If
you plan to eat more often, you should keep a food journal that notes
what you eat and drink throughout the day.
You
should know the calorie levels of what you eat, and the overall
nutritional values, too.
Merely
focusing on calories is only half of the job. You need to ensure
that you’re eating enough protein, carbohydrates, unsaturated fats,
and other vitamins and minerals that your body needs in order to
function at optimal levels.
Breakfast
is the most important meal of the day for boosting your metabolism
and assisting with weight loss. People who eat breakfast, are much
less inclined to snack throughout the morning. Of course, if you're
eating more frequently, you can still eat something between breakfast
and lunch.
Studies
have shown that metabolism slows during sleep, and doesn’t
typically get going again until you eat. Therefore, starting the day
with breakfast is like kick starting your metabolism. You’ll
actually burn more calories throughout the day, simply by eating
breakfast.
Remember,
as you eat your breakfast, control both the portions and the
contents. You don’t want to eat to the point of complete fullness,
because you want to eat throughout the day and you won’t be able to
do that if you’re stuffed.
At the
same time, beware of high-fat breakfasts. Studies have shown that
high-fat breakfasts, such as those that include bacon and sausage,
not only deliver lots of calories, but they also make you hungry
again, very soon. In addition to having ingested a lot of fat and
calories, you’ll typically find yourself rather ravenous again in a
few hours.
Alternatively,
breakfasts that are high in fiber, take longer to digest, and thus,
the body won’t be hungry again for a while.
This is
something to bear in mind; and it may explain why many people who eat
breakfast, find themselves painfully hungry by lunchtime. It’s not
their “overactive metabolism” at work, it’s the high fat
content, which has been swiftly digested.
