By Not everyone is born with impeccable hormonal functioning, which is why some people find it easier to stay leaner than others. In saying that, there are still a lot of things you can do, in terms of your nutrition and exercise, that will help increase your metabolism slows and allow you to boost it in many ways. I urge you to increase your resting metabolic rate, which will mean that you will still be churning through the calories you consume at rest. I will give you insider secrets from my years as a bodybuilder on how to do just that.
Five hacks that will maximise your metabolism — turning you into a fat-burning machine!
- Make sure you include a source of protein in every meal – every single day (plant or animal). Protein has the highest rate of thermic effects when consumed. It increases your metabolic rate by 15–30%, as a-posed to fat and carbs. You may notice that when you eat protein, you feel full for more extended periods. That is one of the best fat loss strategies around because you stop snacking and overeating. Overeating during every meal will increase your body fat stores over time, leading to unnecessary weight gain. The stats suggest that you could be eating around 441 fewer calories per day. That’s a pretty great start, as, over time, this alone will make a big difference to your body composition.
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Drinking cold – not room temperature water. You can probably guess that replacing sugary soft drinks with water will cause a substantial fat loss success in no time. But when you drink cold water instead of the room temperature variety, you can increase your metabolism by 10–30% (although only for one hour, guys -sorry). This is because your body uses energy to begin heating the water to your bodies temperature. If you do this regularly during the day, it will all add up to your daily caloric expenditure (without even taking activity and exercise into consideration!) Try this one on for size (I do this before I eat every meal). Drink a glass of water (or two) half an hour before you are due to eating. It will help you to eat less and feel full very early on. This is great for those who want a natural appetite suppressant, and that’s easy to use wherever you are in the world. As I often say, sometimes we do mistake thirst for hunger, so it’s in your best interest to try it out and see if you are starving for a meal.
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Bring on some fat burning HIIT! Interval training is an ancient bodybuilding strategy that we start two weeks from a show. It allows us to get in some intense fat burning while retaining as much muscle mass as we can. When being in a caloric deficit certainly makes the fat loss easier. HIIT is the perfect alternative if you want to experience a metabolism boost for the whole day (after your workout, of course). Again, every little bit counts for your overall success. Keep this one in your bag of fat-burning tricks, making sure you only partake in HIIT for 20 minutes at a time, about 2–3 times a week. More is not necessary. Patience is vital to reap the results.
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Weight training! I bet you were wondering why I didn’t put this one first. I need to include some other alternatives that are just as important! But let me tell you again why building muscle mass is so important for men and women! As you go forth and build muscle mass, your metabolism will increase. Muscle is living, breathing and active tissue that needs nutrients to grow and flourish. You want to build and maintain muscle mass throughout your life, so you are not subject to weight gain as you age. You will naturally notice a remarkable difference in peoples physique and health due to lighting weights and eating well. What you want to be aware of is ever losing muscle mass. As your muscle decreases, so will your metabolism. It’s a recommendation that you make weight training a higher priority than any other form of exercise. That’s if you do want to have a faster metabolism.
- Stop sitting on your backside all the time. I don’t understand people that sit down all day, every day. I have far too much energy and experience cabin fever when I don’t move around! Make sure you do everything you possibly can to increase your daily activity. This is all part of your daily energy expenditure – which is very important in your overall caloric burn. If you keep this high by walking more, moving more and making an effort to stop sitting down as much, weight loss will be a whole lot easier for you! Walk to and from work, making the extra effort to use your feet and more each day.
I do hope this has been useful to you. I use all these techniques, and they have helped me over the years maintaining my metabolism. I hope you take some of these on board and use them in your daily life. I would love you to upvote it if you did get something out of this. Please also join me on my various social platforms and do go ahead and download your new year’s resolution pack – which has seven days of free nourishing recipes. I’m also on Instagram.