LGR Holistic Wellness

Our metabolism is the process in which the body burns calories and turns them into energy. Calories come from the foods we eat, and of course, if we eat more calories than we need, stored fat is the result, as our body can only use so much.

Unfortunately, poor eating habits, overeating, and an unhealthy lifestyle result in excess fat that we wish our bodies could burn. One way to help remove excess fat is to improve our metabolism.

Here are a few ways to do that.

Drink Water

Drinking plenty of water is the most basic health tip, but many people fail to do it. It is recommended to consume at least eight glasses of water every day. The body needs water for metabolism, so when you are dehydrated, your metabolism slows down.

Start by drinking a glass of water when you wake up in the morning to give your metabolism a big kickstart. When you sleep, your metabolism slows down, so drinking a glass of water when you wake up also wakes up your metabolism too.

Some people recommend drinking cold water instead of room temperature water because the body uses more calories (energy) to heat up to your body temperature.

Time For Quality Sleep

Quality sleep, which means seven to eight hours every night, is another way to boost your metabolism. When you lack sleep, you become lethargic, which your body incorrectly interprets as lacking energy. This prompts the release of the hormone ghrelin. This hormone is the one that tells your brain you’re hungry.

If you don’t get enough sleep your hunger hormones will be tempting you to overeat on snack foods and you will struggle to lose weight.

If You Love Coffee, Drink It Black

Caffeine in coffee has been shown to help improve metabolism and aid in fat burning. This has been proven according to studies. It stimulates your sympathetic nervous system and kickstarts your metabolism. This is why you may find many weight loss supplements or weight loss drinks are caffeine-based. You can even drink coffee before your workout.

Don’t add sugar to your black coffee though. Sugar and cream have calories, which will cancel out the metabolism boost that caffeine can provide.

The caffeine found in coffee helps you burn more calories per day, and studies have shown that drinking black coffee can boost your metabolic rate by 11%. If you drink three cups of coffee a day, you can burn an extra 100 calories.

If you’re more of a tea lover, choose green tea, which can also boost your metabolism. Aside from the caffeine, tea is rich in antioxidants which is an added benefit for your health.

While coffee can help increase metabolism, it can have an adverse result on your sleep health, which can adversely affect your weight, as explained previously. Drink coffee only in the morning to get the benefits and reduce the negative impacts.

Eat Protein-Rich Foods

Protein foods are more difficult to digest, which means your body uses more calories in the process. Eat protein-rich foods, such as eggs, lean meat, tofu, fish, and nuts, to help boost your metabolism. Protein foods make you feel full, which helps stop you from overeating. In addition, protein helps you build more muscle, which has a higher metabolic rate than stored fat.

Exercise

You know how important exercise is in regards to your health. Exercise is not only good for burning fat. However, that’s what you are wanting to do, so do it! In particular, high-intensity workouts are super helpful in boosting your metabolic rate. Short, intense bursts of activities will make your body burn more calories. The faster your calories deplete, the faster your body will tap into the stored energy, which is your fat.

Aside from intensive workouts, simply getting up and moving is beneficial. It’s a computer world and many of us spend long hours sitting in front of a screen, which slows our metabolism. That’s why it is recommended that we take frequent breaks and get moving. You can take a walk or schedule a quick workout somewhere in between your screen time.

Relax and Reduce Stress – Keep That Stress Hormone Stable

Stress is one of the reasons why too much fat builds up in the body. Chronic stress promotes fat storage as the stress hormone cortisol can make you overeat. Persistent stress hormones can disrupt your appetite and promote unhealthy eating habits, which further adversely affect your metabolism. For these reasons and many others, it is important that you take time to relax, and to learn to manage stress better.

Fat burning is what weight loss is all about, and if you set about improving your metabolism, you can also improve your fat-burning efforts.