Bite Sized Takeaways to Boost Your Metabolism

Are you feeling fatigue or constantly sluggish? Maybe you are getting frustrated by not seeing or feeling results from your workouts or nutrition regime, This may be because your metabolism could be to blame.

What Is Our Metabolism?

Our metabolism is the chemical reactions in the body’s cells that change food into energy. Our bodies need this energy to do everything from moving to thinking to growing. Specific proteins in the body control the chemical reactions of metabolism. Think of your metabolism as your body’s engine that burns fuel and converts it into energy.

How Fast Is Our Metabolism?

How fast your metabolism works is determined mostly by your genes. People might have fast, slow or average metabolism, regardless of their body size and composition. The benefits of increasing your metabolism, provides you with more energy, aids in weight loss and help you experience quality sleep while burning more calories at bedtime.

What Slows down Metabolism

Several things can cause your metabolism to slow down, some main culprits are stated below:

• A sedentary lifestyle: If you don’t move your body much, your metabolism will slow down. Engage physical activity every day to keep your metabolism going strong.
• Eating too few calories: When you decrease your calorie intake, your body goes into “starvation mode.” This means that your body starts to hold onto calories and burn them more slowly to ensure you have enough energy to survive. If you’re trying to lose weight, make sure you’re eating enough calories per day to support your metabolism.
• Not getting enough sleep: Sleep is important for many reasons, including maintaining a healthy metabolism. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body doesn’t have the time it needs to recover and repair. This can lead to a slow metabolism and weight gain.
• Stress: Stress can cause your body to release hormones that make your metabolism slow down. To keep your metabolism going strong, try to reduce stress in your life.
• Certain medical conditions: Some medical conditions, such as hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid gland), can cause a slow metabolism.

Symptoms Of A Slower Metabolism

A slower metabolism means your body cannot convert food into energy as efficiently as it should. This can lead to weight gain, fatigue, and other health problems.

Here are five signs to look out for:

• You are always tired.
• You have trouble losing weight.
• You have cravings.
• You feel bloated.
• You have dry skin.

Now to the good part.

Ways To Boost Your Metabolism

Increase Your Protein Consumption. Include good quality protein in your diet. When you eat, you burn some calories simply because your body uses energy during digestion. Scientists call this the thermic effect of food (TEF), and it makes up around 10% of your energy expenditure.

Regulate Stress Levels. While acute stress is commonly associated with appetite suppression and weight loss, chronic stress is a different story. Prolonged exposure to cortisol has been shown to increase appetite and decrease metabolism. To help stress management, self-care is an important tool for combating stress and improving your overall wellbeing.

Get Some Sleep. We all know that we should sleep more, but this is clearly easier said than done.Research has found that even if you struggle to sleep those recommended 8 hours, what time you go to sleep makes a big difference to your metabolic control. Going to bed earlier helps prevent unhealthy blood sugar spikes after eating the following morning.

Avoid Snacking. Your metabolism is like a fire. If you add kindling, it will fire up but quickly die down. Yet if you put a big log on the fire, it will burn for hours and give a lot more heat. This explains why eating little and often is a myth. Technically, eating bigger meals requires more work from the digestive system and is preferable when it comes to a healthy metabolism

Lift Weights. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat. Building muscle can help increase your metabolism to help you burn more calories each day, even at rest.Strength training triggers the EPOC effect – this is when your body continues to use oxygen at a higher rate and burns calories for hours after you have finished a workout. It is believed to carry on for several hours, even up to 24 hours. 

A Cup Of Caffeine. Studies have show that caffeine can increase Resting Metabolic Rate by 3–11%, with larger doses having a greater effect. Most of the increase in metabolism is caused by an increase in fat burning, but in small doses.

Eat spicy foods. These can increase your core temperature, increase metabolism and helps burn calories faster. Research has shown that it could increase your metabolism by up to 5 percent. Foods such as peppers contain capsaicin, a compound that can boost your metabolism.

Top Takeaway

We now know what the metabolism is, what it does and why it’s important. It’s role is vital for keeping us well and full of zest for life. As we continue to move forward in our day to day life, we need our mighty metabolism to allow us to properly convert food for fuel to allow us to feel energised. Using these simple tips, mentioned above, we can keep our internal fire burning strong in order for us to feel and embody our best selves.