Losing weight is hard for many people out there, as evidence we can look to the general population where the majority of people are either overweight or obese. It is much more complicated than just simply counting calories, and takes much more effort as well.
While exercise is a very useful tool that can help you to lose weight, it is obviously something that you can only use sparingly to do so. You only have a limited amount of time and energy in the day to do so, and thus exercise alone isn’t going to do enough when it comes to losing all of that extra weight.
Metabolism on the other hand is something that takes place in our body, by many systems, all throughout the day and night. This means that our body is constantly burning fuel at a certain pace, which we can use to our advantage.
The amount of calories we burn at rest while not doing exercise is something referred to as the resting metabolic rate or RMR, which is extremely important in weight loss. If you can improve your metabolism, that means more calories burned at rest, with no extra effort on your part.
This obviously requires improving our metabolism, but what are the best ways to go about doing that?
How Can You Best Improve Your Metabolism?
1-Stay Active
One thing that everyone has working against them is time, and the older you get the slower your metabolism becomes. This is an inevitability we all have to deal with, however exercising regularly can help to slow down this process.
Staying active means that you are going to be putting more stress on your body and burning more calories in the process. This is going to force your body to build and repair that tissue damage, which of course requires more energy.
Your body also wants to be able to supply those tissues with the nutrients they need quickly, which in turn means a higher metabolism to synthesize these essential nutrients.
2-Get Enough Rest
Another problem many people have is that they do not get adequate sleep. Not getting enough sleep means that your body is in energy conservation mode period, which of course is going to slow down your metabolism.
This is not only bad when it comes to your metabolism and slower fat burning potential, but less energy means that you are going to be groggy and get less done. Running on little sleep means less of a chance that you get to the gym as well, compounding the problem.
3- Put on More Muscle
Exercise in general is great when it comes to weight loss, but you are really cheating yourself if you don’t do any weight training. This is because during weight training the object is to put on more muscle, which is going to help you lose more fat.
The reasoning behind why this happens is simple, muscle tissue requires a tremendous amount of energy to maintain when compared to other tissues. This is the case even at rest, where muscle tissue can really influence that basal metabolic rate.
You don’t have to be strength training everyday to get the benefits of doing so either, so don’t worry about having to devote too much time to doing so. Three training sessions a week for at least 45min a session is enough work to where you will see benefit.
In addition to all of the benefits you are going to see from the added muscle, the calories burned from regular exercise will help to boost your metabolism around the clock.
4-Stop Eating Garbage Foods
Another huge reason why many people have a low resting metabolic rate is because of poor diet. The western diet in general is poor, and we should stick to eating whole foods whenever possible. Going completely green isn’t an option for everyone, however there are some foods everyone should be eliminating from their diet.
Foods with added sugars should be at the top of the list. Not only do they contain plenty of empty calories which are not just going to contribute to fat gain, but slow down our metabolism in the process for a double whammy.
Stay away from sodas, sports drinks and even fruit juices which are just loaded with sugar and contain no fiber, which makes your blood sugar level skyrocket.
