If you feel like you’ve been struggling slightly to reach your weight loss goals, despite hitting the gym a couple times a week and choosing salads more often at lunch, it may be time to look at your approach. Many women sadly approach the fat loss process incorrectly and set themselves up to make it much harder than it should be. If you aren’t eating right or exercising properly, you may actually see a decline in your resting metabolic rate, which means you take longer to burn fat all day long. As you can imagine, this does not spell good news for you reaching your weight loss goals. Fortunately, with a few smart tricks up your sleeve, you can boost your metabolism back up so that you can go on to see the optimal progress you desire. Let’s walk you through a few of the main metabolic boosting tips you need to start doing immediately. Do these and by next week, you’ll be burning up more calories 24/7.
Dish Up Protein First
When it comes to your meals during the day, do you get by on not much more than a salad and raw veggies for snacks? If so, you are not doing yourself any favors. Your body must have enough protein on a day to day basis in order to prevent muscle mass loss and keep your metabolism humming along quickly. In addition to that, protein rich foods actually take more energy to break down and digest, so this can mean you see faster overall rates of fat loss with a higher protein diet. Make sure that at least a quarter of your plate is filled with lean protein, half the plate is filled with those vegetables, and the remaining section is some slow burning carbs or some healthy fats. And remember, very low carb diets will crush your metabolism quickly as well, so don’t be afraid of carbs. In moderation, they are a good thing.
Turn Your Bed Time Back One Hour
Burning the midnight oil? If so, that has to change as well. Turning your bed time back an hour is going to help you not only wake up feeling more rested and energized, but it’ll also help you burn fat faster all day long. Sleep is critical to keeping your metabolism moving along, so if you aren’t sleeping soundly, that’s your first mistake. Aim for at least 7 hours a night, preferably 8 or 9 if you can get it. Most women are living in a state of chronic sleep deprivation and this can really come back to get you if you aren’t careful.
Crank Up The Speed On The Treadmill
If you’ve been slugging it out on the treadmill, putting in 60 hours, 5 days a week, that’s another reason you aren’t burning up body fat. This type of training is not ideal for reaching your fat loss goals. Instead, crank the intensity up. Start alternating between periods of faster, more intense exercise, with active rest periods between. This interval training set up will not only burn more calories while you do it, but also help you burn calories faster for the remaining hours in the day as well. Plus, you won’t spend all your free time in the gym either as these sessions only typically take around 20-25 minutes to complete. They are intense, but the results you will see will be well worth it.
Stack Two Exercises Back To Back
It’s also a wise move to consider stacking two exercises back to back with each other. Often called a ‘superset’, this will crank your metabolism up for hours after you’ve completed each workout session. Perform one exercise such as a set of squats and immediately upon finishing, move right into your second exercise such as bent over rows. Keep alternating until all reps are completed and then switch to another pairing and continue on.
Sip Green Tea
Finally, one last bonus tip to help boost your metabolic rate up higher is to start swapping out your morning coffee for green tea. You’ll still get a small hint of caffeine in green tea but more importantly, you’ll take in catechins which serve to boost your metabolic rate, enhancing the process of fat burning. One study published in the American Society for Clinical Nutrition noted that when subjects consumed green tea extract (of 50 mg caffeine and 90 mg of epigallocatechin gallate), they noticed an increase in 24 hour resting energy expenditure. The same increase was not seen in the caffeine only treatment group, indicating this was from the catechin found in the extract. So there you have some fast and easy metabolic boosting tips to know and remember. Are there any here that you are overlooking?
Reference:
Duret, C. (1999). Efficacy of a green tea extract rich in catechin polyphenols and caffeine in increasing 24-h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans. American Society for Clinical Nutrition. Vol. 70, No. 6.
