How to Increase Metabolism

What is Metabolism
Metabolism is a continuous procedure wherein your body burns or breaks down the calories you have consumed into proper nutrients that are required by the body for various activities (breathing, sleeping, digestion, etc.). These calories include carbohydrates, proteins and fats. In short metabolism is conversion of the food consumed into energy required. When the energy requirement of the body is satisfied, the extra calories get stored in the form of fat and hence cause weight gain. The rate of metabolism, i.e. the rate at which the calories are burnt, differs from person to person. Hence many a times you must be wondering that your friend eats lots of fatty foods the whole day but does not gain weight, while you are unable to lose weight even when you follow a proper diet. This is because of the difference in the metabolic rate of you two. Thus, you need to increase your rate of metabolism to control your weight gain.

What are the Causes of Low Metabolism
The rate of metabolism is influenced by a number of factors that include age, gender and daily physical activities. Some people who are suffering from thyroid disorder may have low metabolic rate. Young people usually have higher metabolic rate and men have higher metabolic rate as compared to women. People who consume lot of sugar content food have low metabolism. Fasting, skipping meals and less physical activities are some other important factors that lower the metabolism. The calories consumed are utilized for three purposes, basal metabolism, daily physical activities and processing the consumed food. Basal metabolism is nothing but calories required for basic physical activities, like, breathing, heart beating and sleeping. So, for proper weight it is necessary to maintain a proper ratio of the calories required for the above three activities. To maintain the proper ratio you may need to either increase your physical activities or decrease calorie intake or you may need to do both.

How to Increase Metabolism
There are numerous ways to increase metabolism, including diet, exercise and change in lifestyle. Just one of them will not help to increase your metabolism; they should be in synergy for effective results. Let us take a look at the various methods to increase your metabolism.

Exercise to Increase Metabolism: Exercise is one of the safest ways to increase metabolism. The exercise should include aerobic and cardio exercises. Try to increase your physical activities as much as possible, like, use the staircase instead of lift, avoid using vehicles to go to places that are at walkable distance. Walking is the best exercise you can do after your meals. Building lean muscles helps to encourage metabolism because muscles burn more fats. Muscles help to increase the metabolism at a faster rate. Consult a trainer and get a regular exercise plan.

Food to Increase Metabolism: Skipping meals is not a solution to reduce weight; this reduces the metabolism and hence increases weight. Regular meals is a must for increasing metabolism. You should eat small meals after a fixed interval of time. It has been proved that food that is rich in protein helps to increase the metabolism. You can include protein source in your meals and thus increase your metabolism. Natural metabolism boosters are green tea, yogurt, spinach, apples, beans, etc. You should not eat foods high in sugar content or consume alcohol but you should consume foods that increase metabolism. Drinking 8 glasses of water daily is a must for increasing metabolism.

Increasing metabolism not only includes proper food intake and exercise but also change in lifestyle. Now that you are aware of how to increase metabolism, follow the above given simple guidelines for a healthy life.