Ways to Naturally Increase Your Metabolism

Most people experience changes in their metabolism over time. This is contributed to many things such as age, gender or other issues related to your overall health, but there are still things you can do in your everyday life to naturally increase metabolism to give you an edge on your weight loss.

Read on to find out our best tips for revving up your metabolism.

How to Naturally Increase Metabolism

Drink Cold Water

By now we all know that for weight loss and overall health you should be drinking plenty of water per day. We recommend 8oz, 8 times per day to ensure that you are drinking enough. This is one of the easiest ways to naturally increase metabolism.

Besides keeping you hydrated, flushing out toxins and helping you to feel more full and satisfied, drinking enough water throughout the day also helps naturally increase metabolism. Researchers at the University of Utah found that volunteers who drank a glass of 8oz of water 8-12 times per day had higher metabolic rates than those who only drank 4 glasses.

You can burn extra calories by having your water ice cold. This is because you body has to work to heat the water up to your core temperature, and burns calories in the process. It is not a lot of calories each time, but if you make this your routine they will add up to weight loss over time, without a lot of extra effort.

Spice Up Your Life

On the other hand, adding more heat into your diet with spicy foods can also help you to burn more calories. Capsaicin, a compound found in jalapeño and cayenne peppers, temporarily stimulates your body to release more stress hormones, such as adrenaline, which helps to naturally increase metabolism and therefore increases your ability to burn more calories.

You can simply add some peppers to your favorite meals to spice them up. An added benefit can also be that spicy food can make you feel more full, so while you are burning more calories, you can also be consuming less – it’s a win/win!

Lift Some Weights

It is pretty much common knowledge that exercising is a good way to naturally increase metabolism and promote weight loss, but not all exercise is created equal for the most benefit when it comes to your metabolism.

When you are weight training, not only do you burn calories while you are lifting weights, but then your metabolism remains in overdrive for a few hrs after, allowing you to continue to burn calories for a while even after you have stopped exercising. Your body to will also burn more calories on its own while you are resting when you have more muscle. Think about this: 1lb of muscle burns up to nine times more calories than 1lb of fat. So even as your resting metabolic rate tends to drop as you get older, weight lifting can counteract this, allowing you to burn as much as 100 extra calories a day by simply sitting and watching tv.

Reduce Your Stress

When you are stressed out your body produces stress hormones, which encourage you to store more fat, typically around your waist. As if that is not bad enough, these same hormones can make you feel hungry, and when we are stressed we tend to make more emotional and less practical food choices.

Make sure that you take time to do things that you enjoy and that relax you on a regular basis. You can also set aside time for yourself to decompress daily, even if it is just 10-15 min, to ensure that you keep your stress levels manageable and in check. We all get stressed out, but allowing it to turn into a long-term problem is when it can start affecting your weight and overall health.

Learn more about how to manage your stress and live a happier life.

Laugh More

Most of us enjoy laughing, so this one should not seem like too much of a chore, but did you know that laughing could help you to burn more calories? Besides relieving stress and improving your overall mood, study from the International Journal of Obesity showed a 10 to 20 percent increase in energy expenditure (calories burned) and heart rate during genuine laughter. This translated to an increase of 10 to 40 calories burned within 10 to 15 minutes of laughter.

So go ahead and watch those funny YouTube videos, or make sure that you are spending time around those who make you laugh the most, and you will be ahead of the game without even having to try.

Make Small Changes

There are many small things that you can do throughout your day that can add up to burning a lot more calories than you would normally. Things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, choosing a parking spot that is far away instead of the closest one, and standing while talking on the phone instead of sitting at your desk are all examples of changes that will allow you to burn twice the amount of calories than if you were to do the alternative. If you have a fitness tracker, this can be a good way to see what you can do to burn more calories in your day, and what kind of an impact they can have, before ever even heading to the gym.

Get Some Sleep

Missing sleep is a big no-no for your metabolism, and also can make you crave things like sweets and salty foods more than if you were to get a full night’s rest. To make sure that you are getting enough sleep to naturally increase metabolism, set a goal for your bed time, and make sure that you are winding down your day at least 30 min before then. If you still have things to do, putting them on a to do list can help free up your mind, and you know that they will be there for you to take care of in the morning.

Also, some studies have shown that sleeping in a cooler room can have a positive impact on your weight loss, so try turning down the thermostat and getting cozy when you hop into bed.

Consider Supplements

Whether you don’t like the taste of coffee or tea, cannot tolerate spicy foods, or you just need some extra help, supplements can be a great option when it comes to helping to naturally increase metabolism and give your body the boost that it needs. Many compounds have a thermogenic effect, which means that they drive up heat in the body which, in turn, speeds up your metabolism.

Look out for our next post that explains which ingredients you should be looking for when it comes to selecting a good option for a supplement to help safely and effectively naturally increase metabolism.