Metabolism: Can You Actually Boost It for Weight Loss?

Here & there, we all hear the cry of eating mindfully & still gaining weight. 

It's always the same question. I am doing everything for weight loss then why aren’t the results showing? 

It’s highly likely that the culprit is your slow ‘Metabolism’. 

Metabolism is a cumulative process of all the chemical reactions that occur in our cells to provide energy for life-sustaining functions. 

To simplify, metabolism is the process of breaking down calories and converting them into energy.

While reading this article, your body is performing several other functions too:

• Breathing
• Thinking
• Processing the information
• Circulating blood 
• You get the idea!

For all these functions, your body needs energy and that energy is provided by the food you eat.

Your Metabolism (the process) is what converts the food into energy. 

Now, can you actually boost your metabolism for weight loss?

You can speed up the rate at which your body uses the energy - your Metabolic Rate. 

There are three ways your body breaks down the calories and turns it into energy. 

• Basal Metabolic Rate - Calories you need for basic body functions such as breathing, blood circulation, cell production, nutrient processing.
• Thermic Effect - Calories you burn while digesting food.
• Physical Activity - Calories you burn during physical activities.

Interestingly, your body burns most of the calories while performing basic body functions, as shown below:

Now, if your BMR is low, the caloric burn or energy conversion rate will be slow. 

Here are 5 tips & tricks to speed up your BMR: 

• Protein-Rich Meal: Eating a protein-rich diet can increase your metabolic rate for a few hours. Protein needs more energy to digest. So, our body burns more calories.  

• Green Tea & Coffee: Green Tea & Coffee (without sugar) are low caloric drinks, and both contain caffeine. These safe to drink beverages (during the weight loss journey) convert some of the fat stored in your body into free fatty acids. That leads to an increase in fat burning. 

• Build Lean Muscles: Building muscles will improve your metabolic rate. Muscles consume more energy than fat. More muscles will result in more calorie burn. Hence, weight loss.

• Monitor Your Sleep. Highly Important: One of the major reasons for not losing weight can be your sleep cycle. Sleeping habits affect the process of metabolism.

Sleep deprivation can boost ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and decrease leptin (the fullness hormone) leading you to eat more. 

• Eat Spices: Pepper’s natural chemical capsaicin might help you in boosting your metabolism. The chemical induces fat oxidation (fat burning) 

The effects of eating spices might be less on the metabolism process. But, altogether it makes a difference. 

*Add spices moderately to your meals to increase the tolerance subsequently. 

EXTRA:

Here's a BMR calculator for you. CALCULATOR.

Check your current BMR. Set a goal for your calorie intake. Start acting on the tips & tricks. 

Take it one day at a time. You will get there! 

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