10 Easy Ways to Fire Up Your Metabolism

By Kim Archer

Have you been trying to lose weight, and suddenly find yourself stuck on a dieting plateau? If the scale isn't budging despite your best efforts, a sluggish metabolism may be the cause.

Metabolism is a complex process that converts the calories in the foods you eat into energy to ensure the proper functioning of your body. If you have a high metabolism, you'll burn fat and lose weight more easily than someone with a low metabolism, even at the same level of energy intake and expenditure.

Generally speaking, if you're stuck with a low metabolism, you'll never be able to eat as much as your skinny friend with a high metabolism without gaining weight. That being said, there are things you can do to speed up your metabolic rate and get you over the hump towards continued weight loss.

Here are 10 ways you can rev up your metabolism:

1. Exercise. This is the single most effective way to raise your metabolism. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you'll burn during everyday activities. Work out with weights at least twice a week, and fit in 30 minutes daily of cardiovascular exercise. Go for a brisk walk, run on the treadmill or cross train at the gym. Fit fitness into your day by taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking your car further from the building, or doing some energetic housecleaning.

2. Have mini meals. Eating four to six small meals throughout the day rather than three big ones will keep your metabolism revved up constantly.

3. Don't skip meals. If you think skipping meals means you'll lose weight, you're wrong. If you don't feed your body when it expects to be fed, your metabolism grinds to a halt, thinking that you're in starvation mode. See tip number 2.

4. Eat more whole, unprocessed foods like vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. These foods help to keep your metabolism on an even keel.

5. Spice it up. Spicy foods such as hot peppers have been shown to boost your metabolism.

6. Cut back on sugar. High blood sugar levels cause you to store more food as fat.

7. Drink more water. When your body burns fat, it produces toxins. If you don't take in enough fluids to flush them out, your metabolism slows down.

8. Drink green tea. Studies have shown that green tea can speed up your metabolism. It also has numerous other health benefits that make it a worthwhile addition to your diet.

9. Get some sleep. Studies have shown a correlation between not getting enough sleep and weight gain.

10. Lose your stress. Emotional and physical stress can prompt the release of cortisol, a steroid hormone that lowers your metabolism. Plus, you're likely to eat more when you're stressed out.

So don't be discouraged and give up if the scale isn't budging. Try these tips to give your metabolism an edge, and you should be burning calories again in no time. Remember, healthy eating and fitness are a way of life, not just a quick fix to drop some pounds.

Kim Archer is publisher of women's wellness site The Internet Spa at http://www.internet-spa.com,where you'll find the information you need to rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kim_Archer

Tired Of Struggling To Lose Weight?

By Debbie de Leng

There are many factors that cause us to increase body weight, yet three stand out from the rest.

Our genetic make: Every cell in our body has a central control panel, that is a nucleus that contains our genes and chromosomes. This is the instruction manual for your body and this is inherited from your parents. It is this instruction manual that is largely responsible for how your body, and even your mind, behaves.

The environment in which we live: Our personal environment may also contribute or cue you to adopt poor eating or exercise habits. This is especially true in today's society, which is dominated by speed and convenience. For example, escalators, elevators and remote-control appliances make us less physically active. Also, greater availability and the constant marketing of foods that are high in calories, fat and added sugars, and larger portion sizes promote unhealthy eating behaviors.

There may also be personal reasons why you are consuming too many kilojoules from food and drinks, or not being physically active enough. For example, when feeling down or bored you may eat more than you need, or if you are feeling depressed it is more difficult to get active.

Knowing the reason why you may be consuming excess kilojoules or not participating in physical activity, is an important first step in changing your lifestyle habits to help you reach a healthy weight.

Our lifestyle: What we eat and drink and how active we are. This is the gradual gain in weight as a result of eating food and not exercising enough.

The extent to which we can affect our genetic make up and our environment are limited. However, lifestyle is the area in which we can significantly manage and if need be, improve our body weight to ensure we maintain a healthy weight for our height, age and gender. This is why learning a healthy nutritious eating pattern and adopting it for life, that is, lifestyle changes has a significant impact on our ability to reach and maintain a healthy weight.

Gaining and losing weight works according to some a simple biological principle. When you consume more energy in the form of food and drinks that your body uses each day you will gain weight. When you consume less energy in the form of food and drinks that your body requires each day you will lose weight.

Despite what some advertisers would have use believe, weight loss does not occur as a result of any of the following:

Supplements that will melt the fat while you sleep or while you wash
Exercises that don’t take any effort and cause no sweat
Unique food combinations that will allow you to eat what you want and still lose weight

In order to lose weight you will need to know approximately your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). Your RMR is the number of calories your body burns at rest in a 24 hour period. When your body gets about 500 less calories than it needs each day as a result of eating less or exercising more, you will lose one pound of weight per week. To illustrate how efficient the human body is in motion, the average female would need to go for a brisk walk for 1.5 to 2.0 hours in order to burn 500 calories.

When you consume 500 calories a day more than your body’s requirements, you will gain approximately one pound a week! To illustrate how easy it is to gain weight, one 7oz bag of corn chips has approximately 1000 calories. If you ate a bag of corn chips every day in addition to three square meals its possible you could gain 2 pounds in a week!

By Debbie de Leng © September 30, 2004

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Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety as long as you leave all links in place, please do not modify the content and include the author resource box as listed.

About The Author: Debbie De Leng is a weight loss coach. To see what you can do to take control of your weight, or for a free consultation, visit her website at: http://shrink-district.org/?refid=Artcity-27182.

Boost Your Metabolism to Lose Weight

By Steven Muller

There are a lot of people who would give a lot to increase their metabolism. Having a high level of metabolism enables one to burn fat and lose weight fast with the least amount of exertion. Metabolism is the rate by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories to support life.

There are several factors that affect the metabolism of a person, such as the amount of muscle tissue, the frequency of the meals one consumes, genetics, the digestive system, stress levels, personal diet, and activity levels. Metabolism slows down due to the following: loss of muscle because of not enough physical activity, the tendency of the body to cannibalize its own tissue because there is not enough food energy to sustain it, and the decrease of physical activity that comes naturally with old age.

Here are several ways to fire up one's metabolism:

1. Build up on lean, mean body mass. It is only natural that metabolism decreases along with age, but it is possible to counter the effects. The amount of muscle a person has is a very strong determinant in the ability to burn calories and shed fat. So it goes without saying that exercise is essential. Build strength and resistance by working out at least twice a week, preferably with weights. Do easy exercises in between workouts. Simple tasks such as walking the dog and using the stairs in place of the elevator can already take off calories. The key is to match the amount of eating to the amount of activity one has. Here are some guidelines in getting the right exercise:

For strength training

-Increase the amount of repetitions of a particular exercise.

-Add the level of resistance

-Utilize advance exercise techniques if possible

For cardiovascular training

-Insert intervals between exercises

-Perform cross-training and combine the exercises

-Add up on resistance and speed

2. Eat breakfast. A lot of people are ignoring the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Surprisingly, the ones who eat breakfast are thinner than the ones who do not. Metabolism can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if one waits until the afternoon to eat.

3. Avoid sugar. Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood-sugar. Additionally, progressive exercise 2-3 times a week should be in order to stabilize blood sugar.

4. Eat spicy foods. Hot cuisine with peppers can increase metabolism.
5. Sleep more. According to research, it is riskier for people who do not get enough sleep to gain weight. Also, muscles are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber.

6. Increase water intake. Water flushes out toxins that are produced whenever the body burns fat. Majority of bodily functions involves water, and lack of water causes the body system's operations to decrease its speed, and produces unneeded stress as a result.

7. Detoxify the digestive system. A clean and healthy digestive system not only helps the body to run more efficiently, it also gives you energy and helps you to crave healthier foods. This makes a cleansing program, such as Isagenix 9-Day Cleansing and Fat Burning System, a great way to jump-start a weight loss regimen.

8. Eat smaller meals. It is advisable to consume 4 to 6 small meals that are timed 2 to 3 hours apart.

9. Never skip meals. People tend to skip meals in order to lose weight, which is a big mistake since it slows down metabolism.

10. Plan meals in detail. Always prepare the right amount of food to be consumed at the designated intervals. Do not commit the mistake of eating meals in sporadic patterns.

11. Ditch the stress! Stress, be it physical or emotional, triggers the release of a steroid called cortisol, which decreases metabolism. Also, people tend to eat excessively when stressed.

12. Guzzle up on green tea. It can be used as a substitute for coffee. Tea has the ability to stimulate metabolism, and unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when too much is consumed.

13. Include more energy foods in the diet, such as fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains.

Achieving the desired body weight is never impossible if one has the determination and patience needed to stabilize the metabolism level, which plays an important role in weight loss. A person needs to realize that eating right and working out is not just a passing fancy, but a way of life. Fighting cravings is hard for most of us. A great help in the quest to eat healthier --and fight those unhealthy cravings-- is a body cleansing program. Visit www.loseweightandcleanse.com for details on Isagenix's 9-Day System.

About The Author: Steven N. Muller health, fitness and sleep expert and is currently involved with following websites: http://www.loseweightandcleanse.com and http://www.sleepmanagementconsultants.com