10 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism and Fat Loss

Are you looking for ways to boost your metabolism and fat loss results? The following are 10 ways to jump-start your fat loss and boost your metabolism so that you can keep your weight loss moving forward.

Cheat Meal Once a Week

Want to enjoy yourself AND boost your metabolism and fat loss results? Setting aside a day to have a cheat meal will help you get there. Not only is a cheat meal psychologically satisfying, but it also causes many changes in the body that are helpful to your metabolism.

Cheat meals (overfeeding in particular) “reset” hunger hormones like leptin and ghrelin, and boost your metabolism for the week ahead. Cheat meals replenish glycogen stores so that you’re ready for the week’s workouts, and they keep the starvation mechanisms at bay – in effect resetting (boosting) your metabolism.

Here are cheat meal guidelines you should adhere to.

Eat More Protein

Protein is one of two essential macronutrients (fat being the other). It is found in all the cells of the human body – especially muscle. While guidelines suggest you intake .8g/kg, this number is for sedentary individuals, and does not take into account energy demands for people that work out. Since exercise breaks down muscle tissue (protein), and you need protein to build new tissue (muscle), you want to make sure you are maintaining a positive nitrogen balance.

I like to aim for .8-1 gram/pound of lean body weight. Your need for protein may be more or less depending on your activity level and the rest of your diet. For example, carbohydrates are protein sparing, so if you are eating a high amount of them, you won’t need as much protein. Protein is also thermogenic – requiring some 25% or more of its calories just to digest.

Build Muscle

I have preached this over and over again. Muscle is probably the #1 metabolism influencing factor. No other single thing can burn more calories consistently over a long period of time. Muscle is active tissue. It is constantly consuming calories and fat at all times of the day. Whether you’re working out, reading, or even sleeping, muscle is always consuming extra calories. If you’re looking for a great way to boost your metabolism, building muscle is going to be your best bet.

Here are 50 tips for how to build muscle the right way.

Increase Thyroid Function

Your thyroid is responsible for fat, carbohydrate, and protein metabolism. Wouldn’t it stand to reason then that increasing your thyroid function would boost your metabolism? How do you do that? You can optimize thyroid function by manipulating your diet and exercise.

Eating the right amount of calories and specific nutrients so that your body can synthesize thyroid hormone is a great first step. Thyroid function can also be influenced by exercise – with the intensity of your workout being directly correlated with thyroid output.

HIIT – High-Intensity Interval Training

HIIT is that type of training everyone loves to hate, but one of the best methods to boost metabolism. It’s hard. It will leave you gasping for air. It might even make you want to throw up. However, nothing can transform your body faster and burn more calories in a short amount of time than high-intensity interval training can.

HIIT is when you work out in short bursts of intervals at high intensities followed by short periods of rest. It’s a great way to both burn fat, build muscle, and burn an insane amount of calories. I listed off more than a dozen different HIIT workouts here.

Create an Afterburn Effect

The after-burn effect, also known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), occurs when your body tries to replenish the oxygen deficit that was created during your workout. If you work out with enough intensity, it causes your body to have to work to return your body to homeostasis.

Body functions like bringing your heart rate back to normal, re-oxygenating your blood, replenishing muscle glycogen, and cellular repair all require calories to perform. This after-burn effect can last from hours to even days, making it another great way to boost your metabolism.

Drink More Water

Another way to boost your metabolism is to drink more water. I’m not talking about the gimmicky cold water drinking school of thought, where your body expends calories to bring the temperature of the water up to body temp (although I’m sure it couldn’t hurt). No, I’m talking about water and its effect on metabolism in its fullest sense.

Water makes up 70% of your body. It is involved in nearly every single chemical reaction within our cells. It keeps your liver working at 100% efficiency so that it can do its job of metabolizing fat. If your liquid intake isn’t 90% water, work on making it that way.

Eat More Calories

How many calories are you eating? If you aren’t losing any weight, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re eating too much. Eating too few calories can be just as detrimental towards your fat loss goals as eating too many.

By eating too few calories for an extended period of time, your body adjusts its metabolism for the new amount of energy it is receiving. It starts making changes to your body and hormones like lowering thyroid output. Your goal should always be to eat as many calories as possible and still lose weight.

Find out why you might not be eating enough calories to lose weight.

Stay Active

How many of you work out for an hour a day and then spend the next 23 hours sedentary? It’s more common than you think. While you can certainly get results with a great diet, you could make it much easier on yourself and boost your metabolism by simply moving around more.

Stop looking for shortcuts to always make your life easier. Sometimes taking the more difficult way (stairs, walking, etc) can help you burn hundreds more calories a day. Over a year, 300 calories a day equates to 31 pounds. You could lose an extra 31 pounds (or eat an extra 109,500 calories to maintain your weight) just by being a little more active every day. Try buying a pedometer and count the number of steps you take a day. Set a goal and aim to hit it every day. It does make a difference.

I use the BodyMedia FIT to track my activity levels and calorie burn throughout the day.

Get Enough Sleep

What does sleeping have to do with boosting your metabolism? Chronic sleep loss can affect many metabolic functions. It can affect blood glucose metabolism, thyroid function, and many other hormones. Going from 8 hours of sleep down to just 4 can make profound changes in glucose tolerance (resembling type II diabetes), and other endocrine functions after less than one week [1].

That’s right, just one week of not getting enough sleep can slash your metabolic rate and make it that much harder to lose weight. Rest, recovery, and sleep are the most overlooked aspects of fitness programs, yet they are not only important, but necessary if you want results.

This article is part of the 10 Ways to a Better Body blog series. Be sure to check out the rest of the series!

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http://jensworldnow.com Jenny

Growing up, my metabolism was in in overdrive, until I hit 30. I certainly know about the benefits of these different ways of boosting metabolism.. And of course I would have to add my long list of metabolism boosting Foods.
http://abcweightloss.org/ Lynda

As you say Tony, apart from the emotional benefits, having cheat meals/days, I call them treat meals, once a week and maybe even increasing them to twice a week later on, as you suggest in your “Cheat Day” article, definitely does help to boost metabolism, and maintain it. Good to get the point across too the detrimental effect of eating too few calories, and if I could add, fasting for lengthy periods also slows calorie burning considerably. Great articles!

Thank you
Lynda
http://www.freefitnesstips.co.uk/maximising-your-metabolism.html Tom Parker

Got to agree with Lydia and the first point of this article – cheat meals are not just great for your metabolism, they’re also great for your sanity . I prefer to have three cheat meals scattered throughout the week rather than an entire cheat day.

I’d also add the following tips:
- Make sure spicy foods are part of your diet (if your stomach can handle it). Since they are hot you get a temporary thermic boost from eating them and burn a few extra calories.
- Eat lots of fruits and vegetables to keep your vitamin and mineral levels topped up. If you become deficient in vitamins and minerals, your body doesn’t function as effectively and processes such as metabolism can slow down.

Keep up the great work.

Tom
JENN O

How do you build muscle to burn the calories without bulking up? I’m new to your site so if there is an article I’d love to read it.
- Coach Calorie
  
  You watch what you eat. You don’t get bigger unless you’re eating big. Do strength training with your calories set at maintenance or below, and you’ll just get smaller with a better body composition.
http://www.hotyogavt.com Trisha

I am a fitness professional and am frustrated with both my weight 123 and body fat 26.5%. I teach four Spin classes and three bootcamp classes per week. For myself, I do strength training 2x week, do one bootcamp a week, and try to get a workout, either a tabatta or ballet fusion or other HIIT, every day, except Sunday. I do not eat sugar, processed food, gluten, or nuts. I take fish oil each day. I eat yogurt and half a banana pre workout, a protein shake after, and perhaps an omelet for lunch. I’ll have another protein shake for snack, and lean meat and veggies for dinner.
Why am I at a plateau? It’s kind of driving me nuts. I was at 114 which felt perfect! I fell in love and started eating and drinking which put the weight on, but I’ve been “good” for months.
Help!
- Coach Calorie
  
  Hi Trisha, is that all the food you’re eating? It’s hard to calculate without knowing your portions, but it looks like you’re only eating around 1000 calories. You’re highly active, exercising sometimes twice a daily intensely. I would not be surprised if you needed upwards of 2,000 calories to lose weight.
  
  Do not eat below your BMR. Make sure you have no more than a 1,000 calorie deficit/day. I cut on 2500 calories, and while I’m bigger, I don’t do as much intense exercise as you. Don’t be afraid to eat. You’ll be surprised how much food and nutrition you need to support weight loss.
http://www.coachcalorie.com/ Coach Calorie

The body weight times 12 is in pounds, not kg. Also 5 days is not long enough. You HAVE to get it out of your head that weight loss is a day to day activity. You are changing your life – forever. Make sure you are eating enough food. The BodyMedia is right in how many calories you’re burning, but creating a 1000 calorie deficit does not always equal 2 pounds per week. It looks like you’re eating below your BMR. Read these 2 articles: http://www.coachcalorie.com/is-losing-2lbs-per-week-realistic-for-everyone/ and http://www.coachcalorie.com/calorie-deficit-to-lose-weight/