6 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Metabolism

Have you ever wondered why your friend can hog twice your entire day meal and still doesn’t gain weight and you on the other hand, starve half the day to lose an ounce but still your weight lingers on the higher side? The culprit is your metabolism, your body engine that burns foods (read as calories) and turns them into energy. And how well your metabolism works depends profoundly on your body, age, genetics and lifestyle. Since, to measure the function of your metabolism is a little tricky, we would like to take help of certain foods that help accelerating metabolic rate. If you are also as excited as we are to know about it, then read on!

Eat Protein

The best way to boost your metabolism is to add more and more protein in your diet. Since protein contains amino acids, our body takes longer time to break it down to energy than it takes for carbohydrates and fats. As a result, our body burns more calories and our metabolic rate shots up. According to studies, people who consume 20%-30% of protein everyday to lose weight burns an extra 100-200 calories compared to those who don’t consume enough protein. High protein diet also helps in preserving lean body mass as experts suggest.

Munch on a Large Breakfast

Weight loss is strongly associated with your metabolic rate and breakfast plays a significant role in boosting up metabolism. Our metabolic rate slows down during sleep and a hearty breakfast stimulates the system to speed up metabolism; hence, body burns more calories than it does without breakfast. Nutritionists say, the best way to kick start a day with sound metabolism is to eat at least 350-400 calorie hearty and healthy meal for breakfast.  As a matter of fact, it is advisable to choose your meal sensibly, avoiding high-carb or high-fat meals and including more of high-fiber and protein to keep hunger pangs at bay.

Graze on Smaller Meals All Day

You heard me right! Eating smaller meals help boosting our metabolic rate. This might sound a little unreasonable for people who think eating less is the key to weight loss. But, let’s break it to you on a serious note — eating smaller meals at regular intervals will not make your body go starved for a longer time, it will keep you sated and help warding off untimely hunger that more often than not, results in overeating.

Kick-out Your PMS by Sweating Out

Sounds scary, isn’t it ladies? But, you would be ecstatic to know how your PMS (Premenstrual syndrome) can maximize your weight loss process and hence, sprawling across a sofa and switching your body to hibernating mode during those five days of the month sounds less tempting. A recent study has explained that women burn almost 30 percent more fat during the two weeks before period that is those days following ovulation till two days before menstruating by following a proper workout regimen. The reason, as stated by the researchers, is that, during this time estrogen and progesterone are at their peak and they use body fat as energy, which results in stimulating calorie burning process even more when you continue you workout.

Sleep Well to Stay Well

Snuggling your head in a cozy pillow with the light dimmed and the mild fragrant of your choice pervading the air—the perfect setting to catch some slumber! But, some of us struggle till late hours to get the proper sleep our body requires. This can actually take metabolism off the track. When we don’t get enough sleep our body struggles to burn carbs. Body uses energy to carry on regular activities and eventually it slows down metabolism when energy starts ebbing away. So to help body function on a day-to-day basis, a sound sleep of at least eight hours is one of the most essential things.

Drink Your Water Cold

Most of us have heard about the benefits of drinking hot water in the morning. But, what if we tell you the more you glug cold water, the more you burn calories? Well, we are not the ones to establish the truth behind this, but the researchers are. According to a recent study, when we quaff cold water, our system burns a few calories to make it adjustable to the body temperature. Now the calculation is clear enough! The metabolism shoots up and sums up the calorie burn to even kilos due to the amount of water you drink every day.

Sip Some Green Tea

By now we all know how green tea can do wonders to our bodies. Its antioxidant properties along with catechin, rev up metabolism and help in burning more body fat.  Going overboard with it is not advisable but drinking 3-4 cups of green tea a day can speed up metabolism and help burning almost up to 100 calories per day. It’s a tad hard for people who only eye on fresh brewed coffee or strong tea with milk. But with flavored green teas available in the market, it’s not that tough to sip some of this aromatic drink..

Hot and Spicy Do The Trick

If you love spicy food then nothing is gonna sound as exciting as this, but if you are not, it’s time you start including pepper, chilies, jalapeños in your diet. Studies have shown that spicy foods boost body metabolic rate temporarily. The reason lies in the compound, Capsaicin, present in peppers, jalapeños etc, that helps stimulating metabolism and burning more calories. Moreover, pepper leaves a filling effect in the stomach that keeps hunger pangs at bay for longer time.

We feel contented enough to break all these amazing tips to you! Now, it’s your time to roll your sleeves up and get ready to follow all these tricks to shed some extra weight naturally. Don’t forget to give us a buzz on how this worked for you!