How to increase your metabolism?

What is basal metabolism?

Your metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that help keep your body alive and functioning properly. It also determines how many calories you burn per day to provide you with energy. The faster your metabolism, the more calories you burn.

The speed of your basal metabolism is influenced by several key factors:

• resting metabolic rate: how many calories per day you burn while being inactive. This is the minimum amount needed to keep you alive and functioning.
• the thermal effect of food ( thermogenesis ): how many calories are burned during digestion and absorbing food. It generally represents 10% of your daily calories burned.
• sports physical activity: the expenditure of calories burned during exercise.
• non-exercise activity thermogenesis : how many calories are burned during simple activities (non-exercise) such as standing, moving around, washing dishes and other household chores.

Age, height, muscle mass and hormonal factors can also affect your basal metabolism.

How Does Metabolism Affect Your Health?

Your metabolism is notably responsible for converting nutrients from the foods you eat into fuel; to provide your body with all the energy it needs to function.

However, the word "metabolism" is often used to describe your basal metabolic rate. The higher it is, the more calories you burn at rest.

How to speed up your metabolism?

To support weight management and overall health, there are several techniques that can help increase your metabolism.

In this article, we offer you a list of simple methods to increase your metabolism.

To drink a lot of water.

Staying well hydrated necessarily has an impact on weight loss - in particular by promoting the feeling of satiety. But some studies also show that 500 ml of water increases resting metabolism by 30% for about an hour. However, more research is needed to support this.

Eat more protein with each meal.

Consuming dietary proteins is essential in a balanced nutrition for a healthy lifestyle in general but especially if you are looking to lose weight.

• Protein is the nutrient that most significantly increases the thermal effect of foods. They require 20 to 30% of their usable energy to be spent on metabolism, compared to 5 to 10% for carbohydrates and 0 to 3% for fats.
• They promote satiety.
• Also eat more protein slows the decline in metabolism often associated with fat loss. Protein helps prevent loss of muscle mass, a common consequence of a weight loss program.

Drink green tea or coffee.

Studies have shown that the caffeine in coffee and theine can be a good technique to temporarily boost metabolism. These drinks can also promote fat burning. So drink green tea (without sugar is better)!

Eat spicy foods.

Certain spices can help to slightly increase your basic metabolism, particularly via thermogenesis (increase in body temperature). Peppers, for example, contain capsaicin, a compound that can boost your metabolism. However, doses that are too large would be required to have a significant impact. So, many people may not tolerate these spices in the required doses.

Alone, the effects of adding spices to your food can be quite small. However, it may lead to a slight benefit when combined with other metabolism boosting strategies.

HIIT workouts.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves rapid, very intense periods of movement. By causing an increase in heart rate, this technique can make it easier for you to burn more fat by increasing your metabolic rate, even after you've finished your workout.

Lifting weights.

Muscle is metabolically more active than fat. Building muscle and strength training can help increase your metabolism and burn more calories each day.

Weightlifting and bodybuilding can help preserve your muscles and counter the drop in metabolism that can occur during weight loss.

Be more active.

Sitting too much can have negative effects on your health (back pain, posture problems and weight gain for example).

A 2018 study found that standing or walking at work was associated with decreased cardiometabolic risk scores, weight, body fat, waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin .

So if you have an office job, try standing for short periods of time to compensate for the time you spend sitting. You can also try walking around during the day or investing in a standing desk.

Get enough sleep.

Lack of sleep is linked to a significant increase in the risk of obesity.

Lack of sleep has also been linked to increased blood sugar and insulin resistance, both of which are linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. It has also been shown to affect levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and leptin, a hormone that controls satiety (satiety).