How to Boost Your Metabolism — 5 Habits Secrets

Learn these simple lifestyle tweaks to help you burn more calories and also find out what beverages you can drink to help you reach your weight loss goals in the least amount of time possible. 

1)    Exercise

Exercise is a sure fire way to fire up your metabolism and help you burn calories. We know lean muscle mass can help individuals burn energy, whilst being at rest, so the more lean muscle mass you have, the more energy or calories you can effectively burn even whilst you are at rest. 

One particular form of exercise is particularly effective at increasing your metabolic rate and burning fat, that is High-Intensity Interval Training or HIIT is its acronym. 

This involves short bursts of intensive exercise, followed by a recovery phase or low-intensity phase, which is repeated over and over again, in sets for a period of 15 or 20 minutes. This form of exercise is good for time-poor people too because it allows you to get the equivalent of a 60-minute moderate or low-intensity training session done, in a fraction of the time. 

High-Intensity Interval Training has been shown to create, what is known as the after burn effect. That is your body is burning fat hours after your workout has completed. This has been shown to be far more effective than standard low-intensity training such as walking. However, HIIT is not for all fitness levels so I would advise against it if you have existing heart or cardiovascular problems. 

Any exercise is better than none. If High-Intensity Training is too intensive for you because of your current fitness level, walking or light anaerobic exercise are also fantastic forms of exercise to speed up your metabolism.  

2)    Drink Caffeine

Caffeinated beverages such as coffee and tea can have a dramatic effect on increased your metabolic rate. That is because caffeine stimulates your endocrine system and shits your body into thermogenesis or a state of maximized fat burning. 

Numerous studies on caffeine and its effect on metabolism have been conducted. One review from 2011 examined six studies and found that caffeine supplementation increases your body’s energy expenditure over the course of a 24-hour period. 

Most of the metabolism boosting supplements on the market today contain high levels of caffeine. Essentially, many supplements, are just glorified green tea or coffee bean extract pills. These supplements contain high amounts of caffeine and if one is prone to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea or 2, during the day, in addition to caffeine loaded pills, they run the risk of suffering adrenal fatigue. Excessively high amounts of caffeine in the diet is not sustainable for the long term, so if you do consider these types of supplements, just be mindful of the potential for side effects.

Good natural sources of caffeine include Coffee, Green Tea, Yerba Mate, and Oolong Tea, but don’t add sugar or milk if you can avoid it otherwise it may cancel out the thermogenic effects. 

Another benefit to these particular drinks is they are high in anti-oxidants which have a host of health promoting benefits including fighting cancer. 

3)    Get Adequate Sleep 

Perhaps one of the most important things that you can do, not only to increase your metabolic rate but to improve your overall health and well-being is just getting enough quality, restful sleep each and every night.  

Poor quality or lack of sleep has been shown to increase the incidence of weight gain and obesity. 

This is because sleep can optimize your hormonal balance. It has also been shown to stabilize blood sugar levels, controlling cravings for surgery foods and also it is linked to a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. 

It has been shown to boost the fullness hormone, leptin to make your body feel fuller throughout the day and to also decrease the hunger hormone, ghrelin.  

This could explain why those who are sleep deprived struggle with controlling their diet and consequently their weight. Shift workers are notoriously prone to develop unhealthy eating patterns and have an increased rate of obesity. 

4)    Drink Cold Water

Drinking water, as opposed to sugar-filled sodas or juices, is naturally going to reduce your calorie intake. Water is also great at giving the body an immediate boost to your metabolism, studies have shown that simple water can induce thermogenesis. 

The thermogenic effect can be heightened to another level, simply by consuming cold water. That is because the body uses energy in order to heat the water up to your body’s temperature. The colder the water the more your body needs to work to bring the temperature up to match your body’s internal temperature, thus burning the most amount of calories. 

Water can actually help you reduce the amount of food you eat. Drinking a glass of water before mealtime can be an effective way to control overeating. Many people mistake thirst for hunger. 

Your body is made up approximately 60% water and constantly needs rehydration. 

One study showed overweight adults who drank half a liter of water before meals lost a whopping 44% more weight than those who didn’t drink any water before their meals. 

5)    Avoid Sitting

Sitting has been described in recent times as being as detrimental to your health as smoking. This may sound a little over-exaggerated and a little extreme, but studies are showing this is not as crazy as it sounds. 

Leading a sedentary lifestyle, by sitting too much at a desk or on a lounge chair all day, can lead to some serious health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. 

If you have a desk job, consider sitting up a desk that allows for standing as well, which have become very popular now that people are aware just how serious, sitting down all day can be for your health. 

Alternatively, if you are inactive or sitting for a large portion of your day, you should aim to have regular breaks, whereby you either go for a short walk or just stand up at the very least. Just standing can help you burn many more calories than sitting.