boosting your metabolism

[Kes]

does anyone have any ideas, or good things they do or eat or take to boost up your metabolism?

i really feel like ive got the slowest one in the world right now!!!

 

[shelz]

Use spices in your cooking, such as chilli?

 

[KD]

Probably the most effective way of increasing the metabolism is by overeating (eating above maintenance calories) and chosing higher carb/low fat. Preferably for a few days. This will help restore all the various hormones that are responsible for metabolism.

Scary though.

You can also increase it by gradually eating more, but it takes longer

 

[CrazyBrit]

Yep. The way to increase your metabolic rate is basically eat more

The slow way is to build muscle mass, as muscle requires more energy to maintain than other body mass types (such as fat), so building more muscle will raise your BMR. But this takes time

 

[KD]

The slow way is to build muscle mass, as muscle requires more energy to maintain than other body mass types (such as fat), so building more muscle will raise your BMR. But this takes time

Yep, especially for ladies...and you have to eat a lot more to build muscle. Sigh....not fair eh.

 

[IrishMum]

The 'experts' will tell you the only real thing to boost your metabolism is exercise, especially interval training. The more muscle/less fat you have, the more energy you burn, hence the more weight you'll lose. I'm not suggesting you go out and buy some dumbells! Just walking counts as well? But it can't hurt to try it?
Other tips are to eat breakfast to kickstart it, eat little & often, add spices to your foods, eat protein with every meal (uses more cals to digest than carbs/fat). HTH?

 

[KD]

The 'experts' will tell you the only real thing to boost your metabolism is exercise, especially interval training.

And eating more. Sorry, but it's a fact. Eating more restores metabolism. Exercise takes much longer though resistance will help if you are on a diet. Not to build muscle, but to protect what you have. The metabolic advantage of exercise is relatively small...useful, but still small.

Other tips are to eat breakfast to kickstart it, eat little & often, add spices to your foods,

Sorry, respectfully disagree with this. Breakfast and eating little and often has nothing to do with metabolism boosting. Obviously, it works for weight loss if you find that doing this leads to eating less throughout the day.

I did an article about it somewhere here. As a sticky I think.

 

[IrishMum]

Just read the sticky, very interesting! I was quoting a dietitian I'd been referred to- okay they were NHS but I figured they'd know what they were talking about? Maybe not!
As for the exercise, it is proven that muscle burns more calories than fat, so the less fat/more muscle you have will enable you to naturally burn more cals? It mightn't be the 'fast' way of boosting your metabolism, but in the long run wouldn't it be worth it? After all, even if someone loses a load of weight, if they still have poor muscle mass, then they may struggle to keep the weight off? Just a thought. But I'm no expert!
For me personally eating small & often stops me starving/binging (not badly, but still...!), and I find if I have a good breakfast I often don't need to snack mid-morning as I have the energy to carry me through the morning. Who knows if it boosts my metabolism, but if it stops me reaching for junk on the run, then I'm happy enough.

 

[KD]

As for the exercise, it is proven that muscle burns more calories than fat, so the less fat/more muscle you have will enable you to naturally burn more cals? It mightn't be the 'fast' way of boosting your metabolism, but in the long run wouldn't it be worth it?

Absolutely, if you can do it. But it takes training and lots of calories. Far more than maintenance calories. If a person plans to maintain on maintenance calories, then average Joan Bloggs isn't going to be gaining muscle...just exercising to retain muscle. Of course, if Joan Bloggs is dieting, it's highly unlikely that she will be able to gain any muscle at all, and again, eating the right things, and doing resistance exercise can reduce the amount of muscle that she could lose.

So, for most Mrs Averages, it'll be retaining muscle, rather than gaining it.

For me personally eating small & often stops me starving/binging (not badly, but still...!), and I find if I have a good breakfast I often don't need to snack mid-morning as I have the energy to carry me through the morning.

Exactly. It will make a difference if eating breakfast, or snacking throughout the day means that you end up eating less, because you are less hungry. Some people find that eating breakfast means they eat more throughout the day...so it doesn't work so well. Calories in vs calories out, rather than metabolism boost and all that

 

[soozjb]

I always had the idea that my metabolism was very slow, in fact my body seems extra efficient at storing extra A friend of mine suggested that having a day of eating a lot can give your dieting a kick re-start if youre on something of a plateau and not losing anything when you think you should be. I dont know if this is good advice or not as I havent tried it, but it seems to fit with the concept of eating more to get your metabolism working. It stands to reason as a low cal diet will tell your body to slow down the metabolism and retain as much of that food as possible (it thinks its in danger of starving!).

 

[vicky_r]

This is interesting.. I was always under the belief that having food in your belly first thing kick started things, your metabolism etc?

 

[KD]

This is interesting.. I was always under the belief that having food in your belly first thing kick started things, your metabolism etc?

A lot of people think this, but changes in metabolism don't work that quickly.

If anything, there is more research to back metabolism improving if you don't don't have breakfast

Fasting or even just intermittent fasting does increase the metabolic rate ever so slightly. Not saying everyone should stop having breakfast because it's so slight, it's pretty much immeasurable for us folks.

But, more research shows that maintainers tend to have breakfast. That doesn't mean though that having breakfast gives you a more metabolic advantage.

Perhaps more people find they eat less in the day if they have breakfast, or those who have breakfast may be a little more focused on making time for meals..etc

 

[lawyergirl]

Probably the most effective way of increasing the metabolism is by overeating (eating above maintenance calories) and chosing higher carb/low fat. Preferably for a few days. This will help restore all the various hormones that are responsible for metabolism.

Scary though.

You can also increase it by gradually eating more, but it takes longer

Hello KD. Can you please tell me where I can find information about this? I have searched on google but can't find any research about it.

Thank you.

Lawyergirl