The metabolism is a chemical reaction that breaks down the foods that you ingest into its most basic compounds and absorbs the appropriate nutrients to provide the energy you require for everyday tasks and to maintain proper health. When eating the right foods, in the proper amounts, the body will metabolize your excess body fat to help you lose weight or remain lean. Interestingly, people actually have the ability to manipulate their metabolism to maximize their energy levels and to burn the most amount of body fat within the shortest amount of time. Here are a few proven techniques.
Exercise – Increasing physical activity is a well documented way to boost your metabolism quickly. Exercise sends a signal to your body notifying it that in order to meet the physical demands of exercise, it must burn more calories. Most people have heard of this before, but few are aware that certain forms of exercise will send your fat burning ability into the stratosphere.
HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training. This is a method of that breaks the workout into short, intense bursts of exercise, followed by an even shorter rest period. The exercise must be done to max effort and is typically restricted to around 30 seconds maximum, thus allowing the body to go as hard as possible. In 1996, Dr Izumi Tabata, performed a study that concluded that HIIT was more beneficial for burning fat than standard cardiovascular training, such as running or biking for extended periods of time. Tabata found that although the study participants did not burn as many calories during the actual workout, their metabolism was boosted for as long as 72 hours afterwards, allowing them to burn more calories overall.
Don’t Starve Yourself – This is one of the most common mistakes that individuals make when trying to lose weight. They assume that if they eat very little, their body will burn fat. What could possibly be wrong with this? Well, as we noted earlier, the metabolism reacts to the body’s demands for energy. It also reacts to the amount of calories that are ingested. The body is primal and doesn’t understand that you are intentionally not eating because you want to burn a few pounds to fit into your simmer bathing suit. Instead, it believes that you are unable to find a source of food, so in response, it will actually lower your metabolism in order to preserve the precious calories and fat that you do have.
That being said, it is important to eat enough calories to keep your metabolism running, but few enough that you can either lose or maintain weight properly.
Build Muscle – Muscles require energy. Energy comes from the calories and nutrients derived from food. As you build up muscle, your caloric requirements will go up forcing your metabolism to burn more.
Get Your 8 Hours of Sleep – You’ve likely heard this before from countless fitness experts and doctors alike, but the benefits of a proper sleep schedule cannot be overstated enough. How does this pertain to the metabolism? Studies have shown that chronic fatigue from lack of sleep slows the metabolism and will actually signal for the body to start storing fat. Most people rely on much less than 8 hours a night. For some, this may be acceptable, but for others, they may be doing themselves a disservice and not even be aware of it.
The metabolism is a fascinating chemical interaction within the human body. It’s important to be wary of how you treat your body so that you can reap the benefits of having a high metabolism. After all, your energy level, ability to burn fat, and overall health depend on it.
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