Stimulate Your Metabolism

Your metabolism is very important for a number of reasons. It helps regulate your weight and burn calories throughout the day. Unfortunately, age and other factors decrease the speed of how your body does things over time. But there are healthy ways to stimulate your metabolism, safely and effectively. Learn to stimulate your metabolism with these quick and easy tips.

Increasing Metabolism with Weight Training

Increase your metabolism with daily exercise and the consumption of nutritious foods. Exercise keeps you lean and in charge of your weight loss efforts. Increase your efforts by adding beneficial weight training at least three times a week. Most women steer away from weight training, the fear of bulking up often prevents them from utilizing this most important tool in increasing metabolism. Weight training not only influences lean muscle tissue, it burns more calories than with aerobics alone. Take a look at these helpful weight training tips:

  • Use dumbbells to increase arm strength
  • Use resistance bands to strengthen, tone and lengthen muscles
  • Use weight machines to increase leg, chest and back strength

Resting Metabolic Rate

You may have heard about resting metabolic rate or RMR. What exactly is RMR and how does it affect you? Your resting metabolic rate is described as the energy needed by your vital organs to function normally. Your heart, lungs and blood system needs to use a certain amount of energy while you sleep, sit or relax. It is said that these vital organs and systems use up to 75% energy without physical effort on your part each day. If your body decreases in its normal efforts, your metabolism and other functions will decrease. You can speed up your RMR by:

  • Eating small, healthy meals five to six times a day
  • Going to bed an hour earlier than usual
  • Get up early and doing morning stretches or light Pilates

Speed Up Metabolism

You probably already know that cardiovascular workouts such as aerobics speed up metabolism. But incorporating other means of cardio exercises is just as important to losing weight. Here are several tips on how to rev up your metabolism:

  • Alternate with 15 minutes of aerobics, then 5 minutes of weight training
  • Walk on a treadmill for 20 minutes, then do leg lunges for 5 minutes

The above tips fall into the category called interval training. Interval training is one of the best tools available for increasing metabolism and losing weight. Your body can get used to the same routines each day and stop burning enough calories. Interval training keeps your body in a high metabolic state. You lose the weight faster, gain lean muscle quicker and make your cardiovascular system run smoother.