What to do to improve your body’s automatic calorie-burning ability.
Did you know you can burn calories by sitting still? While you’re on the computer? Watching television? Taking a rest? Taking a nap? In order to get your body to work for you when you’re not working, you have to get your metabolism as high as possible. Here’s how.
Most Important Meal – You’ve heard it all your life, and it’s just as true today as it was when you were a kid: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Not only does breakfast fuel your brain and body to perform well, but it also prevents your body from trying to hold on to calories out of fear of starvation. When your body goes on the defense, it burns as few calories as possible, as it isn’t sure when it will be fed again.
Don’t Diet to Death – Because of this natural response to a lack of food, you should be careful to avoid cutting back too many calories from your diet. Instead, eat sensible, healthy meals and try to avoid eating heavy dinners or chowing down three or four hours before going to bed. This gives your body plenty of time to get rid of more calories as you move around in your daily routine. You should also switch to frequent, smaller meals, which will give your body a constant source of energy and encourage it to continually burn as many calories as possible.
After Breakfast Aerobics – Having eaten a healthy breakfast to get your day started right, you’ll want to make the most of your meal. In order to do this, hop into the gym for a morning-sized portion of exercise. One of the best choices for the early hours is aerobic exercise, which gets your whole body working hard and helps your metabolism run high all day long.
At around age 40 I put on 20 pounds. I had always had a perfect metabolism, but my metabolism betrayed me, as it does most people – except a very rare few who will always be thin.
– Suzanne Somers
Exercise without Air – On top of your aerobic workout, you’ll also want to get in some weight training to increase your metabolism. As you know, lifting weights is one of the best ways to build muscle. Since more muscle means more calories burned at all hours of the day and night, you’ll need to buff up if you’re interested in getting the highest metabolism possible.
Never Stop Moving – Unless you’re a personal trainer, you can’t stay in the gym all day lifting weights, running on the treadmill, and playing racquetball. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop exercising when you’re not within arm’s reach of an exercise bench or treadmill. In fact, one of the most effective ways to build your metabolism is to stay mobile all day long. Walk to the office next door instead of picking up the phone, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and tap your feet to the music as you’re sitting at your desk. These little movements will have consistent, long-term benefits when it comes to keeping your metabolism going strong.
Sip on Water – Want your body’s metabolism to work overtime? Just want it to work properly? You’re going to have to drink plenty of water. Otherwise, your metabolism will never get to the peak you seek. And if you drink refreshing cold water, you’ll increase your metabolism slightly, as your body works to warm the water up to body temperature.
How to Kill the Burn
Wondering what you do every day that decreases your body’s ability to burn off extra calories? The following are a few common metabolism killers:
- eat very few calories a day and all of them are unhealthy calories
- stay sedentary constantly, without making any attempt to get fit
- skip meals and ignore your body when it is begging for food
