Top 5 Sure-fire Ways to Raise Your Metabolism

5.  Eat Breakfast

Breakfast has Always been the Most Important Meal of the Day

A fast metabolism is not something here today and gone tomorrow.  In order to speed up metabolism you must maintain a healthy diet and exercise program for the majority of the time.

A fast metabolism is part of a chain.  Breakfast every day is an important part of that chain.

Break fast.  Breakfast breaks the fast of your sleep.  By fueling your body properly with a good amount of complex carbohydrates and protein you will jump start your body and start the calorie burning furnace of your metabolism out right.

Without breakfast your body will slow down your metabolism.  This is protective response your body automatically goes through commonly referred to as starvation mode.

For most people, being in the their desired shape requires exercise.  Exercise and breakfast are best friends in that breakfast fuels the repair of and building of muscle and the fuel for muscles needed to perform optimal exercise.

Sample Healthy Breakfast for Boosting Metabolism

1 Cup oatmeal / granola with flax meal, berries or fruit, milk/yogurt, 1-2 eggs prepared to your desire.

4.  Increase Food Frequency

Eat Less by Eating More... Often

What happens after your large Thanksgiving day meal?  zzzzzzzzzzz

This is because large meals require your body to slow down other bodily functions so it can divert most of it's energy for digestion.

While digestion is a metabolic process which requires your body to burn some calories, constant large meals will slow down your metabolism not speed it up.

Small frequent meals and snacks will keep your hunger in check as well as constant fuel for your muscles.

Your digestive system will run more efficiently allowing your body to burn calories most efficiently for all of your body's systems thus increasing the metabolic rate.

Attempt to balance your meals and snacks with the correct levels of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

Sample Daily Meal Schedule

6am Breakfast (oatmeal), 9am snack (apple w/ peanut butter), 12pm lunch (turkey sandwich), 3pm snack (Odwalla bar w/ glass of milk), 6pm Dinner (salmon, rice & vegetables), 9pm snack (protein drink

3.  CONSUME A Lot More Water

If it Sounds too Good to be True but it Really Is

The key word is consume.  Water can be consumed many more ways than simply drinking your 64 ounces per day.

Foods high in water content tend to be high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants which are crucial for maintaining a fast metabolism.

Dehydration can slow down the metabolism because your body consists of 60% water in which most cellular reactions take place.  Lack of water means less efficient cellular reactions.  Less efficient cellular reactions means your entire body functions less efficiently.

Numerous studies have associated proper hydration levels with more efficient weight loss and a faster metabolism.

It is difficult to tell whether you are dehydrated or not.  Drink it up, it's free and you really have no excuse not to consume enough water.

Sample Foods with High Water Content

Sweet potatoes, broccoli, apples, asparagus, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, squash, & most fresh fruits and vegetables.

2.  Eat Metabolism Boosting Foods

Consume More of the Calories which Burn more Calories

Want to know a "secret" about foods which raise your metabolism?

All natural whole foods help increase your metabolism.

There are hundreds of lists which have the top metabolism boosting foods, and all of them differ.

This is because most natural, unprocessed foods contain different properties which help elevate your metabolism.

Processed, packaged foods have already been broken down by the food processing.  When you consume processed foods, your body requires little or no energy to digest them while natural foods increase the caloric expenditure of digestion while containing less calories which will help you stay lean.

Sample Metabolism Boosting Foods

Limit your grocery store shopping to the dairy, produce and meat department and you will have a metabolism boosting diet which will support you active fitness lifestyle and keep you lean and fit.

1.  Exercise

There is No Substitute for Intense Exercise

To understand the benefit of intense exercise you can look at it this way.

Low intensity exercise burns calories while you exercise while intense exercise burns calories 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

Since you are only exercising for a fraction of the time which you are resting, intense exercise will have the most effect on your metabolism.

The benefits of intense exercise are ageless.  Whether you go from a sedentary activity level with no exercise, or a moderate activity level with some low intensity exercise, performing intense exercise will help you drastically increase your metabolism.

Intense exercise will improve your body composition.  The maintenance of your muscle mass burns more calories than your fat stores and intense exercise happens to be the best way to reduce fat and gain muscle.

Exercise intensity is how close the weight is to your 1 repetition maximum lift during weight training and how high you can maintain your heart rate during continuous aerobic exercise.

Any exercise will speed up your metabolism but a mixture which includes high intensity exercise will do the most for your metabolism.

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Exercise Raises Metabolism

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