There is nothing more important for fat loss purposes than metabolism. Finding ways to increase metabolism naturally should be at the top of your priority list in your fat loss program. You can give your metabolism a boost with both diet and exercise. Use this guide to jump-start your fat loss program.
How to Increase Metabolism Naturally with Exercise
If your goal is fat loss, the focus of your exercise program should be on trying to burn as many calories in a 24-hour period as possible. Too many people focus on trying to burn as many calories as possible during a workout and forget about the rest of the day.
Your body does not stop expending energy when your workout ends. With proper training, you can keep your energy expenditure (caloric burn) elevated for hours even after you are done with your workout.
Here are the keys to increasing your metabolism through exercise:
- High intensity exercise increases metabolic rate longer than low intensity exercise
- Muscle tissue increases metabolic rate significantly, so you’ll want to engage in plenty of resistance training
- Keeping the heart rate elevated for longer periods seems to go a long way toward boosting metabolism (i.e. with circuit training)
- Long-duration low intensity aerobic training, if done too often can decrease your metabolic rate
- High Intensity Interval Training is a special metabolism boosting training technique that preserves muscle tissue while performing extended periods of movement alternating high intensity exercise with lower intensity movements
- Using aerobic exercise as a recovery mechanism between high intensity workouts can help maximize the overall metabolic benefit of your training program
Here are some other resources for you on this subject:
Best Exercises to Increase Metabolism Naturally
Workouts to Increase Metabolism Naturally
How to Increase Metabolism Naturally with Nutrition
Exercise is not the only way to increase your metabolism. Nutrition plays a large role in this as well. It’s no secret that, when it comes to fat loss, nutrition is king. But did you know that this is also true when it comes to your metabolism?
Your body needs fuel to operate. This fuel comes in the form of the food you eat. The energy that your body uses to perform the tasks it is called upon to do is derived from the calories it takes in. These calories are then either expended or stored.
When attempting to shed body fat, your goal is to have your calories either be expended or stored as muscle tissue. Any calories that do not carry out one of these two roles, are stored as fat.
Being that, during your workout, you will burn no where near the amount of calories you consume over the course of a day, metabolism becomes a very important issue.
Here are some keys for how to increase metabolism naturally via nutrition:
- Eat a lot of protein. Try to get a quality protein source in with each meal.
- Consume a large percentage of your calories during times when you are most active, particularly right after a workout.
- Consume protein and carbohydrates immediately after a workout to repair and rebuild muscle tissue and replenish muscle glycogen.
- Feed your body when it is hungry. Do not allow it to think you are starving.
When it comes to nutrition, maximizing metabolic rate is all about feeding your body what it wants when it wants it. Really try to listen to your body and take note of how it responds to the way you feed it. Your body has a cool way of telling you how to best take care of it, and it will respond favorably if you do so.
Here are some more resources on increasing metabolism through nutrition:
Healthy Recipes to Increase Metabolism
Nutrient Timing to Increase Metabolism Naturally
Avoiding Starvation Mode: A Metabolism-Saving Strategy
