How to increase your metabolism and lose belly fat

How to increase your metabolism and lose belly fat

Many people underestimate how important the metabolism is in terms of weight loss, and fitness, and overall health, and really have a shot at success. In this step-by-step guide, we will talk about superfoods and exercises that have been proven to increase your metabolism for days on end.

Eat Macro-Based Diet

Macronutrients are composed of fats, protein, and carbohydrates. A macronutrient diet focuses on finding the right balance of these fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, in order to achieve a better body composition.

Protein

The benefits of a good supply of protein to your health are quite numerous. If you practice your workouts faithfully, you will need considerable amounts of protein, because your workouts would begin to tell on your muscles.

Protein is essential for maintaining lean muscle mass and repairing muscle tissue. The amino acids in proteins are basically the building blocks of muscles. It also energizes your muscles, strengthens your immune system, and may even add one or two inches to your weight.

Good sources of protein are not hard to come by, white eggs contain as much as six grams of protein, only be sure to take out the yolks.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are your body’s first source of fuel and energy because they are the easiest to metabolize. Carbohydrates are also very important to your body’s organ and brain functionalities.

Carbohydrates transport protein to your muscles. They also help protect your muscles, because your body will burn those carbohydrates for fuel instead of your main muscle.

Fats

Fats protect your heart, cushion your joint and it is essential for brain function and memory. Depending on your activity, fats will be your body’s second source of fuel and energy. It also helps your body absorb vitamins A, E, D and K. Keep in mind that contrary to common misconceptions, fats are not the enemy, at least not all fats.

Moving ahead – Know how to control your metabolism

Fats contained in foods like fish oil and flaxseed oils must find a place in your weight loss diets because they won’t make you fat. On the contrary, they are excellent body metabolism drivers, hair and skin supplements, and if as a man; you are interested in a powerful sex drive, don’t joke with them (1).

Planning your meal

In planning your meal, it is important to keep in mind that a gram of protein is equivalent to 4 calories. The same goes for carbohydrates, while one gram of fat is equivalent to 9 calories.

To help you better understand the importance of macronutrients, it helps to think of the body as a car.

Carbohydrates are the fuel; they determine how far your car can go. Fats are the oil that determines how well your car runs, and protein is like the frame or the structure of your car which is really important to your car’s longevity. Your body is the only car you get for the rest of your life, so it is important to take care of it.

A great starting point for weight loss is 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 20% fat. If you wish to cut that but maintain lean muscle mass, try 45% protein, 35% carbohydrates, and 25% fat.

For gaining muscle mass, shoot for 35% protein, 45% carbohydrates, and 20% fat. For example, let us look at 2000 calorie diet for someone trying to lose weight. The macronutrient diet would be 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 20% fat. Translated into grams, this would amount to 200 grams of protein, 200 grams of carbohydrates, and 44 grams of fat.

Carbohydrates should be consumed earlier in the day, and fats may be consumed later in the afternoon in order to give you enough energy to last the rest of the day. When you work out, you do not want to burn lean muscle, so on heavier workout days, it is important to consume carbohydrates.

To get started with a macro-based meal plan, first, you have to know how many calories your body needs in order to reach your specific daily goal (2).

A Healthy Diet

Green Tea – Probably the easiest way to boost your metabolism is by drinking green tea. Green tea has been shown to help decrease the process in which your body transforms glucose into fat. This is exactly what you want to do in order to help decrease your fat gain as well as increase your metabolism.

Ginger – Ginger is another thing that will help increase your metabolic rate, but one thing should be said and that is ginger only boosts your metabolism only slightly. Combine eating ginger and other things like mixing in tea, soup, or fries.

Garlic – When you eat garlic your body produces heat, which makes your body burn energy. It’s just like eating a hot pepper, in that your body needs energy when you eat it.

Fish – Much cold-water fish like salmon and mackerel contain a high amount of omega 3 fatty acids. This is a good fat that helps you increase metabolism as well as many other health benefits. The way fish affects your metabolic rate is that it affects a hormone called leptin which controls your metabolic rate.

Coffee – One of the easiest ways to boost metabolism is by drinking coffee. The caffeine in coffee allows your nervous system to make your body start to break down fat molecules. It also stimulates certain hormones that travel through the bloodstream which break down fat molecules as well.

Apple Cider Vinegar – It has been shown that apple cider vinegar can boost your metabolism. This stuff also works as a good appetite suppressant as well. But in reality, it doesn’t even have to be apple cider vinegar, it could be just plain old vinegar. There is some evidence that apple cider vinegar has more health benefits as well like soothing sore throats, lower bad cholesterol, and prevents indigestion.

Cayenne Peppers – This could be considered spicy food, but are great for boosting your metabolism. Spicy foods, like cayenne peppers, cause your body temperature to rise. This means your body has to cool it down. It does this by burning calories and increasing your metabolic rate.

Lemon Water – This is one way to make your glass of water a little more interesting. Squeeze some lemon in it. The lemon will help your liver, which will help your metabolism be more efficient. It also helps decrease the amount of your body’s ability to store fats and carbohydrates.

Himalayan Pink Salt – It contains things like zinc, iron, magnesium, and calcium which help boost your metabolic rate. It also contains iodine which has a great impact on your metabolism in that helps control your thyroid gland.

Kombu Seaweed – It has an incredible amount of iodine in it. This helps your thyroid gland by producing important hormones in the metabolism process.

Watermelon – Even though it has a lot of sugar, watermelon has been shown to help increase your metabolic rate. The evidence comes from what’s in watermelon. An amino acid called arginine helps with the metabolism process.

Low Fat Yogurt – Yogurt has a good amount of calcium which helps in the metabolic process. It also is notorious for having a significant amount of protein which is also good for muscle mass, which will indirectly help boost your metabolism.

Whole grains – Eating complex carbohydrates such as whole grains like actually good for your metabolism. Some of the best sources for whole grains can be found in barley, buckwheat, oats, brown rice, and quinoa.

Cruciferous Vegetables – These types of vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower have a high amount of vitamin B. This is good for helping boost your metabolism. These vegetables will help you burn fat and they also have a high amount of fiber.

They consist of a good amount of calcium as well. Some example of other cruciferous vegetables is cabbage, turnip, watercress, radish, and kale.

Raspberries – Fruits like raspberries and strawberries help stimulate a hormone in your body called adiponectin which helps in the process of burning fat. This hormone helps decrease the amount of starch turning into sugar as well.

Beans – All types of beans you find at the store have a high amount of Vitamin B which is great for boosting your metabolism. They are also high in fiber and also have the ability to lower bad cholesterol.

Beans are also high in potassium, magnesium, and calcium as well, which all play a vital role in your metabolism. Some of the recommended beans include black beans, pinto beans, mung beans, black-eyed beans, and lima beans

Lean Meats – If you are going to get protein from meats, then it is best to eat lean meats for boosting your metabolism. Protein is the greatest macronutrient for increasing your metabolic rate more than carbohydrates or fats.

Celery – Celery is a great thermogenic food which helps increase your metabolic rate. Celery also has a good amount of calcium as well. The best thing about celery is it doesn’t contain many calories, it is mostly water. This means you are more likely to burn calories than you are to gain them.

Drink Adequate Water

How can water increase your metabolism, you say? Well, water is actually involved in all types of cellular processes in your body. When you become dehydrated, these processes become less efficient. This includes your metabolism.

If you do not get enough water in your body, you will not be able to burn off fats quickly to lose weight. Here, read more about how the right time drinking water is important to improve metabolism.

Exercise Regularly

When it comes to increasing your metabolism exercising can be one of the most proactive things you can do. Depending on the types of exercises you are doing, you can increase your metabolism for up to 72 hours straight!

Here are exercises that will increase your metabolism and boost fat loss!

Cardiovascular Exercise

When it comes to increasing your metabolism cardiovascular exercises such as walking, jogging and running can boost your metabolism. But to be honest, it isn’t necessarily the best method for increasing your metabolism the highest.

Many times when you are walking, jogging, or running, your heart rate doesn’t get high enough to really spark your metabolism greatly. These types of exercises are great for burning calories and losing weight, but if you want to spark your metabolism for hours on end you will need to do something more substantial.

Wind Sprints

Sprinting or forceful running for short periods of time can be very demanding on the body and the heart especially. This exercise is only recommended for the intermediate to advanced athletes. If you are capable of performing this exercise you can really increase your metabolism greatly! This is one of the best exercises! Always consult a doctor first!

The leg matrix

This will test your endurance, you will do each of these four moves for the prescribed amount of reps back to back without resting;

The Lunge

For this, let your right footstep forward, Bend your knees to ensure that the back knee get almost to ground, Push and return back to your start position, and repeat with the other leg for one rep.

The Lunge Jumps

Start in the lunge position from before, Jump off the ground as high as you can, changing legs in the air to return to the next rep.

Use a rebounder – These small trampoline contraptions are great for keeping your thyroid and your lymphatic system healthy, which both play key roles in your metabolism.

Simply jumping up and down on a rebounder can help speed up your metabolism. The idea behind this is jumping up and down will help your lymph fluid flowing. This is especially good to do in the morning to help your metabolism and also to wake you for your day.

You should do this for about ten minutes to get some good results.

Weight Training Program

Weight training is probably one of the most effective methods to increase your metabolism. When you are lifting weights you are essentially breaking down your muscles.

In order for your body to recover, they will need to expend energy to rebuild them up. The process of rebuilding muscles takes a lot of energy and chemical processes, which in turn, burns more calories (3).

You can’t burn fat just by weight training if you have a poor diet. However, there are a lot of people who are under the impression that weight training can only be used to build muscle.

The truth is that there are ways for you to weight train in which you will burn fat than you would be doing tons and tons of cardio.

Engage in High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

How fast are your calories burning out? How about a faster and more effective way to burn fats and calories? This should get you thrilled. Now you can achieve faster results and get your better body in less time. Okay, buckle up, and let’s step into it.

HIIT is not some special exercise, it is simply another way to apply for almost every work out you have been doing so far.

HIIT – Performing High-Intensity interval training helps increase your metabolism. The fast-paced exercise technique has the ability to make your metabolic rate increase for up to 48 hours after you have performed a HIIT workout.

This means even when you are doing errands, sitting, or sleeping your metabolism will be at a higher rate as compared to if you didn’t do a HIIT workout.

There are many different types of high-intensity interval workouts and they can all help you boost your metabolism. In high-intensity interval training, short bouts of high and low-intensity cardio are followed by each other in turns, intermittently.

For example: Say you do 60 seconds of complete sprint and suddenly ease to 90 seconds of brisk walking. Let us assume this to be one cycle. If you go 10 cycles, you would have exercised 1500 seconds or 25 minutes and would have burnt over 5 times more calories of 25 minutes traditional workout!

A quicker result is not the only advantage of HIIT; it’s also more effective compared to the traditional methods of working out. Let us examine which ways it is more effective; HIIT sets your body metabolism on fire, such that your system does not stop using up calories until long after your session, and it does free up more energy for either protracted use or short time needs.

Folks who train using this method have better muscular makeup. Also, they are able to demonstrate better endurance than their counterparts.

HIIT increases your body’s sensitivity to insulin, and as a result, fewer body fats are deposited in your system, even when you are not working out.

Reduce Stress

Control stress levels – When you are stressed out your cortisol levels increase. This is bad if you desire to boost your metabolism. This is because when cortisol levels are present it releases glucose into your bloodstream, which will affect your metabolism. Here, read several ways to control your stress levels.

Get enough sleep

This one is important to mention because most people don’t get enough sleep every night. However, experts say that sleep boosts your metabolism. When you get less sleep than you need, you usually feel tired and you lack energy even for little things. This can affect your metabolic rate. The bodies of people who don’t get enough sleep aren’t able to control their blood sugar levels.

As a result, sleep-deprived people often lower their own metabolism because they don’t have the strength to break down food efficiently. Here, read the strategies to get a peaceful sleep every day.

Get sunlight

When you are exposed to the Sun your body gets Vitamin D. Studies to suggest that consuming, or in this case getting vitamin D can increase your metabolism. In fact, the subjects that were studied lost five pounds of fat in an 11 week period just by simply taking Vitamin D.

Long story short, get as much sun exposure as you can, just don’t get sunburn or worse, skin cancer. Be smart. It is best to get Sun in increments to avoid these things, but do it in a way where you get a good amount of Vitamin D or you can just take a supplement (4).

Keep active non-stop all day – Being active throughout your day is important for helping you boost your metabolism. It is said that even a couple of hours at rest will start to slow down enzymes that control the metabolism of fats. This means that while you are sitting at your desk for more than three or four hours then your metabolism will start to slow down, as a result.

Must read – Home remedies for tanning due to Sun exposure

The best thing to do about this is to always remember to stay active and never sit in a chair for more than a couple of hours. Walk around, do simple errands, or even do jumping jacks. Try as much as you can to move around.

Get your body in motion as much as you can.

Make a plan – Before you try anything mentioned above, make a plan. When you thoroughly make a plan about how you are methodically going to approach something like your diet, you will be successful.

Much of this success comes from being organized and knowing what to do at any given time.

Map out a plan and put it down in writing. Start with your meals and when you are going to eat them, according to your schedule. The less resistance you have with your diet the fewer excuses you’re going to have, making progress inevitable. You may even want to cook your meals for the week ahead of time to avoid resistance.

But just make this plan easy for you so you will be able to follow it every day and make it so that you won’t quit.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve learned how to increase your metabolism, the next step is to take action on the information you gained and put it to the test. If you don’t experiment first hand with the material you have spent your time reading then you will never know if it works! Try it out and adjust when necessary to find out exactly what works best for your body!