7 Ways To Boost Your Metabolism

Speed play
If your cardio involves using a treadmill, bike or cross trainer and watching TV while plodding away, it’s time for a rethink. Fartlek – or speed play – training delivers a more effective workout than steady state CV exercise. “Interval training not only builds oxygen capacity, helping you become fitter, it burns cals during the workout and well after you’ve finished – this is known as the after burn,” says celeb PT and award winning fitness model Sian Toal (siantoal.com). “So, while resting after your session your body’s metabolic rate is still elevated and you’re still burning calories at a high rate.”

Lift weights, lose weight
“By training with resistance, you can increase your muscle mass, which is very important for both men and women,” Sian points out. “Muscle is an active tissue that needs energy – or calories – to sustain itself. So, the more you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate will be to meet the energy demand,” she explains. “Women shouldn’t fear weight training, a sculpted body comes from using resistance, and a great nutrition plan will get you lean to see the hard work! Strong and sculpted is sexy!”

Stay hydrated
Getting enough H20 down you not only helps avoid dehydration hunger pangs, it can boost cal-burning, too. A study from the University of Utah found that those who drank 8-12 glasses of water a day had higher metabolic rates than volunteers who sipped just four glasses. And, like revenge, it’s best served cold. It’s thought that downing ice-cold water encourages your body to burn extra calories through heating it up to your core temperature. The difference it makes probably doesn’t amount to much, but, as the famous slogan goes, every little helps!

Have a cuppa
It’s a classic tip, but there’s plenty of research to back up the theory that drinking green tea can give your body’s calorie-burning mechanism a lift. One study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that green tea can speed up the rate our bodies burn energy by nearly 40 percent. So, try switching from a black to a green brew to help shift extra cals!

Start your day right
We hear all the time that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but why? “Look at it this way: Metabolism is the amount of energy – in other words, calories – your body burns to maintain itself,” points out Cee Fee Dunn, fitness and nutrition consultant (ceefeedunn.com). “Like starting a fire, you can’t expect flames without fuelling them first. Beginning your day with a healthy breakfast is the best way to encourage your body’s natural fat-burning process while teaching it to utilise the calories you consume, rather than store them as fat.”

Don’t go hungry
“By munching irregularly, you are, in essence, training your body to burn less from what you are eating,” explains Cee Fee. “The result? A slow metabolism! “To keep a fire roaring, you have to keep adding logs. It’s important to plan ahead – I start all my clients off with handbag snacks, so there is no excuse for running on empty and they can refuel every 2-3 hours,” she tells us. “Loading your handbag with a piece of low-GI fruit, such as an apple or pear, a boiled egg or a packet of mixed nuts and seeds is the easiest way to keep your metabolism fired up.”

Spice things up a bit
It’s official, curries can be good for your waistline! Keep them spicy though, as, capsaicin, the compound that gives chillies their heat, can rev up your metabolism. A study published in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology revealed that eating a tablespoon of chopped green chillies increases activity in our nervous system, resulting in a temporary metabolism spike of around 23 percent!”