Looking to rev up your metabolism? With a faster metabolism, you’ll burn more calories even when you aren’t doing anything at all. But, speeding it up can be a challenge.
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as popping the latest supplement or eating a new superfood. Rather, speeding up your metabolism will take repairing any damage that you may have done to it through the years with yo-yo dieting or extreme calorie deficits. You’ll also want to change up your routine in order to get it moving faster.
The main thing is to begin eating at a health deficit. If you are trying to lose weight, don’t starve yourself–it will only slow your metabolism down. Instead, you need to work on eating at a small deficit that enables you to lose 2 pounds a week or less. That means a deficit of less than 500 calories a day. Preferably, you’ll eat at a 250-calorie deficit (or less) and then burn an additional 250 through exercise.
That exercise part is important. While your health is 80% diet and 20% exercise, you do need to get moving if you want to encourage your metabolism to do the same. A daily workout, whether it’s a walk through the park or a hard cardio session at the gym, will be paramount to increasing your endurance, promoting heart health, and getting you in better shape overall.
Finally, once you have sorted out your diet and exercise, the next step is to go back to your diet and take a closer look at not just how much you’re eating, but also what you are getting your calories from. Try to ditch the processed foods that kill your energy and make you sluggish. Instead, seek out nourishing foods that are filling and naturally colorful.
Celery, grapefruit, avocado, and more have all been known to help speed up your body’s metabolism. They are also known as “negative calorie” foods because they are thought to take more calories to digest than they actually contain. Plus, with all of their vitamins and other health benefits, it’s certainly worth adding them to your daily intake.
