How can I speed up my metabolism without exercise?

5 Ways to Quickly Boost Your Metabolism That Don’t Include Exercise

Your metabolism may not be completely under your control, but there are definitely ways you can help rev it up each day simply by incorporating a few healthy habits. The key is to integrate them one at a time into your day-to-day ritual until they just come naturally, rather than trying to overhaul your entire routine at once.

Exercise is always encouraged to help boost your metabolism, but if you can’t seem to find time to hit the gym, you can at least start with these easy tricks. If you’re having concerns about your own metabolism or energy levels, feel free to check out EverlyWell’s Metabolism Test!

(1) DRINK WARM WATER WITH LEMON WHEN YOU WAKE UP

Ever wake up feeling groggy and unsure how to start your day? Try making it a habit to drink warm lemon water as soon as you wake up. Not a fan of the taste? Try adding raw honey to sweeten up the sour lemon.

(2) EAT A HEALTHY BREAKFAST

If you’re the type to skip breakfast, you may want to rethink your morning routine. Skipping meals is frowned upon for pretty much all health aspects, but it has been proven to slow down your metabolism. Want to get the most out of your breakfast? Start the day with some protein! Try whole omega-3 eggs, a protein shake, nut butters or even kippers. Skip the starch or sugar (muffins, bagels and donuts)–those aren’t doing you any favors.

(3) SIP GREEN TEA THROUGHOUT THE DAY

We all know green tea has plenty of benefits, but for this purpose, it has an antioxidant called catechin which can help crank up your metabolism! If you can, try drinking green tea throughout your day to get the most from it. One cup is usually not be enough to produce the effect of a faster metabolism, and research suggests that multiple cups per day are required (as many as five or more). Sounds like a lot of tea, but you can also drink it iced to switch things up.

(4) DON’T CUT CALORIES

People think in order to lose weight, they need to stop eating as much. Not true! When you cut out too many calories, your metabolism puts a halt on fat-burning to conserve energy. Instead of eating less and skipping meals, try to just eat smarter. Incorporate more of these foods into your daily diet: avocados, peppers, whole-fat yogurt, and anything with a good amount of protein such as lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs and beans. Stay away from foods with trans fats, for those will be your downfall.

(5) GET ENOUGH SLEEP

Is it just us, or is sleep highly underrated these days? With the everyday stress of having to juggle work, taking care of family, maintaining a social life, maybe squeezing in some exercise every now and again (if you’re lucky), sleep can get pushed to the back-burner. Many people don’t realize that being sleep-deprived can actually wreak havoc on your metabolism, so those precious 7 to 8 hours of adequate sleep every night will definitely pay off in the long run. Try creating the habit of going to bed at least 15 minutes earlier each week. It may not be easy, but your body will thank you.

10 Proven Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

Kick your body into full gear and drop the pounds with these tips.

by CAREY ROSSI

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Don’t let a sluggish metabolism slow you down or hamper your results. Some simple tweaks can help you burn more calories and maximize your efforts. Read on for some of our favorite research-proven strategies.

Move more (all day long!)

Your metabolic rate (how fast you burn calories) naturally slows when you’re resting or sleeping and spikes when you’re up and about, especially during your workouts, notes Michele Olson, Ph.D., a principal researcher at the Auburn University Montgomery Scharff-Olson Kinesiology Laboratory, who has studied metabolism at length. But don’t count on your workout alone to keep your metabolism humming on high. If you’re seated at a desk for most of the day, your burn rate can slip into slow-mo. “A desk job is the metabolic equivalent of sleeping all day,” Olson says.

The more you get up and move about, the more calories you’ll expend and the higher your metabolic rate. Try taking walking breaks every hour or do 20 jumping jacks every 20 minutes. (Close your office door if you’re lucky to have one or use the stairwell in your building.)

Don’t starve yourself

Cutting too many calories from your diet can screw up your body’s ability to burn fat more efficiently. That’s because your brain actually uses your satiety and fullness cues to turn your white blubbery fat into metabolically active brown fat, according to a recent study on mice in the journal Cell. When you’re hungry, your brain tells your body to hold on to its white fat cells as a protection against cold and ­famine. In general, don’t allow your calories to fall below 1,200, but that number can vary depending on your size and activity. Calculate your basal metabolic rate (the number of calories your body needs to survive) at bmrcalculator.org.

Take on Tabata

Tabata intervals typically consist of 20 seconds of an intense exercise (such as squat jumps) followed by a 10-second break, repeated eight times through. This supramaximal anaerobic training method burns about 13.5 calories per minute, according to research done by Olson, plus it doubles your metabolic rate for 30 minutes afterward. The key is to find an activity that uses a large percentage of your muscle groups, such as your back, chest, glutes, and legs. Think burpees, squats, or mountain climbers, or try cardio faves such as swimming, cycling bursts, or running sprints.

Power up with protein

The macronutrient does more than just play a role in building muscle. It also helps keep you full by suppressing ghrelin (the hunger hormone) while optimizing leptin (the satiety hormone) and insulin, says nutritionist JJ Virgin, author of The Sugar Impact Diet. Plus, the very process of digesting protein gives your body a little metabolic boost, because your body has to expend more calories to break it down than it would digesting carbs or fat. Aim for four to six ounces of quality protein at every meal, such as grass-fed beef, poultry, fish, eggs, legumes, or nuts.

Spice things up

Cayenne peppers, a spice rack mainstay, is also a metabolism booster. “The capsaicinoids from pepper extracts increase thermogenic energy expenditure, increase fat oxidation, and reduce appetite,” explains Victor R. Prisk, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and member of the GNC Medical Advisory Board. Researchers also speculate that the spices help activate brown fat, speeding up metabolism, according to a 2014 scientific review published in the journal Progress in Drug Research.

Go for the afterburn

In addition to Tabata, other high-intensity interval training (HIIT) routines can also help significantly increase your burn rate. “HIIT is a great metabolism booster because it can be done in short sessions but gives a long-term burn,” Prisk notes. That’s because your body has to work harder both during the exercise and also to recover back to its resting state. The more intense the exercise, the more your body needs to recover, which translates to more calories burned after you stop, he adds.

Embrace the cold

Don’t let chilly spring temps keep you from your favorite run—the cold can actually work for you when it comes to boosting metabolism. “Exercising in the cold burns more calories, especially if you’re shivering, which increases the metabolic rate,” Olson says. In addition, cold temperatures initiate an immune response in the body that makes it convert your white, cellulite-like fat into more metabolically active brown fat, according to research from the University of California at San Francisco.

Lift weights

We know you’re already doing this, but keep it up. “Muscle is metabolic currency, and building muscle helps boost your metabolism,” Prisk says. Consider this: If you increase your muscle mass by 20%, you’ll increase your resting metabolic rate by 4–5%. That’s approximately an additional 65 calories a day (based on a 30-year-old woman who weighs 135 pounds and is 5’4″).

One way to make sure you’re adding more lean muscle is to play around with your exercise schedule, notes Prisk. “Studies suggest that the order of your cardio and weights can make a difference in how much muscle you retain from your training.” While muscle growth ­adaptations are often best retained when you follow cardio with weight training, it’s not a hard-and-fast rule. “If you plan to lift heavy, then it doesn’t make sense to pre-exhaust yourself with cardio first,” he adds. “I suggest changing it up. Try mixing cardio into circuits one day and increasing your weight-training pace to bump up your heart rate on your next session.” And don’t be afraid to pick up a bigger weight off the rack. In general, lighter weights may help increase muscular endurance, but they don’t do much to stimulate muscle growth. The best way to do that is to lift loads that exhaust your muscles during the final few reps.

4 Ways to Boost Your Morning Metabolism

Spring is on its way and that means shorts and swimsuit season. We’re all looking for ways to lose weight and build a little muscle. It’s good for your health and it looks great. However, many of us are not doing the most important things to achieve these goals. Why not start now and get a jump on summer?

One of the most important things you can do to lose weight and build muscle is to boost your metabolism – especially in the morning.

The Issue

Far too many of us go straight for coffee or energy drinks in the morning, perhaps eat some toast or cereal, and go on with our day. There’s nothing wrong with a routine, but if your routine is limiting or even stalling your metabolism, then you’re not helping yourself or moving closer towards your goals to get in shape and lose some weight.

The Solution

Boost your metabolism. For some reason, many people view metabolism and weight loss as a challenge, when truthfully, it’s quite easy if you know how and do it right and consistently.

Get your morning metabolism going with these strategies:

1. Balance yourpH. One of the most overlooked aspects of health and fitness programs is the pH balance. You may remember this from chemistry class in high school. PH is the acid/base balance, and when it comes to your body, high acidity can lead to obesity, fatigue, and other health implications.

● Balancing your pH levels in the morning can be a great way to start your day off on the right foot, enabling your metabolism to function as it should. The best way to balance your pH in the morning is to eat dark fruit and green, leafy vegetables.

● Not only will they help you balance your pH, but they’ll also increase your intake of fiber, which has been shown to decrease appetite and lead to weight loss.

1. Exercise. Running, walking, biking, lifting weights – it doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you’re making your muscles, heart, and lungs work.

● Although research has shown that you won’t be able to train as hard as in the evening, a morning workout is one of the most effective methods to increase metabolism leading to weight loss.

1. Hydration. Coffee is not hydration. In fact, it has a negative hydration effect due to its diuretic value. Although drinking coffee in the morning can make you feel more energized, it doesn’t promote a faster metabolism in the long run. But real hydration will.

● Drinking 7 or 8 glasses of water daily is recommended in order to stay as hydrated as possible.

1. Eat iron-rich food. This is especially important in a world where food is processed, and nutrients are being stripped from their original sources. Iron does more than we think, and emerging science is showing that it can have massive benefits to metabolism and overall vitality.
   

● Lack of iron can lead to anemia, fatigue, and overeating.

● Iron plays a crucial role in hemoglobin and erythrocyte production, both of which help to transport working nutrients and oxygen to muscle and other internal systems. New science is even showing that iron may be an important mechanism to assist in protein digestion.

● Eating iron-rich foods can help you to increase your metabolism and live a life with greater vitality and diminish signs of fatigue.

Habits shape who we are. Perhaps you have a habit of having a cup of coffee with or without a muffin each morning. Of course, this is not the end of the world, but if your goals are to get stronger, boost metabolism, and lose weight, then it becomes important that you look to other methods.

Create a few new habits like drinking an 8oz glass of water every morning before you do anything else. Did you know a 2-minute workout first thing in the morning will kick start your muscles, heart, and lungs? Try a 1-minute plank and 1 minute of jumping jacks, while the coffee is brewing. No gym required. Of course, if you add a 15-30 minute walk before your day really begins, or take the stairs a few times a day, you will feel the difference.

Then check out these samples of Iron Rich Breakfast foods some might surprise you.

If you’re looking to rev up your morning metabolism, take care to balance your pH, exercise regularly, hydrate, and eat iron-rich foods each morning. Little adjustments made over time add up!