How to Increase Your Metabolism

Metabolism is the process of breaking down protein, carbohydrates and fats into energy your body uses. The rate of your metabolism is determined by the number of calories you consume and the number of calories you use. The number of calories your body uses depends on several factors from your daily exercise routine, heredity, age, gender to your genetic makeup. There is NO perfect metabolism as it is as unique as you are. However, there are ways in which you can increase your metabolic rate to burn more calories.

Exercise is a great way to increase your metabolism. I realize most of you probably have a job where you spend the majority of your time and then all the added responsibilites of family life. Fortunately, in as little as 45 minutes a day can have a significant impact on sending your metabolism soaring. One of the best exercises to increase metabolism is strength training. Simply because your body can burn up to 15 additional calories per pound of muscle trying to maintain it. Strength training also has the core component of an "afterburn." This afterburn effect actually can burn calories up to 24 hours after you have exercised as the body recovers and repairs muscle fiber. That's what has made those P90X ® workouts such a great choice. Tony Horton really knows his stuff with that "muscle confusion." By giving you a variety of different moves to master, P90X ® will continually challenge your body to build more lean muscle. The more muscle you build, the more calories you can burn! It's not rocket science - it's PURE GENIUS!!! Not only am I reshaping my body getting that nice toned look, I am also giving my metabolism a kickstart to keep me lean.

Another form of exercise that will give you a great afterburn effect is known as High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT involves short intervals of maximum intensity burst exercise followed by longer intervals of moderate intensity exercise. Because HIIT pushes you beyond your aerobic exercise level, it also increases the amount of recovery time long after your exercise session is done. This simply means you will be burning additional calories as your body tries to recover. In order for this type of training to be highly effective, you have to give your maximum effort during these energy burst, not just simply increase your heart rate. Because these sessions can be so demanding, you definitely want to allow your body to recover thoroughly. No back to back sessions here. HIIT is designed to be highly effective for those looking to improve their cardiovascular fitness and endurance while shedding the fat and maintaining muscle. Team Beachbody definitely understood the need for such a program and will be releasing TurboFire ® on June 18, 2010. So if you are already doing a strength training program like the P90X ®, this will definitely bring you to a whole new level. Not to worry if this is your first Team Beachbody program or you don't want to take chances with high impact to the joints. Chalene Johnson specifically included a modifier to the TurboFire ® to allow you to get the same intensity while increasing your endurance and fitness. That way you can still work right along with the TurboFire ® gang with modified moves that won't be stressful on your joints. It is a program designed to help everyone enjoy the benefits of HIIT!

You can also increase your metabolic rate by eating small and frequent meals. Skipping meals won't help you lose weight, in fact it just possibly could make you gain weight. When you go for extending periods of time not refueling your body, it will go into "starvation mode." At this point your body drastically slows down the metabolic rate as a means of survival. So that even though you may be eating less food - your body will be storing more when you eat. By eating five to six small meals over the course of the day you can actually increase your metabolism. Most generally I try to eat breakfast, a healthy snack, lunch, another healthy snack and dinner. I normally eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I always make breakfast my number one priority, because as it implies I am "breaking" my "fast" from not fueling my body while I slept. Even though I am getting my rest, my body is still burning calories repairing and restoring muscle. One of my favorite breakfast is Shakeology ® . It gives me everything I need to start my morning off healthy and is convenient enough to "SHAKE" and "GO" when I am in a rush.

Last but not least, drink plenty of water. Just drinking plenty of water can increase your metabolic rate by as much as 30 percent. Even better drink lots of cold water. Why? Because your body will actually work twice as hard to heat it up in the stomach. This warm up effect will spike your metabolism. Also, one of your liver's main functions is to convert stored fat into energy. But if your body is dehydrated, it has to pick up the slack of kidneys to remove waste. So if the liver has to concentrate on helping your kidneys out, guess what is happening to the fat? Yep, you guessed it - it's being stored! All this could be controlled as easy as drinking 8 (8 oz.) glasses of water a day. And ditch that caffeine! Caffeine dehydrates the body...so if you are telling yourself you get plenty of fluids with your soda, tea and coffee...let this be your wake-up call. Want real results - latch on the the great power of H20 and drink up! Here is even a tip to get you started - invest in some plastic straws. Ever notice how quickly your drink disappears with a straw? Same thing can happen with your water glass. Just sip along to a new thinner you. Best part, most places it is FREE!

There you have it, three great ways to increase your metabolism: Exercise, Fueling Your Body Frequently, and Hydrating with Water. So get out there and BRING IT!!!