Although everyone naturally tends to have either a faster or slower metabolism, it is not by any means set in stone. You may have heard some people complain about their slow metabolism. Indeed, this is one of the most common excuses given by those who are trying (and failing) to lose weight. They claim that they cannot lose weight because they have to work twice as hard to achieve the same results. Are these people lying to you? Probably not, but they are still incorrect. There are ways that you can affect your metabolism and make it go a little faster, and that is what we will be covering in today’s article.
Metabolism Explained
If your body is an engine, you might describe metabolism as the speed and efficiency with which it uses fuel. Anything that you eat (and most of the things you drink) provide energy to the body in one form or another. Those with a naturally slow metabolism will digest and use this energy slowly, while those with a fast metabolism will do so more quickly.
Metabolism obviously plays a significant role in weight loss. The people who blame metabolism for their difficulty losing weight are not technically wrong. Some people indeed have it easier than others, as we can see by looking at this study. The researchers looked at 11 “post-obese” people (four males and seven females). These were people who had formerly been obese, but who had lost enough weight to be considered fit.
The results of that study were kind of striking. They found that these post-obese people were more likely to regain their excess weight. Thus, they did have to work harder than others to achieve the same results. So, we are forced to admit that the metabolism reasoning is partly valid. Instead of using slow metabolism as an excuse, however, let’s look at some of how a person can work to speed up their metabolism.
Ways To Speed Up Your Metabolism
It might encourage you to know that your metabolism will probably increase as you lose weight. We all know that skinny people have higher metabolisms, but the research indicates that this factor is not entirely genetic. In other words, it’s not encoded in your DNA, and that means that it can be altered. Many people get it mixed up on this point: Low metabolism is caused by obesity, to a certain point. Many people seem to have mixed up the cause with the effect. At the same time, this study did confirm that prolonged physical exercise will lower your metabolism somewhat. Even if weight loss does not occur, you will see a slight difference.
All of this boils down to one thing: You need to adopt a rigorous exercise regimen. We would recommend that you focus on cardio at first because it will reduce your overall weight more quickly, leading to a corresponding increase in your metabolic rate.
Believe it or not, metabolism can be affected by temperature. Exercising in the cold might be a great way to increase your rate of weight loss, and there is some pretty solid science behind the idea. When your body is cold (especially if it’s cold enough to make you shiver), it responds by producing more heat than usual. As you might guess, this requires the body to burn calories.
But how many calories do you expend when you shiver? The answer might surprise you. Some sources indicate that ten minutes of shivering can burn about as many calories as an hour of exercise. We suspect that these figures could be slightly inflated, but it still shows the difference that cold temperatures can make. In essence, your body has to work harder in the cold, and that means more caloric expenditure for every task.
Sometimes, low metabolism might be the result of a medical condition. Specifically, disorders of the endocrine system can disrupt the metabolic system in many ways. The endocrine system is mostly composed of glands that produce hormones. This study found that a hormone called androgen had a pretty solid link with obesity. Hyperthyroidism and polycystic ovarian syndrome are listed as two of the conditions that can cause you to have excess levels of androgen in your body.
If you are having trouble losing weight, you might want to see a doctor and get tested for one or more endocrine disorders. Otherwise, your task will be even harder than it would normally be. If you do have one of these conditions, your doctor can begin treating you. In short, this is a potential roadblock that can keep someone from losing weight, and you won’t know if it is present until you get tested.
These are only three methods out of the many that exist. We would advise you to look at our article as a guide for further research. This article isn’t a bad place to go next. It details other ways in which you can boost your metabolism. These include eating spicy foods, drinking cold water, drinking tea, and all kinds of different ways. We would recommend that you try all of these methods and see how they work for you.
So, let’s summarize what we have found. To speed up your metabolism, you should:
- Exercise more, focusing on cardio for weight loss
- Make use of the cold
- Get checked for endocrine issues
- Eat spicier foods than you usually would
- Drink plenty of cold water
- Make use of tea and other mild stimulants
- Get more sleep
- Don’t spend as much time sitting down
- Use coconut oil for cooking
- Increase your overall muscle mass
- Consider a high-protein diet
Conclusion
Some people are indeed born with metabolic disadvantages. However, a person does not have to be bound by those disadvantages. They represent hurdles that you need to overcome, and that is the best way to look at the situation. If you find this advice to be helpful, we hope that you will follow us on Facebook using the link below.