Boosting Your Metabolism

Working as a personal trainer, I’ve been asked every question under the sun regarding weight loss. And my response is not too complicated but before I share my response, here are a few of the questions and comments that I’ve heard that may sound familiar to you. What’s the best way to increase my metabolism? How can I loose fat for good? Will I ever be able to get back to my old weight? Everything I eat seems to go to my hips. If your goal is to loose fat weight and increase your metabolism, then your plan should be to increase lean muscle mass.

Lean muscle mass can help slow down the aging process on your body and speed up your metabolism. Recent studies have shown that exercise can increase your life span by adding as much as 1-4 years to your life. The effects of a moderate to vigorous exercise routine can speed up your metabolism for several hours post exercise contributing to weight loss. Exercise also helps to reduce your chance of many diseases such as cancer, diabetes, other metabolic disorders and more.

A good exercise routine should consist of weight training 2-3 days a week, using major muscles groups. Such as your quadriceps, latissimus dorsi and pectoral muscles. Exercises that include using major muscle groups such as quadriceps will usually target secondary muscle groups. For example, if you perform a squat the primary muscles used are the quadriceps while secondary muscles include the gluteus maximus and hamstring muscles. Also, including a cardiovascular program will not only help burn fat but increase your cardio respiratory fitness (heart and lungs). Aerobic activity should be done at least 3-5 days a week for 20-60 minutes depending on your goals. Try to keep your heart rate in the target training zone of 50-90%. Keep in mind that your target heart rate should be based on your current fitness level and gradually increased over time. Stretching should be a part of your exercise regimen and should consist of stretching all major muscle groups 2-3 days a week. Try to hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds. Stretching is best done after exercise because muscle will be warmed up, reducing the risk of injury.

Lastly, but certainly not least, eat healthy! I can’t tell you enough how important it is to fuel your body with calories that will contribute to muscle gain and fat loss. Protein is the building block of amino acids and your body needs protein to build lean muscle and lean muscle requires more energy, thus speeding up your metabolism. If you lack protein in your diet, don’t expect to build muscle. The breakdown process of protein to amino acids requires more energy.

Weight loss is not just about seeing the scale read 120 lbs. it's about lowering your body fat, having a BMI and hip to waist ratio in a healthy range. Also, weight loss does not have to be short lived, it can be permanent when it's done correctly. The bottom line is there is no quick fix to loosing weight. However there is a long-term fix that requires your time and the mindset of making good health a priority.