Boost Me Up!

Feeling a little slow? Feeling like your body is running on empty? With my simple tips you can boost your metabolism and have the energy you desire.

Building lean body mass or lean muscle aids in boosting your metabolism, as well as cardiovascular exercise. When we are working our cardiovascular systems we actually begin to break down body fat to fuel that workout. Strength training is essential to boosting your metabolism in that your muscles are working and growing and that requires energy. The best source of energy in our bodies is fat. It’s there for a reason. The good news is that after a great strength training workout or cardiovascular workout, your metabolism can stay boosted for a few hours!

By eating more small and frequent meals we keep our body metabolizing to break down the nutrients in our foods. If we restrict our calories too quickly or fall below what our maintenance levels are we can slow our metabolism down due to the starvation mode your body goes into. Our bodies are so efficient in protecting themselves that they will hold on to every calorie you eat that you won’t see those pounds come off. But you can effectively drop those pounds by exercising more calories than you are consuming and that will make the weight come off. Decreasing your maintenance calories by 15-20% will help you see the results you are wanting.

Don’t skip breakfast! What an important meal. Overnight your body is dumping insulin into your stomach and no sugar is there to absorb it. But eating a healthy carbohydrate meal with some protein will not only combine with the insulin that is sitting overnight, it will alert your body and wake it up and keep you focused. Our brains run on carbohydrates, so why not give your brain what it needs? Whole grain cereals, oatmeal, fresh fruit are great sources of those carbohydrate rich foods to wake up your brain and get you ready to face another day.

Getting enough sleep. Our muscles recover as we are in the final hours of sleeping for 8-9 hours. There are so many articles out there full of research on the topic of sleep. It is essential. If our muscles are recovering in our sleep, because we aren’t active, then that leads me back to why working your muscles is great for metabolism. Sleep to repair the muscles you worked, work the muscles to boost your metabolism.