Increase Your Metabolism
If you are trying to lose weight, increasing your metabolism can enable you to lose more weight without cutting more calories.
There are no :Fat-Burning" foods. Red peppers and green tea have been studied for their metabolism-increasing properties, but there are no conclusive evidence they help in weight loss.
Half an hour of walking will burn many more calories than half an hour of chewing celery.
Here you can fid a few research-based suggestions:
1. Understand what metabolism is.
In the simplest terms, metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. Generally a faster metabolism will enable you to lose more weight compared to someone who has the same activity level, diet and weight.
2. Calculate your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR).
RMR is often used interchangeably with Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); although they are slightly different, estimating either is sufficient for the purpose of losing weight. TO calculate your RMR, use the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation (Which is more reliable than the Harris-Benedict equation).
3. The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation:
RMR = 9.99w + 6.25s - 4.92a + 166g - 161
* w = weight in kilograms; if you know your weight in pounds, divide by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms.
* s = height in centimeters; if you know your height in inches, multiply by 2.54 to get your height in centimeters.
* a = age in years
* g = gender = 1 for males, 0 for females
4. Adjust your diet accordingly
Your RMR will tell you how many calories you need to maintain your body a rest. Your daily consumption to maintain your weight should be:
* RMR x 1.15
* E.g. RMR = 2000, so the maintenance intake is 2000 x 1.15 = 2300
* To lose weight safely, do not exceed your maintenance intake or have a caloric intake lower than your calculated RMR.
* Count calories by recording what you ear and looking up how many calories each foor item contains (either on the food packagingor in tables provided in books or online).
5. Eat small, frequent meals.
Extending the time between meals makes your body go into "starvation mode", which decreases your metabolism as a means to conserve energy and prevent starvation. Skipping meals does not help you cut calories or lose weight; in fact, people generally eat less overall when they eat small, frequent meals. In addition to having four to six small meals per day eating healthy snacks will also increase metabolism.
6. Drink Water.
As with food, depriving your body of water can encourage it to "hoard" rather than "burn". More than ninety percent of the chemical reactions in your body occurs in water, so make sure you drink an appropriate amount of water.
Different activities burn different quantities of calories, but the important thing is to raise your heart rate and sustain the activity for approximately 30 minutes.
8. Boost metabolism in the long run with weight training.
Muscle burns more calories than fat (73 more calories per kilogram per day, to be exact) so the more muscle you build the higher your resting metabolic rate (RMR) will be.
Every muscle cell that you gain is like a little factory that constantly burns calories for you, even while you sleep, and revs up when you exercise. This is the only way to increase RMR, which accounts for 60 to 70 percnt of the calories you burn daily.
* Article source from New Straits Times 1klassifieds (http://www.1k.com.my/). Please click for more details!
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