How do you boost metabolism?!
And will this help you to lose body fat?!
Well…….
You can’t. At least not significantly.
Actually that’s not entirely true. You could gain weight. But that’s not very conducive to a weight loss journey.
Yes things like caffeine, building muscle, resistance training do have an impact. They’re just small and dwarfed by other factors that are worth focusing on more.
1 pound of muscle burns 6 calories a day. So build 20 lbs of muscle and you increase your metabolic rate by 120 calories a day. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10662716/).
Depending on how much volume you’ve completed, increases of 60-170 calories per day have been seen for 24-72 hours after a resistance training session.
So whilst they could add up, they don’t turn you in to a ‘fat burning machine’. You can’t sit on the sofa and melt fat. You have to do some work (and even then, 50-75% of the increase in calories burned comes from the work itself).
This may sound depressing but the truth is you probably don’t need to boost your metabolism. Most fall within a certain range, and even if it is slower, on average it’s not associated with more difficulty in losing weight (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28170155/)
If you’re struggling with weight loss, what’s much more likely to be an issue is that you’re eating more and moving less than you think. And these can be very significant numbers!!
This study showed people ate over 1200 calories a day more than they thought they were
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/7918325/).
In this one they underreported by 1000 calories a day.
(https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199212313272701)
Another big reason is that you’re not moving around as much as you were before.
When we diet, we subconsciously move around less.
This study showed this can reduce how many calories you burn by an average of 582 calories a day!! (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3173112/).
And remember this is subconscious. You likely won’t be aware you’re moving less.
So what to do?!
Probably don’t worry about how to boost metabolism.
You can do some of the things listed, as they will help, but focus more on other factors that will likely make more of a significant impact.
Focus on what you can change.
Closely monitor how much you eat.
Keep your daily activity high.
And do some resistance training (just because it’s awesome, not because it melts fat).
For more weight loss tips then make sure to look at my other articles in the blog section of my website by clicking here
You can also find lots more tips and recipes on my Facebook page here
We cover all of this in more detail in the Private Lean Body, Healthy Life Program.
In here we have tons of content on all things nutrition, exercise and lifestyle in the members area of the website.
We have lots of healthy recipes added every month and a backlog of almost 200!!
We have an app to keep you accountable with daily and weekly check-ins.
On top of this we also have a private Facebook group to provide the community support you need to give you that added boost. As well as being a place where we can all share our best tips and recipes.
We’ve got everything you need to drop the pounds and keep them off!!
Rapid and sustainable fat loss.
For more information on this program head to this page on my website!!