10 Ways to Speed Up Your Metabolism - Part 2

6. Stay in your lane: don't crash diet

Most of us are familiar with the South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet, the Cookie Diet, and the Fit-Into-a-Dress-That's-Two-Sizes-Too-Small-by-Saturday Diet. While it may seem intrepid to try each food-fad that comes out, leap-frogging from diet to diet is actually more harmful than helpful.

Fitness is the sum of your nutrition history, and as Ansel explains, "Crash dieting can decrease your metabolism over time." Make sure to start off your day with a good breakfast and don't rely on get-fit-quick schemes or diet pills that can throw your system out of whack. For one healthy and delicious diet, try SELF's Jumpstart Diet.

7. Don't skip out on meals, but don't stockpile them, either

 

Tips on when, what, and how much to eat can be frustratingly variable, but err on the side of consistency. Research by Penn State University, warns that not eating enough can cause the body to enter starvation mode, which slows down metabolism; while on the flipside, Ansel explains that eating too frequently can lead to weight gain.

Ansel and physical trainer, Jumoke Solar, both agree that eating small meals throughout the day with a snack or two in between is just right. "Advice that you need to eat frequently to boost your metabolism has been greatly exaggerated," Karen asserts. "Most people will do fine with three meals and one small (150 calorie) snack a day."

8. Get some extra R&R

Staying up late is practically an unwritten rule in the land of higher education. Whether you pull an all-nighter after staying up late to study, or hit the sack in the early hours of the morning after spending time with friends, you're probably not getting as much sleep as you should. The thing is, missing out on sleep can have greater implications than just grogginess or being cranky.

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that dieters who snoozed for 5.5 hours a night for two weeks lost the same amount of weight as when they slept for 8.5 hours—but went on to discover that more muscle mass was lost in the 5.5-hour trials. Since muscle is crucial for losing weight and maintaining a healthy metabolism, staying up until the crack of dawn might be undoing your fitness efforts.

9. Get up and go

Jumoke Solar, MS, CPT and Group Exercise Instructor tells her clients to perform some form of exercise on most days—usually five times a week for 30-60 minutes. Getting extra exercise doesn't mean running a 5K marathon: taking a bike ride through the park on a lovely Saturday afternoon and leaving your car back on campus is healthy and fun. If you're in the gym, mix things up instead of sticking to your status quo. Interval training (speeding up and then slowing down) is a good way to surprise your muscles and keep them working hard.

10. Boys will be boys: don't compare yourself to them

It's an old story with a bitter end: your guy friend or brother eats whatever he wants with fewer negative results or embarks on the same fitness regimen as you but has more rapid, noticeable results. Instead of getting frustrated or thinking that you're doing something wrong, remember that men and women are built differently. "Men have faster metabolisms for two reasons," says Karen. "One: they weigh more and two: they have more muscle mass."

Since more muscle equals a speedier metabolism, men are generally pre-wired to have a metabolic rate that differs from that of women—but that's no reason to despair! Stop looking over your shoulder at everyone else at the gym and remember that your body is unique, even if your workout isn't. "I don't think there are any particular exercises that a woman should try," says Jumoke. "The most important thing is that you are safe and consistent." 
 

Sources

U.S. News & World Report, "Sleep Loss Undercuts Weight Loss Efforts" [http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/sleep/articles/2010/10/05/health-buzz-sleep-loss-undercuts-weight-loss-efforts-study-says]

Web M.D., "Make the Most of Your Metabolism" [http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/make-most-your-metabolism?page=3]; "Drinking Water May Speed Weight Loss" [http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040105/drinking-water-may-speed-weight-loss]

Yoshioka, M. et al., Effects of red pepper added to high-fat and high-carbohydrate meals on energy metabolism and substrate utilization in Japanese women (1998) British Journal of Nutrition 80, 503-510

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/increase-your-metabolism-start-losing-fat?page=3

Martha Tillman, Director of the South Forty Fitness Center, Washington University in St. Louis

Jumoke Solar, MS, CPT, Group Exercise Instructor, Health & Wellness Presenter

Karen Ansel, MS, RD, CDN; American Dietetic Association Spokesperson, Contributing Editor for Woman's Day Magazine

Photo Sources

Bike.jpg, [http://thenewsouthwest.com/2011/st-gregory-middle-school-students-learn-bike-skills-love-of-riding/]