How to Manage Your Metabolism for Lasting Weight Loss

We know them well; those skinny women who seem to be able to stuff themselves with all kinds of foods that if the rest of us even look at we gain weight. We wonder how they do it and why we, too, can't be blessed with such a gift. Ask the question "How do you eat so much and stay so thin?" and you are likely to get the answer "It's my metabolism, I guess I just have good metabolism." It's not exactly the answer you want to hear. But take heart, there is hope for those who just don't have "good metabolism." There is a way to increase your metabolism, or your Basal Metabolic Rate.

Things You'll Need

• Healthy food
• Cool water
• Method of counting calories

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Instructions

• 1

  Eat regularly. Skipping meals is the best way to a low metabolism, states FatFreeKitchen.com. If you don't eat regularly, your body is tricked into believing it has to store food because there is no more on the way. Think of your metabolism as a fire. To keep the fire burning, you need to add fuel. Adding food every four to six hours is adding fuel to the fire, keeping your metabolism burning. And especially don't skip breakfast, says Mayo Clinic Nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky, because it helps keep hunger away late in the day and gives you energy.

• 2

  Exercise at least an hour most days. Getting more physical activity not only gives you energy, but also helps to keep your heart healthy and your muscles strong. Exercising helps boost your metabolism by adding muscle mass to your body. A pound of fat only burns two calories a day, while a pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day. So the stronger your muscles, the more calories you are burning while at rest.

• 3

  Count your calories. According to the Mayo Clinic, 3,500 calories equals a pound of fat. So you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. It's difficult to work off 3,500 calories every day. That's a lot of physical activity. Cutting out at least one sugary treat a day, (or about 500 calories) will help you drop about a pound a week.

• 4

  Drink a lot of water. Every diet from the rice diet to the grapefruit diet to the South Beach diet all have one thing in common: their advice to drink a lot of water. According to an article in "Prevention Magazine", German researchers tested the "...resting metabolism of 14 men and women before and after they drank just over 16 ounces of water. Within 10 minutes, metabolism began to rise. After 40 minutes, the volunteers' average calorie-burning rate was 30 percent higher, and it stayed elevated for more than an hour."

  You can't deny that water is a simple way to boost metabolism to assist in weight loss. Drinking alcoholic beverages, however, is known to lower metabolism, so keep that in mind the next time you opt for a Cosmo instead of a candy bar.