How to Boost Metabolism Without a Thyroid

Metabolism refers to what your body does to create and utilize energy. Your metabolism uses hormones and enzymes to not only convert food into fuel but also affects how efficiently you burn that fuel. Your metabolic rate slows down about five percent every ten years after the age of 40. But there are things you can do fight this and to increase your metabolism.

Things You'll Need

• Weights
• Treadmill
• Low-fat dairy products
• Foods with capsaicin
• Healthy foods (whole grains, fruits, and vegetables)

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Instructions

How to Boost Your Metabolism

• 1

  Lift weights and do interval training. Weight training can speed up your metabolism; and a pound of muscle burns up to nine times the calories that fat does. Doing spurts of high-intensity exercise also increases your metabolism. Add a 30-second sprint to every five minutes of your jogging. Or add a one-minute steeply inclined walk to your treadmill routine.

• 2

  Break up your exercise routine. Space your workouts into two smaller sessions; do 15 minutes of weight training in the morning and then do your 30-minute walk later in the day. You can burn off an extra 100 to 200 calories each day that you do this.

• 3

  Eat breakfast every day. Your metabolic rate slows when you sleep, so eating breakfast will jump-start your metabolism and you'll burn more calories throughout the morning.

• 4

  Eat throughout the day (without overeating). If you eat five to six very small meals a day rather than three larger meals, you keep your metabolism going. Don't let more than four hours go by without eating something. Eating raises your body temperature for up to four hours because it takes energy to digest food. So your metabolism is increased as you nibble all day long.

• 5

  Eat more protein; it can boost your metabolism, causing you to burn an extra 150 to 200 calories a day. Ten to 35 percent of your total daily calories should come from protein.

• 6

  Consume only high-fiber carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Give up white, refined carbohydrates such as potatoes, white rice, and white bread that create a surge in insulin that promotes fat storage, slowing your metabolism.

• 7

  Don't drink alcohol. Drinking with a meal causes the body to burn off the alcohol before burning calories from food, so these calories are stored as fat.

• 8

  Drink low-fat milk and eat low-fat dairy products such as yogurt, string cheese and low-fat cottage cheese. Calcium, along with other substances in dairy foods, can speed up your metabolism.

• 9

  Eat spicy foods with capsaicin (found in jalapeño and cayenne peppers). Capsaicin causes your body to release more adrenaline and speeds up your metabolism.

• 10

  If you are a woman, be sure to exercise even if you have pre-menstrual syndrome. Women can lose more weight if they exercise during the two weeks before their period, according to a study at the University of Adelaide in Australia. "Women burned about 30 percent more fat for the two weeks following ovulation to about two days before menstruating," says study coauthor Leanne Redman. Estrogen and progesterone peak during this time; and they use up the stores of body fat, so more fat is metabolized during this time of the month for women.

• 11

  Get a full night's sleep every night. People who get four hours or less of sleep a night don't metabolize carbohydrates as well as those who get more sleep, according to a study at the University of Chicago . And, be sure to do your workouts earlier in the day because exercising two to three hours before bedtime can keep you from sleeping.

• 12

  Try to limit your stress. Find a stress reliever that works for you. Stress hormones not only boost your appetite, but they stimulate fat cells which slow metabolism.