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Tips on Increasing Metabolism

When you were a child, you may have been able to polish off a fast food combo meal, save room for dessert and not gain an ounce. Now you can't put so much as a cookie in your mouth without bursting out of your jeans the next day. What gives? Your metabolism has. Given up, that is. It's time to rev it back up.

  1. Don't say no to H2O

    • Drink water or eat more water-based food, such as lettuce or cucumbers. A 2003 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism showed that drinking 500 ml of water increases a person's body's metabolic rate temporarily by 30 percent.

    Eat less but more often

    • Eat smaller meals, but eat more meals overall throughout your day. Before eating less food to lose weight, try eating what you would normally eat but in smaller increments. When you go without food for a long time, your blood sugar decreases, your stomach growls, and more importantly, your metabolism slows. You are in starvation mode. If you eat more often, your metabolism remains steadier. So if, before, you ate three meals a day, each one containing between 700 and 800 calories, break them up into five meals, each containing about 400 to 500 calories.

    Catch some Zs

    • Get some sleep! Lack of rest can increase hunger, while maintaining proper sleep patterns is more likely to regulate your metabolism, according to researchers from the University of California--Irvine.

    Spice it up

    • Add hot red peppers to your food. A Japanese study published in the British Journal of Medicine in 2004 found that after sprinkling red pepper on food, research subjects later consumed food with less calories and fat. A 1997 study by researchers at the University of Inchon in South Korea suggested that red pepper stimulates oxidation of carbohydrates in the body.

    Work those muscles

    • Perform a short but intense session of physical cardiovascular or muscle-based physical activity. Exercising vigorously for minutes at a time boosts metabolism in as little as two weeks, researchers from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh found in 2009.

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