Metabolism-Boosting Tips and Tricks

If your weight-loss train has lost steam and your body has hit a plateau, you may need to reset your metabolism. Eating too much of the wrong thing, inactivity and even eating too little can bring your metabolism and weight-loss efforts to a screeching halt. There are plenty of tricks you can try to restart your metabolism. Eating the right foods throughout the day, exercise and changing your caloric intake will get your weight-loss efforts back on track.

Eat Many Small Meals

• Eating too little during the day or eating only one or two meals actually can make you gain weight. According to Norae Ferrera, registered dietician from the San Francisco Nutrition Clinic, eating small, frequent meals boosts energy and promotes weight loss. She says that eating five small meals a day regulates blood sugar levels, increases your metabolism and decreases cravings.

  One of the best ways to pump up your metabolism is to graze throughout the day. You will maintain blood sugar levels, which keeps cravings away, plus your body gets a steady stream of small, nutrient-packed meals throughout the day.

  Eat a total of six small meals--one every few hours--that consist of 200 to 250 calories each. Eat only whole grains, fresh fruit, vegetables and lean meats to encourage weight loss.

Cycle Calories

• According to the authors of "The Body Sculpting Bible for Women," Hugo Rivera and James Villepigue, when your body becomes accustomed to eating the same number of calories each day, your weight loss will plateau. Caloric cycling helps to recharge your metabolism by alternating the number of calories you eat from week to week. Your body won't be able to anticipate the number of calories and your weight loss plan will continue.

  Caloric cycling is easy to implement. For example, eat 1,200 calories per day for one week. The following week add 300 calories to you daily diet to equal 1,500. This could be the addition of an apple and peanut butter or some hot-air popcorn. When you add just 300 calories, your body revs up to burn those extra calories and your metabolism is off and running.

  Shift down to 1,200 calories for another week then shift back up to 1,500 calories for the following week. Take the next two weeks off from caloric cycling and eat your regular diet. Go back to the 1,200 daily plan for the following week, and repeat the cycle.

Interval Training

• Interval training produces the same result as caloric cycling. Exercise is key to keeping your metabolism charged, but some people find that they aren't losing weight even after they hit the gym every day for months on end.

  According to Villepigue and Rivera, your body becomes accustomed to the same workout day after day and no longer has to work as hard to accomplish it.

  Shock your system by integrating interval training into your workout. For cardio routines, try speed play training, otherwise known as farklek. A farklek is simply increasing your cardio intensity for a certain amount of time and then reducing the intensity. It's short burst of energy and power throughout the workout to spark your metabolism and get it to begin burning fat.

  For example, runners might run as fast as they can for one minute, then drop down to a regular steady pace for three minutes. Pick the pace up again and try to run at top speed for a minute and a half, and then drop down and run at a steady pace for two minutes.

  Listen to your body when you are implementing interval training. If you feel pain, extreme shortness of breath, or numbness or tingling, stop your training and consult a doctor.