Stimulate Your Metabolism and Increase Weight Loss with These 8 Great Tips

     Everyone wants a faster metabolism, but many people aren't aware of how simple it can be to make your body burn extra fat and calories. Your body's metabolic rate is influenced by all of the seemingly insignificant choices you make throughout the day, creating a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's easy to fall into a routine that causes your metabolism to slow down. On the other, however, with a bit of education, it's simple to make the choices that will boost your metabolism almost effortlessly. Here are some simple tips you can follow to boost your metabolism with ease!

1. Make sure that you're getting enough water throughout your day. New studies are finding that drinking water has numerous different benefits, and temporarily increasing your metabolic rate just so happens to be one of them. It won't improve your overall metabolism, but staying hydrated will cause your body to burn extra calories while it heats the liquid. Drinking water with a meal is also a great way to avoid fatty, sugary soft drinks and help keep your system flushed.

2. Light muscle-building exercises are absolutely crucial to maintaining a higher metabolic rate. This is because your resting metabolism naturally slows very gradually as you lose weight. The best way to combat this effect is to replace burned fat with lean muscle, which increases the body's metabolism by burning extra calories, even while you are sitting. Muscle-building workouts also increase your metabolism more than aerobic or cardio workouts.

3. Eat proper portions ?don't splurge or starve yourself. Many people get frustrated with dieting and cut their portions down to unhealthy levels, or go through fasting periods. This doesn't help you lose any weight, and actually causes your metabolism to slow down because your body is afraid it won't get the food it needs to survive. Huge amounts of food will also pack on the pounds, so shoot for a healthy middle ground. Eat enough to get full, but don't stuff yourself. To maximize your metabolism-boosting, eat smaller meals but eat a bit more often throughout your day.

4. Cut sugary foods out of your diet. If you want a healthy metabolism, sugar is your worst enemy. Sugar causes the body to store a higher percentage of calories as fat, while at the same time slowing metabolic rate. It's a deadly one-two punch ?your body is storing fat at a higher rate, and burning it more slowly. Cutting sodas and candy out of your diet is one of the fastest ways to boost your metabolism.

5. Get at least seven hours of sleep each night. Sleep is far more than a simple time for energy recuperation. Lower levels of sleep can cause the body's metabolism to slow down, and the body actually regenerates lean muscle during the last hours of sleep each night. Get enough sleep, and you'll keep all that muscle you've been working for, helping to keep your resting metabolism high.

6. Avoid stress. It's no secret anymore that stress triggers weight gain, but it's a crucially important point. Stress not only causes fat storage, but it causes it in the worst place possible - right around the tummy. Fat stored in this area is not only unsightly, it's also the most unhealthy. You can't completely avoid stressful situations, but you can influence how you react to them. Make sure that you take at least an hour out of your day to do something you really enjoy, or at least something relaxing.

7. Eat spicy foods. Once considered a myth, it is now proven that spicy foods temporarily increase your body's ability to burn calories. Sometimes your metabolism can be increased by as much as 8% for a short time after a meal, which can help you reduce the number of calories from the food that you ate.

8. You don't have to be a gym buff to increase you metabolism. In fact, just getting up and increasing your activity level just a tiny bit has been shown to boost your metabolism. - Things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking your car a bit farther out in the parking lot. These activities probably wont cause you to break a sweat, but your body will be, on a consistent basis, getting more exercise.

When boosting your metabolism, remember ?it's all of the small things coming together that really make it happen. You don't have to change your life to get a healthier body or a higher metabolic rate ?you simply have to do smaller things that stimulate your body to burn more calories.

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