Supercharging your METABOLISM

Is that at all possible? Let me put it this way…not by sitting on the coach with the bag of crisps in your hand it’s not!
Most of you are aware that I am preaching a complete lifestyle change but with this article I am going to focus on how you can get your metabolism fired up to function at its peak level.
I think it is common knowledge that the higher you’re resting metabolism is the quicker you are going get rid of that unwanted fat layer.
Before we get to the nitty-gritty of the how, let’s quickly delve into why a lot of people are sitting with these slow metabolisms. I’ve already touched on some reasons in some of my earlier articles.
Granted, for some people it might actually be genetic, but for the most (and I claim easily 95%) they have enough control over the metabolic rate to make a very big difference weight wise.

The slow metabolism origins

 

The first main reason
In my article DIET IS FOR LOSERS I already discussed how people are training their body in a complete negative way by following short-term diets. Each diet train the body to drop the resting metabolic rate since it senses it might be in a famine period. After the diet target weight is reached and you revert back to your normal eating habits, your body is adding on as much fat as possible to prepare for the next approaching “famine” period and it then lowers the resting metabolic rate every time you hit a new diet…for good!
Therefore DIETS is one of the main reasons the resting metabolic rate is slowing down year after year.
One should never follow a diet (or short-term solution) but make a long-term lifestyle change if you want a healthy metabolic rate.

 

The second main reason
In conjunction with above problem, the same people will tend to become more and more inactive due to various reasons:

• Our western lifestyle is that of coach potatoes in front of tv.
• Being more overweight year after year make it even more difficult to become active.
• Time and work may sometimes be limiting factors.

 

How are you going to get this slow resting metabolic rate fired up for peak performance?

If you are not ready to make a complete lifestyle change, skip this article…but be aware there is absolutely NO quick fix available anywhere in our little spot of the universe. The closest you will get to a quick and last fix (not to get a healthy metabolic rate but get rid of the fat layer) is the operation that restrict your amount of food uptake by your body…serious stuff…..we were designed a certain way, alter with that design and you ask for serious problems. That being said, there are success stories out there of people who did the operation…
So a lifestyle change is a basic need to start the process of correcting your resting metabolic rate.

Part of a lifestyle change is eating a small balanced meal every 3-4 hours (from waking up to going to bed). Why? Well, the body was designed that way. The 3 meals a day plan most people follow is far from what the body need to act optimally. It allows your blood sugar levels to drop too low and also does not give the food in the correct way for your body to grow/lose fat and function optimally.
After you’ve ate a meal, even small, your resting metabolic rate will be much higher than normal for the next 3 hours. That is due to all the functions your body is performing to get the food from your stomach to your blood to feed the body. Your digestive system uses a lot of energy to do it’s job. Whether it is a small or big meal does not matter so much. Therefore the more frequent you can keep this system active the more energy you will burn and the higher your metabolic rate. But please, this is not a ticket to hit the fridge on the hour! You must stick religiously to the 3-4 hour rule and the meals must be small and balanced and ONLY what your body need. No more, no less.

But that alone is not going to solve the problem. There is much damage done and that damage need to be undone.

For years on end your body has been trained to slow down you’re resting metabolic rate and no matter what you do now that metabolism will need time to adapt. There is no quick way out. The more the damage the longer it will take. Let me put it to you like this, the more diets you’ve tried in the past the longer it is going to take to get your metabolism to function optimally.
No two people will react the same, but a general guideline is it can take between 6 to 8 months for worse case scenarios metabolic rates to start functioning optimally again. But don’t fear, on average it take 2 – 3 months to sort out the metabolism for most people.

Put the scale away!

Another point I want to raise at this stage is weighing yourself too often.
Put that scale away. You are aware of the damage that has been done to your metabolism and that will take some time to repair. Implement your lifestyle change and religiously stick to it.
I suggest that you never weight yourself more than once a month – at the same time every month.

Think about it…
It allow yourself to slip up once or twice, it gives enough breathing space for woman to avoid problems about periods etc. Your scale is not going to tell you the true story of what is busy happening in your body for the first couple of months. You need to re-program your body and while that new program is being written you do NOT want the scale to show you week after week a negative picture that will demotivate you within the first month.
You’ve made that lifestyle change (with all that goes along with it) – stick to it and once a month you can check yourself. Even measurements must only be done not more than once a month.
NEVER let the scale or measurements rule your lifestyle change. That is one of the quickest ways to fail and fall back. With the lifestyle change you eat right, train right, supplement right and do all in the right combinations and frequentcy…your body WILL respond.

Lean Mass and resting metabolic rate

A very important factor that determines the resting metabolic rate will be the amount of lean mass your body carries. The more lean mass the higher you’re resting metabolic rate.
Now I already hear (once agin) many women (and men) crying out, “we don’t wanna built any muscle just tone a bit”. Well, “toning” IS BUILDING MUSCLE! An inactive person losing all the unwanted fat would need to built at least 15 – 30% muscle to reach his/her target for a “toning” look/appearance. There is NOT something like toning, toning IS building muscle. So adding 15-30% muscle will have a dramatic effect on your resting metabolic rate and will give you that “toning” look.
This is also why I always recommend to overweight guys, to first focus on building decent muscle, then the process of losing the fat will be MUCH easier. In fact, without you even trying, you will loose fat because you’ve change your lifestyle.

Body builders generally have this aspect very good under control and that is also one of the reasons they are so successful in cutting to low body fat levels.

Now let’s return to get a shortlist of what you need to do to supercharge your metabolism:

1. Lifestyle change (eating + training + supplements + vitamins + spirituality). In some of my earlier posts I dealt in detail with what lifestyle chances involves.
2. Eating every 3-4 hours [keep metabolic rate fired up for up to 3 hours after eating]
3. Training 4-5 days a week [resting metabolic rate raised for up to 24 hours after training]
4. Grow muscle as much as you can but 15-30% minimum fore real change = toning. [more muscle = higher resting metabolic rate].

The above WILL kick start your metabolism into overdrive. It again is the combination of ALL the above and not any single item that makes the difference. You need to cover ALL THE ANGLES if you want to get your metabolism fired up and restored to function optimally.

 

As you can see, you cannot get away from some key changes in your life if you want to get rid of fat, look good and have a great body. These factors will always remain constant because it brings us back to how we were designed and suppose to live. Not as chips eating coach potatoes but as active people eating right and small meals every 3-4 hours.

Yes there are other supplements out there can can have a positive effect on your resting metabolism for a couple of hours (caffeine pills, green tea extract, etc…) but this should be ignored at first. Focus purerly on getting to grips with all aspects of your lifestyle change. Once you have that fully under control (I reckon it will take you at least 3 months) then by all means investigate other avenues of boosting your resting metabolic rate. But remember: NOTHING is a substitute other than above to fire up your metabolism in the correct way. Do not try to take any shortcuts!

 

Fire up that metabolism guys and girls and make 2013 the year that you become the best you can be…for good!

 

Wish you success
Gert