Many people believe that severely restricting their calories is the only way to lose weight. This is FALSE! Your body wants and needs to be fueled properly to function. Your body uses energy for lots of things, such as your brain to function, your heart to beat, your lungs to breathe, and your digestive system to digest foods. When you restrict too much or completely eliminate any particular group of foods, your body will not be able to work the way it wants to.
It’s often forgotten that it’s not always about the physical amount of food you are eating, but also the type of food. For example. living on protein bars isn’t the same as eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and proteins. Your body utilizes these foods better as opposed to artificial or highly processed products.
What is metabolism anyway? Metabolism is the process of converting food into energy to power everything we do, from moving to thinking. Here is a way to think about it: picture a fire. If you keep putting wood (the fuel) in the fire (your body), it keeps burning. If you stop fueling the fire, it starts to weaken.
Here are some ways to boost your metabolism and help you lose weight:
- Incorporate weight training or body weight exercise into your routine. Increasing muscle mass is beneficial because muscle is active tissue. This means that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest, even while sleeping. Fat mass is inactive tissue.
- Stay hydrated. Your body needs water to process calories. Being dehydrated all the time can ultimately slow down your metabolism.
- Snack smart. When you go too long without eating, your metabolism can slow down over time. You want to eat every 3 to 4 hours throughout the day. Choose snacks that include proteins, healthy fats, and high fiber carbohydrates to keep you full as opposed to high sugar and highly processed foods.
- Incorporate whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats into your meals. These foods take longer to digest, so you end up burning more calories during the digestion process to break these foods down.
- Avoid fad diets! Jumping from one new restrictive diet that you hear about to another can have a major effect on your metabolism over time. The word “diet” is a red flag since it is short-term. Focus on lifestyle changes.