10 + 1 Tricks to speed up metabolism

1. Yes to the cold !!!

You are right. It turns out that the body invests part of its energy in maintaining body temperature and that speeds up the metabolism, which among other things needs to burn calories to keep running.

The trick. Both cool environments and avoiding overheating in colder months or taking cold showers help speed up your metabolism without doing anything.

Photo: Tim Gouw via Unsplash

2. Drink cold water

Just as cold environments help speed up metabolism, so does drinking cold water. And is that the body is kept at an average temperature of about 37º C and if you introduce a cold liquid in it, the metabolism rushes to spend energy (calories) to heat it up and match its temperature to the body temperature.

The trick. According to some research, drinking a liter and a half of cold water a day represents an average expenditure of 90 kcal. Here are tricks to drink water without realizing it.

3. Don't skip any meals

Although it seems contradictory, eating loses weight. The first thing to keep in mind is that assimilating the nutrients in food requires a high dose of energy that lasts for two or three hours after each meal. That is, the fact of digesting, transforming proteins into amino acids, fats into fatty acids, etc. supposes a remarkable expenditure of calories. But, in addition, if we go a long time without eating anything, our blood sugar level decreases, which makes us feel tired and, also, slows down our metabolism to save energy (and accumulate reserves in the form of fat, for example ).

The trick. In addition to eating several times a day (experts recommend five: breakfast, lunch, lunch, snack and dinner), you must avoid drastic diets. If the body notices that you are not eating enough, it goes into protection mode, slows down and saves caloric expenditure.

4. Take the right amount of protein

Our body takes longer and needs more energy to break down and digest proteins than to process other nutrients, so it is important to include them in our diet.

The trick. Generally speaking, it is recommended that an adult should ingest about 0.8 g of protein for every kilo of weight. If we calculate it for a person of 65 kg, we would be talking about about 52 g per day. For example: a 100g steak, 2 eggs, 2 yogurts and 60g of lentils.

5. Bet on healthy fats

Although they are not literally fat burning foods, both oily fish and shellfish stand out for their richness in omega 3 fatty acids and are considered foods that accelerate the metabolism. This type of polyunsaturated fat reduces the level of total cholesterol, reducing the risk of cardiovascular accidents and facilitating the proper functioning of the metabolism.

The trick. Unless there are medical contraindications, the diet should include fish 3 or 4 times a week, and two of them should be blue fish (mackerel, herring, swordfish, anchovy, turbot …).

6. Add a touch of spice or other spices

And it is that science has detected that spices, and especially hot ones, help you lose weight. Many spices, and especially those that come from Capsicum (such as chili, chilli or cayenne pepper) contain a substance called capsaicin that is capable of temporarily increasing the temperature of our body. Thanks to this, our body is forced to increase caloric expenditure and starts to burn fat.

The trick. According to his study, when consuming spicy the body's metabolic rate increases up to 20% for half an hour. So if you want to burn more fat, you just have to add a touch of spice or one of the spices with a fat burning effect to your meals.

7. Skip alcoholic beverages

Not only does alcohol slow down the metabolism, but according to various studies, it causes people to eat about 200 more calories. And other research maintains that the metabolism burns alcohol first, which means that calories from food are more likely to end up being stored as fat.

The trick. Replace alcohol with drinks without alcohol, without added sugars and, if possible, cold to achieve the same effect as drinking cold water.

Photo: Kelsey Chance via Unsplash.

8. Include green tea in the diet

As a general rule, exciting beverages, especially green tea, speed up the metabolism. This type of tea stimulates the central nervous system, increasing the state of wakefulness; tones the muscles and breathing; it has a diuretic and bronchodilator effect; increases the secretion of gastric juices improving heavy digestions; lowers cholesterol levels; it is an antioxidant; and, in addition, thanks to its catechins, it accelerates the burning of fats.

The trick. Do not abuse. Five cups of green tea a day can produce a caloric expenditure of about 90 calories a day.

9. Practice physical exercise

It is as simple as that the more we move, the more energy we expend and the faster the metabolism goes. If it is practiced regularly, in addition, its effect lasts for a time after it is stopped.

The trick. It is important to perform both aerobic (endurance) and anaerobic (strength) exercise, since each of them influences certain pathways. In addition, it is recommended that it be an exercise of moderate or high intensity and practiced for at least one hour. Head over to Eri Sakamoto's blog, you will find different routines.

10. Do bodybuilding

The more muscles, the more the metabolism accelerates because this tissue requires more energy and nutrients to regenerate than that of fat. Even at rest, the energy expenditure to maintain muscles is higher than that of other tissues.

The trick. The fact that energy expenditure increases does not imply that you can start eating without any control. Physical exercise can never compensate for a poor diet.

And surprise your body!

As the body has a great capacity for adaptation, it gets used to routines (diet, exercise, habits …) and it relaxes (metabolism slows down). When we do physical exercise, for example, we must progressively increase our intensity or volume of training since, after a few weeks, the same training is no longer as effective.

The trick. To counteract this, you can modify the exercises and do things that cost you and surprise your body, for example, changes in speed, rhythms, duration or loads. This is what is called the interval method, which consists of combining different exercise intensities, such as, for example, adding the benefits of walking and running alternating them and combining them in different series.

Whenever there is talk of effortlessly getting fit and losing weight, someone blurts out that the trick is to speed up your metabolism. But what exactly does it mean and what does it have to do with losing weight?

What is metabolism?

Basal metabolic rate is the energy expenditure required to perform normal bodily functions. This dose of energy represents approximately 70% of the total. The basal metabolism is influenced by factors such as sex, body composition, age, physiological state or weight.

Slow or fast metabolism?

Fast metabolism. If when you make small changes in your diet or your habits you lose weight (or gain it) quickly, then it is said that you have a fast metabolism.
Slow mentalism. If, on the contrary, despite walking an hour each day and following a strict diet there is no way you can lose weight, surely your metabolism is slow.
The feminine, slower. In general, women have more fat and less muscle tissue than men, so our metabolism is slower.