It’s incredibly important to find ways to Boost your Metabolism as you age. Simply put Metabolism is a series of chemical reactions in your body that help it to maintain a healthy weight and keep your body alive and functioning properly.
Metabolism also refers to the burning of calories from the foods that you consume daily and how it manages daily the intake of those calories and their nutritional values. The higher it is the more calories you burn, and the lower it is the more weight gain will creep up on you. Boosting the metabolic rate of your body will help you keep weight off and maintain a healthy scale reading.
In addition, having a higher metabolism does so much for giving you higher energy and overall just makes you feel so much better as you navigate the day. In this article, we’re going to explore the 9 best ways that you can make sure your metabolism is kicking in high gear as you age.
So, let’s get into it!
1. What you Cook with Matters!
The moment you switch to cooking with Coconut Oil from other saturated fats like Vegetable or Canola oil, you almost immediately will start to see a huge difference in how fast your foods metabolize. Coconut oil is very high in what are called medium-chain fats which make a big difference in how your body digests and metabolizes the food that you consume.
Medium-chain fats metabolize food much better and a little longer than the saturated long-chain fats found in butter and other oils. It’s been studied that it increases it by more than 12%. Long-chain fats traditionally are closer to 4% by comparison.
Coconut oil because of its fatty acid profile will have added benefits on the scale in helping you capitalize on that increased metabolism by assisting in added weight loss and that’s so important to boost your metabolism as you age.
Try cooking with coconut oil for a while and embrace what a huge difference it can and will make for you and your metabolism!
2. Protein, Protein, and More Protein!
Eating meals and snacks period is what kicks in the metabolism effect. It’s part of the reason they say eating 5-6 small meals versus 3 traditional meals helps with weight loss and metabolism. But did you know that it also kicks in what they call the “thermic effect of food” (TEF)?
The TEF is caused because it uses the extra calories that you’re taking in while eating to digest, absorb, and use all the vitamins and nutrients contained in the food. Now here’s where you can take this process and use it more efficiently and to your advantage.
Protein creates a bigger spike in the thermic effect because of the way it’s used and processed differently when compared to fats or carbs. Protein can increase your metabolism by almost 30% compared to 10% for carbs and 3% for fats.
So, foods high in protein like chicken, steak, fish, and even eggs and cheese will not only help increase your metabolism with a higher TEF but are also denser and make you feel full quicker and longer. This alone will help keep you from overeating and binging on food.
It’s been studied and proved that eating meals higher in protein causes you to eat fewer calories a day by as much as 400-500 calories when you eat high protein meals!
Eating more protein will boost your metabolism which will burn more calories, especially from fat stores, helping you lose weight since you will eat less. It’s kind of a cool cheat when thinking about how and what you are eating to help to boost your metabolism as you age.
3. Drink more Cups of Joe!
Your morning habit of having that cup(s) of coffee will also aid in boosting your metabolism provided you don’t add a lot of extra creamers and sugars to your morning pick me up!
Coffee has been studied and shown to increase and spike metabolism by up to 11% as it aids in burning fat with the way it’s absorbed and digested by the body. Coffee has a chemical profile that’s great for liquid calories and perfect in helping you boost your metabolism as you age.
Coffee is ideal for people who are already lean by nature to keep the weight off as it rewards those with a lean body profile with an even higher metabolic rate.
So again, that cup of Joe can help you successfully take off the pounds and maintain a healthy weight! So drink up!
4. Cold Cold Water helps Metabolism!
We all know that water is great for you as it has nothing chemically added like sugars, starches, and artificial flavors. Most of us drink water to help refresh our bodies on a hot day or while exerting ourselves physically. But did you know that water actually temporarily speeds up your metabolism?
Yep, not only does drinking water reduce your caloric intake from other beverages, but it spikes the metabolic effect, unlike other drinks.
So, the people who drink water more regularly instead of other salty or sugary drinks have a much easier time losing weight and making sure those pounds stay off than those that don’t.
Studies have shown that drinking between 15 to 20 ounces of water will increase your resting metabolism by over 25% for an hour or longer. But here’s the really cool part, drinking ice cold water causes that to spike up to 30%! It does this because in order for the body to process the water it uses energy calories to heat it up to your body’s temperature! How cool is that! Burning more calories as your body heats the water!
I know for me and most people, water fills me up quickly. I always try to consume water while eating meals as it reduces the need to binge and overeat. Studies have been shown that those who drink half a liter of water before meals have lost up to 40% or more weight than those who didn’t.
As the Waterboy said in the movie, “That’s high-quality H20!!”
5. Those Z’s really do matter when you Sleep!
No, sleep itself doesn’t magically produce a chemical effect that spikes your metabolic rate, however, what does happen is when you don’t get enough sleep, sleep deprivation does have a negative effect on the body’s metabolism.
When the body doesn’t get enough sleep, it has been known to be linked to increased blood sugar levels and an insulin shortage. Not a good situation as it also negatively affects metabolism. We all know as we get older that’s not ideal when you’re trying to boost your metabolism as you age.
Not getting enough sleep explains a lot and why so many people who struggle with getting 8 hours also struggle with weight issues. I mean why make the fitness journey even harder by negatively affecting your metabolism due to a lack of sleep.
Now go take a NAP! >>> Check Out Our Article On Why Getting Enough Sleep Is Important.
6. High-Intensity Cardio Workouts Baby!
Cardio workouts where you work hard for 30 seconds and then even harder for another 30 seconds in multi-levels of action with short rests that cause your heart rate to constantly fluctuate is called HIIT or High-Intensity Interval Training. Popular workouts like Insanity from Beachbody excel in this type of workout routine that does wonders for your Metabolism.
HIIT routines positively affect metabolic heart rate. You burn so much more fat when you constantly keep the body and heart guessing with fluctuating intensity. Studies have shown that when overweight individuals include HIIT workouts they see belly fat decrease faster than with traditional cardio. In 12 weeks most people will see a decrease in belly fat by over 15% when doing HIIT cardio routines.
It’s better to always mix up your fitness routines to keep your body guessing, and by adding High-Intensity interval workouts, you’ll see metabolism speed up and spike, which will help aid in reaching your goals!
>>> Check Out Our Article On The Convenient Home Fitness Option.
7. Hot Spicy Foods for the Win!
Are you like me and enjoy a little spice and heat with some of your favorite dishes? I could literally pop about 100 jalapeno pepper slices a day if I had them in the house all the time as snacks. I just love the taste and texture of hot foods!
Peppers contain a substance called capsaicin, which aids in boosting metabolism. And while most people can’t tolerate the heat as I can, the heat and spices in hot foods nevertheless have a great effect on helping you lose weight as it spikes the metabolic factor which again aids in helping to boost your metabolism as you age.
So the next time you’re looking for a little extra advantage without a ton of effort needed, add some spice to that healthy food you’re making! Sure, you might sweat a little but that sweat could be a little added metabolism with a side of weight loss!
8. Throw around the Heavy Weights a Little.
One of my best stress relievers is getting my workout in each and every day. And throwing around my weights is my absolute favorite way to do that. But did you know that lifting those heavy weights is a great and efficient way to not only increase your metabolism but do it for a longer period as the body repairs the tears in the muscle fibers which affects the metabolic effect on the body!
Simply put this means you will burn more calories each day you partake in this type of exercise. Lifting weight also helps you retain muscle and avoid the drop-in metabolism that often occurs during weight loss.
There are so many ways to lift weights from hypertrophy, to drop sets, to even slow-motion lifting. Finding the way and style that interests you and benefits you the most can be daunting, but with streaming services like Beachbody on Demand, there are literally hundreds of workouts with weights at your fingertips for you to try and see the effect of! With BOD it’s like having the Netflix of fitness.
So the next time you’re looking for a great way to get that stress off your chest and you’re looking for another way to speed up the metabolism, throw around the steel for a bit and get your sweat on!!
9. Sip on some Green Tea.
Most of us like to sip on something throughout the day to get us through the day and stay hydrated. Some may sip on energy drinks in jobs that demand it, while others sip on pop/soda and juice which can be full of chemicals and sugar. Both of the latter don’t offer many health benefits at all. The consumption of water we talked about above, but did you know that Green tea can offer you Metabolism spikes and benefit your weight loss journey as well?
Green tea has been shown to increase the Metabolic effect on digestion by as much as 5%. That’s a pretty cool little number when you consider how easy it is to tip back that glass. What happens is that this tea will work to convert some of the fat stores in your body into fatty acids which in turn increase fat burn. In addition, Green tea is very low in calories. Everyone’s a little different in how Green tea will affect them, as it’s been said this metabolism effect is stronger in those with a higher activity compass.
But hey it’s worth a try, right?
Simple Habit Changes Can Boost Your Metabolism As You Age
Change is hard and we all know that what comes with change is trial and error and failures sometimes as we learn new ways and transition out old bad habits. But it’s worth it to get to a point where you not only feel better in mind and body, but you also begin to see the changes physically as well.
Making some or all of these 9 lifestyle changes is a sure-fire way to not only speed up your metabolism, but it’s a great way to put yourself on track to living your best life. Yes, having a higher metabolism will help you reach some of your health goals in the long run, but overall, it’s just a better way to live as we attempt to boost your metabolism as you age right?
Now take that extra energy you’re going to have from this article’s sure-fire ways to boost your metabolism as you age and pay it forward!
Cheers!
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