How to make your body burn more calories by increasing metabolism

It’s not rocket science. We all know how to lose weight. We all know the real equation which helps you lose weight. Burn more calories than you eat or drink and you will lose weight. Simple isn’t it? Well not really or I wouldn’t be writing this blog and you wouldn’t be reading it.

Here at Beer belly we know the difficulties attached to losing weight. We know it can be an impossible task to cut back on those luxuries you have become accustom to. In this article we will discuss how your body can burn more calories. This can be achieved by increasing your metabolic rate. You may ask. What is metabolic rate? Good question.

Metabolic Rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. A body that consumes 2500 calories a day, and burns the same amount of calories a day will stay at the same weight. A body consuming 2500 calories daily but burning only 2000 will gain weight at the rate of about 1lb a week.

This goes far to explain why the younger sister you have or friend who eats unhealthy food constantly doesn’t put on the weight.

You can do quite a lot to speed up your metabolism. One of the big benefits behind this blog is it will indentify the secrets around what determines your metabolic rate and what you can do to influence it.

The three main ways your body burns calories:

1) Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

This is the amount of calories you burn day to day when just been alive. Even when you are lying down doing absolutely nothing, BMR accounts for approximately 60% of the calories burned for an average person.

2) Burning Calories in everyday activities

This is the energy used during movement – from lifting your arm to operate the remote control to using the computer. This accounts for approximately 30% of the calories burned by an average person.

3) Dietary Thermogenesis

The ‘thermogenic effect’ described as meal-induced heat production – the calories burned in the process of eating, digesting, absorbing and using food.

How to change this standard Metabolism:

Build Muscle Mass

This typically has huge split opinions but for increasing the metabolism then weight lifting can be an excellent way to help you lose weight. Numerous studies across the web have shown that regular weight training can increase baseline metabolism by up to 20%. This is a huge number when you look at the figures provided above.

Muscle is "metabolically active" and burns calories even when you are doing nothing at all. A 150 pound person at 10% body fat will burn more calories than a 150 pound person at 20% body fat because the 10% body fat person has more muscle mass. When you hear people talking about what % of their body is muscle this is why they talk about it. The muscle is important to increasing the metabolism, thus losing weight and keeping the weight off longer.

Weight training even 3 days a week for about 30 minutes is enough to help you build and tone muscles. Not only will you lose weight, but you will also look better with well defined muscles.

Aerobic Exercise:
As well as the actual amount of calories burned during exercise – studies have shown that sustained, high-intensity exercise makes you burn more calories for several hours afterwards.

Try 30 minute sessions of heart rate raising exercise, such as vigorous walking, step aerobics, jogging, elliptical cross trainer exercise or swimming, 3-4 times a week.

Drink Green Tea
We will soon have a full blog on the health benefits of Green tea however when trying to burn more calories Green tea is known to be great for boosting the metabolism. Greet tea has a number of different compounds in it that are very good at helping your body to mobilize fat and utilize it for energy. There are a number of studies across the web which further enforces the overall effectiveness of green tea as a weight loss supplement. Change your current tea drinking for Green tea to really boost the changes of increasing the metabolism and losing weight.

Keep yourself moving!:
I am fully aware this sounds like something you would hear from the great Mr Motivator but the guy is right J Although the average person burns around 30% of calories through daily activity, many people only use around 15%. This is more common in those who are currently overweight. If you are aware of this (and we hope that’s what the blog achieves) then you have the knowledge to take every opportunity to move. This can make a huge difference in the amount of calories you burn.

Take every opportunity to move – here’s some ideas for burning calories:

• Tap your feet
• Swing your legs
• Drum your fingers
• Stand up and stretch
• Move your head from side to side
• Change position
• Park at the back of the car park

You’ll find lots of opportunities for burning more calories if you remember what benefits it can have on your weight loss. It may sound stupid and hard to believe but it really does work. Constant movement of the body throughout the day helps speed up the metabolism. It is especially crucial if you have an office job.

There is no doubt speeding up the metabolism can help you lose weight. The tricks to speed up the metabolism are quick, simple and extremely effective. Adding green tea to the daily regime instead of normal tea can help with this aligned with some weight training and aerobic exercise. Surely everyone knew they would have to do this to lose weight? Furthermore the inclusion of ‘MOVING’ when you can will dramatically increase your metabolism. Follow the steps above and this can help you lose weight quicker.

Thanks for reading guys,

Beer Belly Ryan

Sources:
Ezine Articles – Burn more calories
Weight Loss Resources – Burn more calories