There are many benefits to increasing your metabolism. You may have increased energy throughout the day, you’ll sleep much better, and probably the most important health benefit of all is that you’ll lose weight and then be able to keep it off. And here’s a benefit most people don’t think about. By simply increasing your metabolism you will burn more calories even when you are sleeping.
With a slow but steady increase in metabolism, it is possible to achieve the recommended weight loss of one to two pounds per week. The interesting thing about increasing your metabolism is the fact that in order to burn calories, the body needs calories. Cutting calories can actually slow your metabolism to the point where you no longer burn excess calories and your body begins to store more fat.
As everyone knows, exercising is a good way to lose weight. It is also a good way to increase your metabolism. But just like anything else, it’s the type of exercise that’s important to your long-term weight loss goals. Many fitness and weight loss “gurus” have led the general public to believe that aerobic or cardio-type exercises are the best way to lose weight. While there is nothing wrong with doing this type of exercise, and indeed there are great health benefits to doing so, it is not the end and only goal of weight loss.
This is why. When you do aerobic exercises, your metabolism increases and you burn more calories than you would if you were sitting on the couch watching TV. But what happens when your training is over? Your metabolism slows down. You are no longer burning those extra calories. The key to increasing your metabolism is to increase your metabolic rate while you are resting.
How do you do this? Weight training. Building lean muscle mass is a calorie burning machine not only during training but also after training when you are resting, your muscles are rebuilding and this consumes calories. The beauty of weight training is that you can customize your workout to shape your body however you see fit. Lifting weights won’t build big, bulky muscles unless you adapt your training and lifestyle to do so. For women, weight training is a great way to not only boost your metabolism, but also shape and tone your body. The other benefit of weight training is the ability to keep the weight off once you’ve lost it. Lean muscle mass requires large amounts of caloric energy to maintain.
Combine these two metabolism-boosting exercise regimens together and you really are on your way to losing any amount of weight you want and keeping it off easily. The only thing missing is the desire and commitment to make it happen and that is something that has to come from within.
