There are many benefits to increasing your metabolism. You can have an increase in energy through out the day, you’ll sleep much better and probably the most important health benefit of all is you will lose weight and then be able to keep that weight 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 hit the recommended one to two pounds of weight loss per week. The interesting thing about increasing your metabolism is the fact that in order to burn calories the body needs calories. Actually cutting calories can slow down your metabolism to the point where you are no longer burning 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 is the type of exercise that’s important to your long term weight loss goals. Many fitness and weight loss “gurus” have lead the general public to believe that aerobic or cardio type workouts are the best way to lose weight. While there is nothing wrong with doing those types of exercise and there are indeed great health benefits to doing them they are not the end all and be all of weight loss.
Here’s why. When doing aerobic workouts your metabolism does increase and your burn more calories then you would sitting on the couch watching TV. But what happens when your workout is over? Your metabolism slows down. Your are no longer burning those extra calories. The key to increasing your metabolism is to increase your metabolic rate while resting.
How do you do this? Weight training. Building lean muscle mass is a calorie burning machine not only during the workout but also post workout when you are resting your muscles are rebuilding and this takes calories. The beauty of weight training is you can customize your workout to shape your body however you see fit. Lifting weights will not build large bulging muscles unless you tailor your workout and lifestyle to do that. For women weight training is a great way to not only increase their metabolism but also shape and tone their body’s. The other benefit of weight training is the ability to keep off the weight once you have lost it. Lean muscle mass requires large amounts of caloric energy to maintain itself.
Combine these two metabolism boosting exercise regimens together and you will truly be on your way to losing any amount of weight you want and keeping it off easily. The only thing that is missing is the desire and commitment to make it happen and that is something that has to come from within.