Myth #4: Too Much Focus

Speeding up your metabolism and achieving your weight loss goals involved a certain degree of focus; after all, there’s a lot of things competing for your attention (including that delicious Chef’s Special pecan pie!), and you certainly need to be able to keep your eye on the goal in order to maintain your program.

Yet sometimes too much focus can be a bad thing; and some dieters understand this all too well. 

Remember: Speeding up your metabolism is a holistic effort that includes exercise, lifestyle, and diet changes. 

Focusing only on one of these at the expense of the others (either one or both) can be detrimental.  In fact, in some cases, it can be counter-productive.

So the myth here is that you shouldn’t go all out and focus on becoming an exercise guru, and then move onto lifestyle, and then to diet. 

You have to integrate all 3 aspects into your life at the same time.  True, based on your unique situation, you will likely emphasize one more than the others.  That’s fine and normal.  But it’s a myth – and a mistake – to ignore any one of these. 

It takes all three to speed up your metabolism, and to get you to your weight loss goals for the long-term.

Myth #3: Low Intensity Workouts Always Works

It’s fair to say that any exercise is better than no exercise.  So if you lead a sedentary lifestyle, then even walking around your block for 10 minutes a day is going to something positive for your body and its metabolism.

True, that difference may be imperceptible to the naked eye (or it may not?), the bottom line is that exercise is good.

Yet with this being said, some people believe that they should perform low-intensity workouts even when they could be performing more high-intensity workouts. 

That is, instead of jogging for 20 minutes with their heart at the top end of their aerobic zone, they opt for low-intensity jogs that barely break a sweat.

Low intensity workouts simply don’t lead to a faster metabolism; they can’t.

Metabolism is a process!

And that process is really one of two types: taking energy and making cells (anabolism), or breaking cells down to make energy (catabolism).  

If you don’t achieve a high-intensity workout, your body can’t tap achieve catabolism; it won’t need to.  And the only way your body is going to go and break down existing cells is if it needs to. 

So keep this in mind as you exercise, either at home or at a gym.  Low intensity workouts are better than nothing at all; and they may be necessary if you’re recovering from injury, or just starting out on the exercise journey. 

But once you reach a level of basic fitness, only high intensity (aerobic) workouts will make a difference in terms of your metabolism.  High intensity workouts force your body to find energy to help you maintain that level of exercise; and it does so through catabolism.

Befriend Protein and Good Carbs

There is a dizzying array of things that you can eat these days.  Truly, a trip to the grocery store can be an adventure.  Everywhere you turn, there’s yet another food promising you healthy this or weight loss that. 

Added to this confusion is that there are some foods that are beneficial for metabolic boosting, and some that aren’t; and the differences aren’t always well-known.  Fortunately, we’re going to tackle this problem right now and describe the three basic food groups/types that are indeed good for a speedy metabolism. 

In terms of protein, studies have shown that having enough protein in your system can actually increase the speed of your metabolism.  This is because protein is difficult to break down.  Or rather, it requires more energy to break down.  It’s like feeding the body a knot; it needs a bit of time to unravel it.

And, as you know, when your body spends time on something, it spends energy (calories).  And so the more time it can spend breaking down protein, the more calories that it uses.

Different people will require different amounts of protein on a daily basis.  Those who exercise and build muscle will typically need more than the average amount, too. 

The USFDA Food Guide suggests around 50 grams of protein a day for a reasonably active adult. 

Keep in mind (not that you don’t already have enough to remember, but…) that there are different sources of protein: some lean, and some high in fat.  Fast food burgers may deliver up to 20 grams of protein (sometimes more), but they also deliver a great deal of fat; which makes them almost nutritionally worthless. 

The benefits you enjoy from the protein are far outweighed by the immense fat intake; which, for some fast food burgers, can exceed 40 grams!  And that’s not including the fries (we won’t even go there!).

So the thing to do is ensure that your source of protein derives from lean protein.  Typically, protein from some fish and chicken is lean; though not all of it. 

If you’re a vegetarian, or simply looking for non-meat lean protein alternatives, low-fat cheese, legumes (lentils), and yogurt are all good sources.  Simply check the food labels to determine if the source of protein is lean (doesn’t deliver high fat content), or fatty.

In terms of carbohydrates, there probably isn’t a more battered around micronutrient than this.  It’s gone from being the greatest thing in weight loss history, to one of the most reviled. 
And really, it’s not the fault of the innocent carbohydrate!  It’s really just a matter of information and knowledge, instead of speculation.

The thing to remember is that when carbohydrates are refined, such as white bread and potatoes, they are what the diabetic world refers to as high glycemic index (GI) foods, because they require spikes in insulin in order to be digested. 
As you may know, when insulin is released into the system, it promotes the storage of fat; and some experts believe that it also pushes down metabolic speed (which makes sense).  
Therefore, the good kinds of carbohydrate to consume are those that are high in fiber, and those from fruit and vegetable sources. 
Why?  Because these sources of carbohydrates don’t score high on the glycemic index.  In other words, they don’t cause a spike in insulin levels, and therefore, they don’t promote fat storage.

Sleeping: Zzzzzzzz…..Zzzzzzzzz

This is a toughy.  Most of us don’t have as much control over the amount that we sleep as we should.  Work, family, education, housekeeping, and so many other tasks can literally prevent us from getting the amount of sleep that we need.

However, as the experts tell us, getting enough sleep actually improves metabolism.  On the other hand, people who are constantly sleep deprived typically find that they have less energy to do regular, daily activities; including digestion. 

As a result, sleep-starved people often lower their own metabolism.  They simply don’t have the strength to break down food efficiently, particularly carbohydrates. 

This is a very difficult issue, because many people can only find time to exercise by borrowing from their rest time. 

For example, after a long day of work and dealing with family and home commitments, a person may find that the only time they have to exercise (and thus boost their metabolism) is late at night; say around 9:00 pm, or even later.  So what should one do?

Ultimately, it’s a question of balance.  Naturally, if you’re willing to exercise, and your doctor agrees that it’s healthy for you to do that, then you’re not going to get fit by sleeping instead of exercising. 

Yet with that being said, if you steal time away from your sleep/rest in order to exercise, over time, you can actually do more harm than good; because the following day, you won’t have enough energy to digest what you eat.  The answer to this catch-22 lies in balance. 

You don’t have to work out every night.  Or perhaps you can integrate a workout into your life during the day; maybe at lunchtime or right after work. 

Most fitness clubs are open very early (some are even open 24 hours), and if you choose to workout at home, you can do so in a generally affordable way (while some machines can cost thousands, basic machines that get the job done only cost a few hundred, even cheaper if they’re used).

If you find that you have trouble sleeping, then this can also negatively affect the speed of your metabolism (because you won’t have enough energy the following day).  Insomnia and other sleep disorders are very common problems, and there exists a variety of support systems in place to help people get the rest that they require.  Some non-medical tips to help you fall asleep include:

o    Don’t eat late at night
o    Try drinking warm milk before bedtime
o    Don’t turn on the TV at night
o    Try yoga or other stress-relieving practices
o    Try having a warm bath before bedtime
o    Don’t exercise close to bedtime; your body can become so energized that it doesn’t want to sleep!

Variety

They say that variety is the spice of life, and this is indeed quite true.  But despite this awareness, many people don’t spice up their exercise program; which is surprising, since doing so often leads to valuable metabolism-boosting benefits.

There are a few easy ways to add variety to your exercise program.  We’ve already talked about interval training, and that is indeed one way to shift your body’s metabolic engine into higher gear. 

Other effective ways are to break up a longer routine into smaller parts. 

For example, instead of committing to 1x1 hour workout a day, it can be metabolism-boosting to split this up into 2x30 minute workouts; or even, on some occasions, 3x20 minute workouts.

Furthermore, you can add variety into your daily exercise routine without formally exercising. 

For example, you can take the stairs instead of the elevator.  Or you can start your day with a brisk walk instead of a coffee and the newspaper. 

Or, instead of parking close to the grocery store entrance, you can walk the distance between a far away parking spot and the entrance. 

All of these tips provide two metabolism-boosting benefits. 

Firstly, as you can easily see, they can make exercising more fun.  While, indeed, it’s important to have an exercise routine, you don’t want to have a boring exercise routine (because then your chances of stopping are that much greater!). 

So adding these new elements to your overall exercise commitment simply helps encourage you to stick with the program.  And since exercising is a core part of boosting your metabolism, any technique or tip that helps you continue exercising over the long term is a wise piece of advice.

The second important benefit of variety in your exercise program leads us back to the interval training concept, discussed above. 

When you add variety to your workout, your body cannot get into a groove.  Remember: the body is a remarkable piece of work, and will always strive to do things efficiently. 

Naturally, the overall state of your health (which can be influenced by genetics and other factors outside of your control) will play a role in how efficiently your body runs. 

But regardless of how your body is put together, who what genetic influences you have to deal with, your body really likes you, and wants to do things as efficiently as it possibly can. 

Therefore, when you start exercising, you body can start to develop a kind of expectation of energy output.  It’s not doing this to be lazy; it’s doing this because, quite sincerely, it wants to help! 

If your body starts to predict that you need a certain amount of energy to complete a certain task (such as jog for 20 minutes), then it will start to achieve that energy output more efficiently.  

For example, when you first start jogging for, say, 2 minutes a time followed by 5 minutes of walking, your body may require a great deal of energy to help you achieve this. 

And as a result, you may find yourself very out of breath or tired as your body strives to meet this increased demand.  Naturally, of course, catabolism will be involved, and your body metabolism will increase. 

But over time, say a month or so, your body will simply become more efficient.  It will have become stronger, and will be able to supply your energy needs much more efficiently; you may not even break a sweat! 

What’s happened here is that your health has improved; your body has to work less hard to provide you with your energy needs. 

Ironically, this can actually obscure your metabolism-boosting efforts; because, as you know, you want to tell your body to start the catabolism process.  But if your body is efficiently working, it won’t really dig into its reserves (e.g. fat cells) in order to provide you with the energy that you need. 

So the trick is to keep variety in your workouts.  Many people choose to cross-train for this very reason.  It not only targets different muscle groups, but it keeps your body from finding a groove whereby it tried to help you by slowing down metabolism. 

Remember: your body doesn’t read books like this; it doesn’t need to, and it doesn’t care. 

It has no clue that a speedier metabolism is “good” or “bad”.  Now, as far as you and I are concerned, we know that a speedy metabolism is a good thing in our weight loss efforts. 

But your body doesn’t make this evaluation.  And so it won’t turn on its metabolism jets because you want it to. 

You can’t (unfortunately) send a memo to your body and ask it to please speed up metabolism. 

If you could, then that would be amazing!  But that’s not reality at all.  What we have to do is force the body to say to itself: hey, I need to speed up metabolism because this person needs more energy! 

And one of the best ways for you to force the body to have this kind of thinking is to add variety to your workouts.

Interval Training

The basic weight loss nuts and bolts behind cardiovascular exercise (or any kind of exercise, really) is, as you know, a matter of catabolism. 

Essentially, if you can engineer your body to require more energy, your body will comply by breaking cells down to deliver it; and that process (metabolism) burns calories.  Simple, right?

So based on that logic, something called interval training neatly fits in with the overall plan.  Interval training is simply a adding high-energy burning component to your exercise plan on an infrequent, or interval, basis.

For example, you may be at a stage where you can jog for 20 minutes every other day, and thus put your heart into a cardiovascular zone during this time. 

This, obviously, is going to help you boost your metabolism and thus burn calories/energy.  Yet you can actually burn disproportionately more calories if, during that 20 minute jog, you add a 30 second or 1 minute sprint. 

Why?  Because during this 30 seconds or 1 minute, you give your body a bit of a jolt. 

Not an unhealthy jolt; remember, we’re talking about quick bursts here, not suddenly racing around the track or through the park!  By giving your body an interval jolt, it automatically – and somewhat unexpectedly – has to turn things up a notch. 

And to compensate for your extra energy requirements, the body will burn more calories.

It’s essential for you to always keep in mind that interval training only works when it’s at intervals.  This may seem like a strange thing to say (and even difficult to understand), but it’s actually very straightforward. 

The metabolism-boosting benefits that you enjoy as a result of interval training are primarily due to the fact that your body, suddenly, needs to find more energy. 
While it was chugging along and supplying your energy needs during your cardiovascular exercising, it all of a sudden needs to go grab some more for 30 seconds or a minute; and in that period, it will boost your metabolism as if it were given a nice, healthy jolt.

As you can see, if you suddenly decided to extend your 30 second or 1 minute sprint into a 20 minute sprint, you simply wouldn’t experience all of the benefits. 

Yes, your body would use more energy if you extend yourself to the higher range of your aerobic training zone.  But your body won’t necessarily get that jolt that only comes from interval training. 

So remember: your goal with interval training is to give your body a healthy jolt where it suddenly says to itself:

“Whoa! We need more energy here FAST, this person has increased their heart rate from 180 beats per minute to 190 beats per minute!  Let’s go to any available cell, like those fat cells down at the waist, and break them down via catabolism so that this person can get the energy that they need!”

Remember (sorry to be repetitive, but this is very important): the whole point of interval training in this way is to give your body a sudden, limited, healthy jolt where it needs more energy – quick! 

If you simply increase your speed and stay there, while your body may, overall burn some more calories, it won’t get that jolt.

Also bear in mind that interval training can indeed last longer than 30 seconds or a minute.  

Some experts suggest that you can use interval training for 30-40 minutes, depending on your state of health and what your overall exercise regimen looks like. 

The reason we’re focusing on 30 seconds to 1 minute is simply to give you a clear understanding that interval training is a kind of mini training within a training program. 

And, as always, don’t overdo it with your interval training.  Your goal here is to become healthier and stronger, and lose weight in that process. 

You gain nothing if you run so fast or bike so hard during interval training that you hurt yourself.  You will actually undermine your own health, and possibly have to stop exercising while torn muscles or other ailments heal.

Build Muscle

Many people – particularly some women – are very leery about undertaking any exercise regimen that can lead to muscle building. 

The old perception was that muscle building leads to muscle bulking, and before long, gorging forearm veins and other unwanted results. This is, frankly, not the case.

Provided that women aren’t supporting their workouts with specific muscle-building supplements, there is no need to be concerned; because building lean muscle won’t make them bulk up.

Still, however, the question remains: why would women (and, of course, men) who want to boost their metabolism focus on muscle building?  Isn’t cardiovascular exercising the only thing that matters? 

In addition to a healthy and responsible cardiovascular program, muscle building is an exceptionally powerful way to boost metabolism. 

How?  Because a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat. 

And what does this mean?  It means (and get ready to stare in awe) that if you have more muscle on your body – anywhere on your body – you will simply burn more calories as a result. 

You don’t even have to do anything. You’ll simply burn more calories, because muscle simply requires more of an energy investment.

Of course, as you can infer, if you build muscle and then leave it alone, over time, the muscle fibers will weaken and you’ll lose that wonderful calorie-burning factory.  But that’s no problem, because all you need to do is build and maintain healthy muscle.

It may sound daunting; especially if at the moment you perceive yourself to have much more fat than muscle. 

Yet the important thing for you to remember is that once you start building muscle – through any kind of strength training – your body will itself start burning more calories. 

It has to; even while you sleep, or go to a movie, or read a book.  It’s like putting your calorie-burning (catabolism) program on auto-pilot. 

So don’t let a little (or even a lot) of extra flab, at the moment, deter you from believing that muscle building is important. 

Yes, you should enjoy cardiovascular exercise too, because that’s ultimately how your body is going to burn existing fat.  But muscle building plays a profoundly supportive role in that pursuit. 

And it’s an exponential one, too: the more fat you transform into muscle, the more calories you’ll burn simply to maintain that new muscle (and the wonderful cycle goes on and on!).

Exercise

It’s going to be old news for you to be reminded that exercising is a bit part of boosting your metabolism and burning up calories.

Unless you’re born with one of those unusually active metabolisms which allows you to, almost freakishly, eat thousands of calories a day without weight-gain consequences, you’re like the vast majority of us who need to give your metabolisms a bit of a kick through exercising.

Now, you might think that cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise is an important part of boosting your metabolism; and you’d be right!

Provided that, of course, your qualified doctor confirms that you’re able to start a program of cardiovascular exercise, this is indeed the place to start.  Increasing heart rate, blood circulation, body temperature, and oxygen intake/carbon dioxide exchange all send messages to the system to initiative catabolism (breaking down cells and using them for energy).

Tips, Techniques, and Strategies for Boosting Your Metabolism

Perhaps (like most of us) you weren’t quite certain what a metabolism was, and perhaps (again, like most of us) you probably didn’t quite know all that you needed to know in order to accomplish your goals.

Maybe you started a rigorous exercise program of jogging and muscle toning. 

Or maybe you started eating several small portions a day, rather than three large traditional meal-sized portions. 

Or maybe you started taking all kinds of supplements that promised to boost your metabolism.

The thing is, is that all of these methods can indeed work. 

Really: exercise, eating strategically, and ensuring that your body has catabolism-friendly supplements are but three of many generally good ideas. 

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that many of us have no real scientific understanding of what, how, or why these methods boost metabolism. 

Some of us, in fact, don’t really even know if they work; we just think that they do. 

For example, a person may start a vigorous exercise program that includes significant aerobic cardiovascular movement, such as jogging or cycling. 

And indeed, after a week, that person may notice a drop in weight. 

Yet is this due to a boosted metabolism?  Maybe; maybe not.  Could it be due to water loss through perspiration that hasn’t been adequately replenished?  Maybe or maybe not. 

The point here is that many people – at risk to their health and wellness – don’t quite understand the tips, strategies, and techniques of boosting their metabolism.

We’re going to look at the popular, easy, fun (yes, believe it or not), and successful ways to boost our metabolism. 

The popular and widely respected Internet publication i-Village  highlights 11 key ways to speed up metabolism.  To most easily introduce and discuss them here, we’ve taken these 11 key ideas and broken them down into 3 broad categories:

1.    Exercise
2.    Lifestyle
3.    Diet

As you go through each of the 11 key points, you’ll certainly note that there is some overlap between them.  For example, it’s hard to imagine that introducing exercise into your life isn’t, in many ways, a lifestyle choice. 

Similarly, integrating all kinds of metabolism-boosting foods into your diet is surely going to influence how you spend your time (probably less time in fast food line-ups, for one!). 

So with this being said, please don’t get bogged down in the categories; they are merely provided here to help organize these points, and to help you easily refer to them in the future.  The important thing for you to do is understand each of the points, and evaluate how you can responsibly integrate them into your life.  

Key Points

• Build Muscle
• Interval Training
• Variety
• Get on the Wagon
• Zzzzzzzz…..Zzzzzzzz…..
• Relax
• There’s Something GOOD About This Time of the Month!?
• Don’t Hate Calories
• Eat More?
• Eat Early
• Befriend Protein and Good Carbs

Anabolism and Catabolism

The first function is creating tissue and cells.  Each moment, our bodies are creating more cells to replace dead or dysfunctional cells.

For example, if you cut your finger, your body (if it’s functioning properly) will begin – without even wasting a moment or asking your permission –the process of creating skin cells to clot the blood and start the healing process.  This creation process is indeed a metabolic response, and is called anabolism.

On the other hand, there is the exact opposite activity taking place in other parts of the body.  Instead of building cells and tissue through metabolism, the body is breaking down energy so that the body can do what it’s supposed to do.

For example, as you aerobically exercise, your body temperature rises as your heart beat increases and remains with a certain range.

As this happens, your body requires more oxygen; and as such, your breathing increases as you intake more H2O.  All of this, as you can imagine, requires additional energy.

After all, if your body couldn’t adjust to this enhanced requirement for oxygen (both taking it in and getting rid of it in the form of carbon dioxide), you would collapse!

Presuming, of course, that you aren’t overdoing it, your body will instead begin converting food (e.g. calories) into energy.  And this process, as you know, is a metabolic process, and is called catabolism.

So as you can see, the metabolism is a constant process that takes care of two seemingly opposite function: anabolism that uses energy to create cells, and catabolism that breaks down cells to create energy.

Indeed, it’s in this way that the metabolism earns its reputation as a harmonizer. It brings together these apparently conflicting functions, and does so in an optimal way that enables the body to create cells as needed, and break them down, again as needed.

What is Metabolism?

Some people think that the metabolism is a kind of organ, or a body part, that influences digestion. 

Actually, the metabolism isn’t any particular body part. 

It’s the process by which the body converts food into energy. 

Hence, you’ve likely heard of the phrase metabolic process used synonymously with the term metabolism, because they both mean the same thing.


The Medical Mumbo Jumbo

This isn’t a complicated medical text (which should be great news to most of you!), and so we don’t need to spend an unnecessary amount of time and space focusing on the layered complexity of the human body and its extraordinary intelligence. 

Yet without drilling deeply into medical details -- which are not relevant for our general understanding purposes -- it’s helpful to briefly look at the biological mechanisms behind metabolism.

Metabolism, as mentioned above, is the process of transforming food (e.g. nutrients) into fuel (e.g. energy).  The body uses this energy to conduct a vast array of essential functions. 

In fact, your ability to read this page – literally – is driven by your metabolism. 

If you had no metabolism – that is, if you had no metabolic process that was converting food into energy – then you wouldn’t be able to move. 

In fact, long before you realized that you couldn’t move a finger or lift your foot, your internal processes would have stopped; because the basic building blocks of life – circulating blood, transforming oxygen into carbon dioxide, expelling potentially lethal wastes through the kidneys and so on – all of these depend on metabolism. 

Keep this in mind the next time you hear someone say that they have a slow metabolism. 

While they may struggle with unwanted weight gain due to metabolic factors, they certainly have a functioning metabolism.

If they didn’t, they wouldn’t even be able to speak (because that, too, requires energy that comes from, you guessed it: metabolism!).

It’s also interesting to note that, while we conveniently refer to the metabolic process as if it were a single function, it’s really a catch-all term for countless functions that are taking place inside the body.  Every second of every minute of every day of your life – even, of course, when you sleep – numerous chemical conversions are taking place through metabolism, or metabolic functioning. 

In a certain light, the metabolism has been referred to as a harmonizing process that manages to achieve two critical bodily functions that, in a sense, seem to be at odds with each other:

Anabolism and Catabolism