13 Ways to Kickstart Your Metabolism

Your rate of metabolism dictates how quickly (or slowly) you burn calories. If your goal is to get a lean, fat free body, then the more things that you can do boost your metabolism, the faster you will achieve your goals. 

In this article, we reveal 13 hacks to kickstarting your metabolism to burn off unwanted body fat around the clock. 

Hack #1: Protein
Protein has the highest thermic effect of the 3 macronutrients. That means that it takes more calories to digest protein than it does for carbs or fat. For this reason, you should eat protein with every meal.

Hack #2: Water
Water will boost your metabolic rate. Studies have shown that taking in half a litre of water will lift your resting metabolic rate by 10-30% over the next hour. The colder the water, the more calories you will burn!

Hack #3: HIIT
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) involves short bursts of high intensity exercise followed by even shorter periods of rest for repeated intervals. This has been shown to bring on an enhanced metabolic effect for up to 48 hours following your workout. So, if you perform a HIIT workout every second day, your metabolism will constantly be elevated. 

Hack #4: Resistance Training
Working out with weights is a great metabolic booster. This occurs both during and after your workout. Weight training also helps to build muscle mass. With muscle requiring five times as much energy to maintain itself, this is another greater metabolic booster. 

Hack #5: Get on Your Feet
Sitting around all day long is going to slow down your metabolism. But getting into the habit of standing, stretching and walking around every hour or so will help to elevate it. 

Hack #6: Drink Green Tea
Green Tea has been shown to have a metabolic boosting effect. They have also been shown to convert stored fat into energy. 

Hack #7: Capsaicin
Capsaicin is a spice that has been shown to have metabolism boosting properties. However, the dose required to have a significant effect is quite large. Eating a pepper with your meal will burn about an extra 10 calories during that meal. 

Hack #8: Get More Sleep
Lack of sleep is a well-known contributor to weight gain. This is largely due to the release of the hunger hormone ghrelin which is boosted when we don’t get enough sleep. Aim to get 7-8 hours each night and stick to a regular pattern. 

Hack #9: Coffee
Coffee is a stimulant. It provides extra energy that boosts the metabolism by between 3-11%. 

Hack #10: Use Cooking Oil
Choose coconut oil as your preferred cooking oil. It is high in medium chain fatty acids, which have been shown to increase the metabolism. 

Hack #11: Salmon

Salmon is a great source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Both of these will provide you with a metabolic kick-start. Try to add salmon to three meals per week. 

Hack #12: Be Conservative with Caloric Restriction
If you slash your caloric intake, your metabolism will slow down in preparation for a perceived starvation event. That is the opposite to what you want, so don’t reduce by more than 10%. 

Hack #13: Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals
Smaller, more frequent meals will increase the metabolism through the thermic effect of food. Getting into the habit of eating every three hours will provide an ongoing metabolic boost. 

Final Word
None of these 13 metabolic hacks will have a dramatic effect on metabolism in isolation. Taken together, however, they will. So, why not try to incorporate each of them into your life over the next few weeks. The effort required to do so will pay off in terms of a leaner, more metabolically efficient body.