You're eating healthily, exercising regularly but despite all of your best efforts, you just can't seem to lose weight. Years of yo-yo dieting and poor eating habits can play havoc with your body's metabolism causing it to become sluggish and affect your ability to lose weight. The good news is though that your metabolic rate is not set and can be increased or decreased depending on what you eat and how active you are. Check out these top 10 tips from the Fitness café on how to increase your metabolism, burn more calories and lose weight.
1. Green Tea
Green tea is full of antioxidants and also gently speeds up the brain and nervous system which burns more calories. So ditch the Tetley for a couple of mugs of Green instead and if you don't like the taste, just add a slice of lemon.
2. Interval training
Interval training involves incorporating short bursts of anaerobic exercise into your routine to up your heart rate and get burning more calories, even after you've finished exercising. A good way of doing this is to go for a 20 minute run and then every three or four minutes sprint for a minute.
3. Cinnamon
Great for helping your body to metabolise sugar and balance your blood sugar levels and it also help to keep sugar cravings at bay.
4. Weight training
Many women make the mistake of skipping the weights in favour of cardio but your resting metabolic rate is actually increased by gaining muscle mass. So invest in a pair of three pound weights and get lifting at least three times a week to give your metabolism a boost.
5. Don't skip breakfast
Yes it's one way of saving on calories when you want to lose weight but skipping breakfast will have the catastrophic effect of slowing down your metabolism as the body adjusts to cling on to any nutrients and calories. It also increases the chances of you reaching for a biscuit or chocolate when you're ravenous at 11.30am or over eating at lunch time.
6. Regular exercise
Try and get moving every day, preferably in the morning, for about 30 minutes. Being regularly active will speed up your metabolism and by exercising in the morning you'll be burning more calories all day.
7. Increase your fruit and vegetable intake
Fruit and vegetables are complex carbohydrates which take the body longer to break down therefore using more energy and burning more calories.
8. Increase your fat intake
No, that doesn't mean rushing out to McDonalds and feasting on burgers, the key here is to eat the right kind of fats. Stay clear of saturated fats and stick with unsaturated which can be found in foods like nuts, seeds, oily fish and avocados.
9. Hot pepper
Capsaicin - a chemical found in jalapeno and cayenne peppers - temporarily stimulates your body to release more stress hormones, which speeds up your metabolism and causes you to burn more calories so if you can take it spicy, pile on the peppers!
10. Get plenty of shut-eye
Sleep deprivation increases production of the chemical cortisol which in turn increases hunger and reduces your ability to tell when you are full. It also interferes with the body's ability to metabolise carbohydrates and leads to more fat storage so try and get a few early nights if you want to keep the weight off.
For more information about the Fitness Café visit thefitnesscafe.co.uk/or call 0207 372 4913.
