3 Steps To Optimize Your Metabolism Naturally This New Year
As the New Year 2023 begins, many consider it a good time to think about creating new resolutions, in other words, lifestyle changes, and how we can bring into our lives new healthy habits to get healthier and fitter than before.
Whenever a person tries to learn about healthy living involving nutrition, diet, and fitness, they always come across the word, metabolism. Simply put, metabolism is the bodily process of expending energy to burn calories. One cannot overlook this ceaseless function, where necessary amounts of energy are produced for breathing, growing and repairing cells, circulating blood throughout the body, maintaining the functions of all the organs, and every other necessary process for life to sustain. It works as one force to keep us alive!
The minimum amount of energy required by an individual for essential chemical processes to take place is known as the basal metabolic rate (BMR). Usually, about 40% to 70% of energy is consumed for complete daily metabolism. BMR can be calculated online to understand your metabolism and your required energy needs. The question now is, can you optimize this process in your body to gain maximum results? Absolutely! Here are three fundamental factors you can begin with for your metabolism to become more effective!
1. Eat a Healthy Breakfast
Never underestimate the value of a good and healthy breakfast! Despite all the controversial DO’s and DON’Ts you have heard about breakfast. You cannot deny the fact that breakfast would be the initial step to kick-starting your metabolism first thing in the morning. With your metabolism slowing down overnight, without breakfast, it would be running on overdrive just to get you through, until your first meal. We wouldn’t want that on a daily basis, would we!? Hence, get those necessary nutrients to stimulate your senses and get you fired up to go about your day.
2. Practice Strength Training Exercises
Having more lean muscle mass would increase a person’s metabolism because muscles are metabolically active and consume nine times more energy than fat stored in the body. Therefore, you can build lean muscle mass by concentrating on strength training exercises to boost your metabolism. Muscle is lost as one age, and this kind of exercise helps preserve one’s muscles and strength for the long haul.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) has also been claimed to increase metabolism. Cardio is a steady workout, the best examples being skipping, jogging, walking, cycling, etc. It is considered a low-intensity workout. Lifting weights for example would be considered a high-intensity workout. HIIT would be alternating between short durations of low-intensity and high-intensity workouts. To inculcate the effects of a high-intensity workout into your daily exercise regime, you could speed up, at regular intervals, during your cardio for 30 to 60 seconds and then slow down to continue as usual.
3. Get Adequate Sleep
Inadequate amounts of sleep lead to slow thinking, memory lapses, lack of energy, and poor decision making to name a few. Only while sleeping does our body go through a wholesome recovery process. During this process, the breathing slows down, the heart rate regulates, all the muscles relax, the brain enables memory consolidation and critical cognition, and hormone production is regulated leading to bone growth, muscle development, appetite control, improved response to stress, and overall sleep health. There are also other factors interrelated with sleep that add to our overall health and well-being.
To get relaxing and rejuvenating sleep for a good 7 to 8 hours, don't miss out on:
- Drinking eight to nine glasses of water throughout the day
- Eating small meals in adequate portions and at appropriate times
- Filling up your plate only with healthy fiber-rich food, fruits and veggies, and whole grains
- Getting a minimum of half an hour of physical activity each day
- Socializing and laughing more
- Avoiding any kind of addiction, drinking, and smoking
- Avoiding stress by practicing meditation and doing things you love
- Putting screen off time (this includes your cell phone too) at least half an hour before your sleep time
- Sticking to your fixed sleep time every day
Together, these small mindful steps mentioned above will boost your metabolism and improve your overall lifestyle. You can take on one new practice a month and follow it throughout the month. Before you know it, by the end of that month you will have yourself a new lifestyle change! By the end of 2023, these 12 habits will have produced a healthier and happier you!
Decide with mindfulness about how you want to expend your energies on a daily basis. This is the basic way to successfully optimize your metabolism. As you may know already, there is no magic formula or magic pill. What this simply means is that everything adds up. Begin small, one decision and one action at a time; set a routine and build from there. Get into the habit of looking at your goal in everything you do every day and work on it. This way you would soon be achieving beyond your goals and doing the impossible.
To get personalized guidance on how to boost metabolism and live healthy, and hearty forever, consult a dietician now.
About the Author
Comments (1)
-
How important is a healthy breakfast?
- Reply
Ask a Specialist
Recent Questions
