How to Boost Your Metabolism

As a well accomplished personal fitness trainer and weight loss expert in the busy Baltimore area, one of the things I find myself demystifying daily is the metabolism. The metabolism is this mysterious creature that no one knows how it works, but everyone wants to make it higher, faster, and stronger. In lieu of boring you with scientific details about the metabolism and leaving you still confused about how to maximize your metabolic power, I'm going to give you some tips on how to raise your metabolism so you get the best results possible.

So you have a friend who is as skinny as a pencil, OK well maybe not quite that thin, but she is thin, and she eats pizza for breakfast, french fries and candy for lunch, and ice cream for dinner. You on the other hand gain 30 pounds if you even reach for one of her small fries. Why is this? Because she has a faster metabolism than you...Sorry. But there is hope! As a personal trainer, I can tell you that there are many things that you can do to help raise your metabolism.

1. Build muscle. Lean, sexy, toned muscle not only looks good, but it burns calories. Each pound of muscle burns 35-40 calories a day while at rest! So 4 pounds of muscle would burn the same amount of calories as during a 2 mile run! As I tell my clients "cardio burns fat for today, but weight training burns fat for today, tomorrow, and the next day."

2. Drink green tea. There is a reason why just about every diet pill on the market is 80% green tea. Whether you believe in diet pills or not, there's no disputing the fact that green tea does boost your metabolism. Green tea contains a substance called Epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG for short. EGCG has been proven to boost your metabolism. Drink pure green tea without any sugar or sweeteners. Sugar and some artificial sweetners actually slow the metabolism, plus they increase your desire for sweets.

3. Go to sleep! Are you getting 8 hours of sleep every night? If not, your metabolism is not running as high as it could. Skimping on sleep decreases the number of calories your body burns while resting.

4. Eat small frequent meals. With the busy lifestyle of most Americans, meals are usually scarfed down 2 or 3 times a day. Take the time to enjoy your food. Eat at least 5, sometimes 6-7 small meals every day. Eating this way will keep your metabolism running steady throughout the day. Also, never skip meals. Skipping meals is detrimental to your weight loss efforts because it slows your metabolism and increases the likelihood of binging later.

5. I propose a toast. Avoid alcohol (pun totally intnded!). Alcohol has severely adverse affects on your liver. Your liver is the organ responsible for metabolizing alcohol. Your liver is also responsible for metabolizing food. So basically as I tell my clients, you have 2 chioces: your liver can either be struggling to metabolize and process alcohol, or it can be helping you to lose weight.

So there you have it. Several concrete ideas to help you raise your metabolism. For more tips like these and to sign up for my free newsletter, visit http://www.ladylikefitness.com/Newsletter.html. To watch me on YouTube visit http://www.youtube.com/ladylikefitness.