How to increase your metabolism?

Pastaprincess1978

Plenty of articles out there on this - but I thought I'd ask the collective brains here - what can you do to preserve and increase your metabolism? Which of these do you think are correct/important:

-eat at least 1200 kj a day (or your minimum set by MFP)
-eat protein every meal
-do resistance training

SCoil123

Maintaining lean muscle mass helps you burn more.

sexymamadraeger

I think it helps to mix it up. Every couple days eat more calories and the other days keep it at 1200. Seems like my body goes into conservation mode when I keep my calories low day after day.

malibu927

1200 calories, not kilojoules...1200 kilojoules is less than 300 calories.

But you really can't do that much. Gaining muscle will only add on six calories per pound.

kimny72

Metabolism is much less variable than the diet industry would have you believe. To protect your metabolism you should avoid undereating for long periods of time, protect your muscle mass (again by avoiding undereating, eating adequate protein, and strength training), and remain active. Anything else is either myth, or has such a small effect it's not worth the effort.

AnnPT77

To preserve your metabolism, don't lose weight crazy fast.

Even then, most of the effect is not through "metabolism" (resting metabolic rate, RMR), but through movement: Lose too fast, get fatigued, do less . . . possibly in subtle and nearly unnoticeable ways.

Think about it:

For most people, the biggest contributor to daily calorie burn is RMR. With weight loss, it inevitably decreases. It takes fewer calories to maintain a smaller body than it takes to maintain a bigger one: Less tissue to repair, less distance to circulate blood, lots of stuff. You can't do much to increase RMR, especially in the short run. (In the long run, building muscle has a small effect.)

For most people, the second biggest contributor to daily calorie burn is routine daily life activity (non exercise activity thermogenesis, NEAT). It's what you burn on the job, doing household chores, doing non-exercise hobbies, etc. This you can affect, big time. Don't sit when you can stand, don't stand when you can move. Fidget (seriously, it can represent something in the low hundreds of calories per day, according to research). Always take the stairs. Park far from the building. Do home improvement projects instead of watching TV or internet surfing. Etc.

There's one thread about NEAT improvement here:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss

The last major contributor to daily calorie burn is exercise. For most people, it's smaller than either RMR or NEAT, and you know how to increase it, but doing so requires available time, and maybe self discipline.

There are some other smaller contributors to daily calorie burn, but it's hard to wring much good out of them. It's going to be a small number of calories at best.

If you want to burn more calories, your high-return bets are NEAT and exercise. Many people pay too little atterntion to NEAT, if you ask me.

Pastaprincess1978

Interesting replies, thanks guys. I am relieved to hear that it's not as complicated as some websites make it out to be. Eat less = less energy = burn less. And yes - 1200 calories lol not kilojoules!

cjsy951

Considering NEAT, how do some of you accomplish it better/amp it up if you have a desk job?

malibu927

cjsy951 wrote: »

Considering NEAT, how do some of you accomplish it better/amp it up if you have a desk job?

I have a fairly active job, but those who have desk jobs have their own ways of getting more movement in: park farther away, take the stairs instead of the elevator, get up and walk for a few minutes if they can.