Boosting your Metabolism Help!

cindys0417

Got a question...what does everyone do to boost their metabolism. Ive heard to take green tea supplements or drink green tea, cinnamon and ginger spices on foods...What else? What works for you to boost your metabolism you think? Thanks for your suggestions

evileen99

There have been a couple of studies showing that a cup of green tea will increase your metabolism by 1%. This effect tops out at 2 cups (meaning if you drink more than two, your metabolism will still only go up 2%). So, if you're burning 2000 calories a day and drinking two cups of green tea, you'll burn an extra 40 calories. Not enough to make any difference in weight loss.

So, all these products that claim to increase your metabolism may actually have some effect on it, just not enough to really help with weight loss.

Sorry, but you're stuck with eating less and moving more.

mmapags

There are no foods or "products" that boost metabolism to any significant degree. It's a pipe dream. One things does though. Regular exercise.

Chief_Rocka

weight gain usually boosts my metabolism

sullus

Got a question...what does everyone do to boost their metabolism. Ive heard to take green tea supplements or drink green tea, cinnamon and ginger spices on foods...What else? What works for you to boost your metabolism you think? Thanks for your suggestions

Amphetamines.

DrBroPHD

Less sleep, more movement

karensoxfan

Heavy lifting to increase my lean body mass (muscle burns more calories than fat).

Jersey_Devil

High intensity interval training... lifting heavy...

Juliejustsaying

Heavy lifting to increase my lean body mass (muscle burns more calories than fat).

^ this

ambervaldez79

Move more.

now_or_never13

The best way to increase your metabolism is to lift heavy weights and build muscle mass. More muscle means a higher metabolism.

The things like green tea, etc don't do much for your metabolism. Evne when they do the increase isn't enough to make a difference.

trogalicious

Heavy lifting to increase my lean body mass (muscle burns more calories than fat).

^ this

Yup.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

I lift some stuff, then put it down. When I'm not going that I spin a bicycle tire with my feet. Does the trick.

Pills don't work. When you take them, you lose, and then you stop and you gain. Been there, done that, gained all back and then some.

AllonsYtotheTardis

On the other hand, green tea, cinnamon, and ginger are tasty additions to a healthy meal plan, so go ahead and enjoy them anyway.

dough21

Drinking water boosts metabolism and if you drink it really cold you get an even bigger boost (3%) to your metabolism. I used to hate to drink water but it's so important for muscle growth and exercise that I forced myself to drink it a lot and now it's not so bad.

Jerrypeoples

through here i have really watched my intake of foods. that and weight lifting ALONG with cardio and i have dropped a good bit of weight.

but i also take micronized creatine and Synedrex (supposed to be a metabolism booster)

has it worked? im averaging almost 2 lbs lost a week so who is to say if my same game plan minus the syndedrex would be the same. but im taking it just the same in case...

nyusha

Carb refeeds, high intensity interval training, heavy weights.

DrBroPHD

Heavy lifting to increase my lean body mass (muscle burns more calories than fat).

^ this

Yup.

Really? How much more?

hottamolly00

Gaining muscle mass increases your metabolism. The end.

dough21

Cinnamon is also known to lower the blood sugar and to make the digestion of meals slower. Both very good things. I try to take at least a Tablespoon a day.

JenaePavlak

This is sort of technical but do a little google search on some of this stuff and you can learn a lot, and realize there are factors but they are pretty minor. They mostly get blown out of proportion...

There are a few things that can affect TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and this number includes that amount of energy needed to just survive (BMR). Those calories are spent on digesting food and turning it into useful things your body needs, including chewing, swallowing, breaking down molecules, and all sorts of other technical things. Basically speaking, your body of course needs some input to survive, which you probably know. 10-30% of your TDEE comes from daily activity including exercises. Two other factors have a minimal affect but does affect TDEE and those are climate and thermogenics in foods. Examples of climates would be hot vs. cold and low elevation vs. high elevation (oxygen level). Examples of thermogenics would be the amount of hydrogen molecules in foods and how that is processed; ie, protein takes more energy to digest and process.

Coincidentally, I just did a discussion post on this topic for my Sports Nutrition class this week.

Hope that helps a bit!

-Jenae
www.facebook.com/jenaesmithfitness

JenaePavlak

Gaining muscle mass increases your metabolism. The end.

hotmolly is correct as well, as it takes more energy for your body to supply nutrients to your muscle

meshashesha2012

isn't it pretty much a fallacy that extra muscle burns an extraordinary amount of calories?

i think i read somewhere on these forums that it's only 5 extra calories per pound of muscle and considering how hard it is to build muscle, especially as a woman, i wouldn't bet on being able to double to metabolism or anything.

weight lifting still has other benefits though but in general i think your metabolism is determined larger by your genes

SanteMulberry

High intensity interval training... lifting heavy...

^^^DEFINITELY this^^^

Also, staying away from simple carbs SEEMS to help improve thyroid function (and thus boosts metabolism). Mark Hyland, M.D. has written (in his daily health column) about putting his Type II diabetes patients on a diet with fewer simple carbs to help lower their blood sugar. (Don't know whether they exercised more or not, as he didn't speak to that.) He said that one surprising finding was that thyroid function improved on the diet as well. However, if they were exercising more, at the same time, it isn't a fair test of the lower carb eating because metabolism speeds up with increased exercise and adding muscle mass anyway. Would be interesting to see a clinical trial using the diet alone. There is some evidence that high carb eating--especially eating sugar--(in the absence of vigorous exercise) will cause a slowdown in metabolism.

SanteMulberry

isn't it pretty much a fallacy that extra muscle burns an extraordinary amount of calories?

i think i read somewhere on these forums that it's only 5 extra calories per pound of muscle and considering how hard it is to build muscle, especially as a woman, i wouldn't bet on being able to double to metabolism or anything.

weight lifting still has other benefits though but in general i think your metabolism is determined larger by your genes

Mmmm--probably not as our genetics would have had to change a LOT to reflect the increase in the rates of obesity over the last several decades. And the gene pool simply doesn't change that quickly. Both of my parents were quite slender until the 1950s. They were actually somewhat emaciated as children during the Great Depression and as teens during the WW II years---as rationing meant that you could not get much excess food. My dad said he was always hungry during those years. However, they both became fat during the 1950s and 60s (along with all of we kids). We always had LOTS of bread, cake, doughnuts, pie, sweet rolls, chips, soda pop, etc. around. I don't think it was genetics at all.

p.s. We also spent a great deal of time in front of the TV--instead of attending square dances once a week as the old (and thin) farmers in our rural town did. My dad had a sedentary job--unlike his parents who worked a farm. Could have had a lot to do with the fact that they lived into their 80s and my dad died of obesity related complications at 56.

EvgeniZyntx

isn't it pretty much a fallacy that extra muscle burns an extraordinary amount of calories?

i think i read somewhere on these forums that it's only 5 extra calories per pound of muscle and considering how hard it is to build muscle, especially as a woman, i wouldn't bet on being able to double to metabolism or anything.

weight lifting still has other benefits though but in general i think your metabolism is determined larger by your genes

It's about a 10 cal / lb of lbm of BMR.

Which means that it modifies your TDEE by 12 to 20 calories per lb of LBM per day. Or a 1% increase in LBM for the average 180 lb person is roughly 200 to 400 cal increase in TDEE, depending on activity.

Ref: In depth review of the BMR equations and data based on LBM. Just look it up.

gramacanada

I agree with the previous postings.
Also as much as possible ensure that your calories contain as much food value as possible.
That's one point I have noticed that a lot of people miss.
At 1200 (or whatever) calories MFP sets for you,
if too many of them are non-nutritious there may likely be a metabolic slowdown.
Your body runs optimally on nutrients. A lot of 'foods' don't have many.
End...

SanteMulberry

There have been a couple of studies showing that a cup of green tea will increase your metabolism by 1%. This effect tops out at 2 cups (meaning if you drink more than two, your metabolism will still only go up 2%). So, if you're burning 2000 calories a day and drinking two cups of green tea, you'll burn an extra 40 calories. Not enough to make any difference in weight loss.

So, all these products that claim to increase your metabolism may actually have some effect on it, just not enough to really help with weight loss.

Sorry, but you're stuck with eating less and moving more.

However, there are other reasons for drinking green tea that have to do with good health (so you can exercise more ). Green tea is full of beneficial phytochemicals called epicatechins which actually will help your body to repair damaged DNA. It also contains substances which have antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties. There is also evidence that it suppresses the appetite to some degree, especially when you use a squeeze of lemon (a mild acid like lemon help you to absorb the phytochemicals better).

SanteMulberry

Anybody know if garcinia cambogia (Citrimax) is effective or is it all hype? Dr. Oz (a questionable source for sure) is positively rapturous about it (I wonder if he has a stake in the company that sells Citrimax?)

gramacanada

Anybody know if garcinia cambogia (Citrimax) is effective or is it all hype? Dr. Oz (a questionable source for sure) is positively rapturous about it (I wonder if he has a stake in the company that sells Citrimax?)

If all, or any of the things Dr. Oz recommends worked. He would only ever have to tout ONE
He touts ONE almost Every show. One Brand NEW weight loss discovery EVERY DAY?

I'm more interested in paying attention to simple things I've heard, years ago. Things he purports to know
NOTHING about. And always comes across as SO surprised to hear.
Save your money to buy Fruits and Vegetables.

cindys0417

thanks for the information everybody! Im so knowledgeable now Every little bit helps . Ive learned so much on MFP since Ive been here since July and lost almost 50 lbs...Thanks again! :flowerforyou: