How to raise your metabolism?

kukspuks
kukspuks Posts: 60
in Health and Weight Loss
So my metabolism SUCKS. In fact, my whole family's sucks. That why we are so chubby (excuses, excuses) But no, really. It sucks. How can I raise it?????? Please answer me!!! I wanna be like those other girls who go to the bathroom 3 times a day
(not to sound weird):laugh:
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Replies

  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    You think having a high metabolism means you poop a lot?

    And, do you really think you're "chubby" because you have a slow metabolism or is because you eat too much and don't get enough exercise?
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    Basic way to raise the amount of calories you burn in a day is to do more exercise.

    I always used to think it was because of my "slow metabolism" - but I now see it's 98% me eating more than I was burning.
  • Guamybear
    Guamybear Posts: 1,061 Member
    I always heard that the more active you were, the better your metabolism..
  • envy09
    envy09 Posts: 353 Member
    The "slow metabolism" theory has been pretty much debunked by science. Overweight people usually have HIGHER metabolic rates than thin people, because it takes more energy to do everyday activity. To answer your second point, although many pills and drinks claim to increase your metabolism, the only two substances that have been proven to increase metabolic rate slightly are caffeine and nicotine.
  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
    The best way to increase metabolism is to increase lean muscle mass. If you are heavy, you are probably carrying around more muscle mass, though. As you lose weight you will also lose some muscle. The trick is to retain as much muscle mass as possible while you lose weight.

    Lift weights, and try to eat lots of lean proteins to try to maintain muscle mass. Eat at a caloric deficit, in order to lose fat. You will still lose some muscle. (your body won't see the need to maintain as much muscle as you get lighter, because it won't have to work so hard to perform your normal daily activities.)

    If you want to be in the bathroom a lot, drink lots of water. It also helps flush the kidneys when consuming large amounts of protein.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    Exercise.
  • Myan1959
    Myan1959 Posts: 30 Member
    Mine came to a halt when I turned 40 but I do believe if you burn more than you take in it should help with it. It seems the more muscle you have the more calories you burn even at a resting pace, but just my opinion. I had blamed everything on going through menopause but got my butt busy and started moving more and it has helped a lot especially with the tape not the scale.
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    You think having a high metabolism means you poop a lot?

    And, do you really think you're "chubby" because you have a slow metabolism or is because you eat too much and don't get enough exercise?

    No, really. My family doesn't eat high-fattening foods. The Slavic diets consist of a lot of borsch and low-calorie soups. Only once in a blue moon would we prepare something like nachos, or pizza. We exercise everyday in the gym for 2 hours.
  • envy09
    envy09 Posts: 353 Member
    Ok lets say you burn 700 calories at the gym, but misjudge your portion sizes at home, so you get an extra 100 calories per meal. That's 300 extra calories per day for seven days. So, 2,100 calories a week. Now, you burn 4,900 calories at the gym per week. This is good, you're at a calorie deficit at this point. However, what are you eating? How often are you eating? How strenuous is your workout?

    Science says people generally have similar metabolic rates, so unless your whole family is a medical anomaly, then you're missing something. Also, science says people notoriously underestimate the amount they eat. Are you logging everything that goes into your mouth? Do you use a food scale?
  • balinnka
    balinnka Posts: 6
    During the day drinking a lot of cold water is supposed to help boost it (not sure if this is proven or not, but drinking lots of water is always good!).

    Another thing you can try is high intensity interval training or HIIT which you can google for more details and workouts. It's supposed to be the best workout for boosting metabolism and burning fat so if those are your goals I'd definitely check it out! :)
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    Ok lets say you burn 700 calories at the gym, but misjudge your portion sizes at home, so you get an extra 100 calories per meal. That's 300 extra calories per day for seven days. So, 2,100 calories a week. Now, you burn 4,900 calories at the gym per week. This is good, you're at a calorie deficit at this point. However, what are you eating? How often are you eating? How strenuous is your workout?

    Science says people generally have similar metabolic rates, so unless your whole family is a medical anomaly, then you're missing something. Also, science says people notoriously underestimate the amount they eat. Are you logging everything that goes into your mouth? Do you use a food scale?

    I eat every 2-3 hours of, yes small portions. I heard that this was a great way to lose weight. My friend is a great example. Lost 30 pounds in a 6 month duration. I try my hardest to eat foods high in protein. I get sugars only from milk and fruit. And yes, I log everything. If a weigh a piece of chicken breast and it's 4.5 ounces, I'll count it as if I had 5 ounces. Well, my workouts are: basketball shooting and games, treadmill (walking), stationary bike, the ClimbingSystem, and at times I will take a morning walk. Does this sound pretty good? I hope so. :tongue:
  • envy09
    envy09 Posts: 353 Member
    Ok lets say you burn 700 calories at the gym, but misjudge your portion sizes at home, so you get an extra 100 calories per meal. That's 300 extra calories per day for seven days. So, 2,100 calories a week. Now, you burn 4,900 calories at the gym per week. This is good, you're at a calorie deficit at this point. However, what are you eating? How often are you eating? How strenuous is your workout?

    Science says people generally have similar metabolic rates, so unless your whole family is a medical anomaly, then you're missing something. Also, science says people notoriously underestimate the amount they eat. Are you logging everything that goes into your mouth? Do you use a food scale?

    I eat every 2-3 hours of, yes small portions. I heard that this was a great way to lose weight. My friend is a great example. Lost 30 pounds in a 6 month duration. I try my hardest to eat foods high in protein. I get sugars only from milk and fruit. And yes, I log everything. If a weigh a piece of chicken breast and it's 4.5 ounces, I'll count it as if I had 5 ounces. Well, my workouts are: basketball shooting and games, treadmill (walking), stationary bike, the ClimbingSystem, and at times I will take a morning walk. Does this sound pretty good? I hope so. :tongue:

    Then I have to ask how long you've been trying to lose weight. That or tell you to go get your BMR tested.
  • ClaireM8
    ClaireM8 Posts: 26
    Maybe not metabolism. Thyroid, Glycemic imbalance, hormones, gluten intolerance...there are a whole bunch of medical reasons for weight to be difficult to lose and some are genetic - maybe give yourself another month and then start getting tested for alternatives. Also, consider seeing a nutritionist - it is possible that the balance of what you eat is out (calorie count is not the be-all-and-end-all). Hormone-based contraception is a real killer for weight as well.
  • ladyspring
    ladyspring Posts: 7 Member
    like ClaireM8 said..it could be some other condition entirely. You seem to have a very active lifestyle and don't starve yourself so you should have a normal metabolism. I used to think the same when I was in college. Little did I know that I had a hormonal imbalance that made me fat no matter how little I eat :/
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    Ok lets say you burn 700 calories at the gym, but misjudge your portion sizes at home, so you get an extra 100 calories per meal. That's 300 extra calories per day for seven days. So, 2,100 calories a week. Now, you burn 4,900 calories at the gym per week. This is good, you're at a calorie deficit at this point. However, what are you eating? How often are you eating? How strenuous is your workout?

    Science says people generally have similar metabolic rates, so unless your whole family is a medical anomaly, then you're missing something. Also, science says people notoriously underestimate the amount they eat. Are you logging everything that goes into your mouth? Do you use a food scale?

    I eat every 2-3 hours of, yes small portions. I heard that this was a great way to lose weight. My friend is a great example. Lost 30 pounds in a 6 month duration. I try my hardest to eat foods high in protein. I get sugars only from milk and fruit. And yes, I log everything. If a weigh a piece of chicken breast and it's 4.5 ounces, I'll count it as if I had 5 ounces. Well, my workouts are: basketball shooting and games, treadmill (walking), stationary bike, the ClimbingSystem, and at times I will take a morning walk. Does this sound pretty good? I hope so. :tongue:

    Then I have to ask how long you've been trying to lose weight. That or tell you to go get your BMR tested.

    Well I started MFP like 1.5 months ago. Lost 3 pounds. But I started the whole diet thinga-majig back in mid-August. Lost 9 pounds since then. Well, gained 2 from Thanksgiving. So I lost 7 pounds. I really thought that I'd be thinner by now, you know? Well I checked my BMR on MFP and it says 1,557 calories a day.
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    Maybe not metabolism. Thyroid, Glycemic imbalance, hormones, gluten intolerance...there are a whole bunch of medical reasons for weight to be difficult to lose and some are genetic - maybe give yourself another month and then start getting tested for alternatives. Also, consider seeing a nutritionist - it is possible that the balance of what you eat is out (calorie count is not the be-all-and-end-all). Hormone-based contraception is a real killer for weight as well.

    Maybe. Because my sister went to the doctor's and they said it might be Thyroid cancer or something like that. Fortunately, it wasn't cancer (Thank God!) but was a hyper-something thyroid. I don't know medical terms. :laugh:
  • SoopraBint
    SoopraBint Posts: 66
    643919_447230478667815_1508830905_n.jpg

    not sure if adding some of these to your diet would help...?
  • SavannahStarves
    SavannahStarves Posts: 5
    having an active lifestyle is probably the best way to raise your metabolism, but drink a lot of green tea and water, they've been proven to help raise your metabolism as well. Blueberries, almonds, whey protein, salmon, psyllium husk, spinach, turkey, and oatmeal also can help to raise it. but you've got to exercise!
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    643919_447230478667815_1508830905_n.jpg

    not sure if adding some of these to your diet would help...?

    Oooo. I'll try these out. Thanks. :wink:
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    having an active lifestyle is probably the best way to raise your metabolism, but drink a lot of green tea and water, they've been proven to help raise your metabolism as well. Blueberries, almonds, whey protein, salmon, psyllium husk, spinach, turkey, and oatmeal also can help to raise it. but you've got to exercise!

    Well I used to drink green tea, but I didn't like it. I only like the expensive ones. Hhaha. Well, I eat a lot of oatmeal, salmon, and almonds. I hope that kinda gives it a boost. Thanks. :smile:
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
    Build muscles, lift HEAVY weights. Heavy doesn't mean lifting a gazillion pound barbell, it means the weight that you can only finish 8-10 reps in good form. Of course eat more protein, aim for at least 1g/ pound of lean body mass weight

    More muscle = higher metabolism
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    You can either change sex, get younger, or exercise.

    In your case, getting younger wouldn't work anyway.
  • taekwonkenpo
    taekwonkenpo Posts: 1,004
    bump to look at later.
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    You can either change sex, get younger, or exercise.

    In your case, getting younger wouldn't work anyway.

    Are you saying men poop more? O.o
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    You can either change sex, get younger, or exercise.

    In your case, getting younger wouldn't work anyway.

    Are you saying men poop more? O.o

    They have a higher metabolism.

    If your question really is about poop, drink more water, eat more fibre.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,605 Member
    You can either change sex, get younger, or exercise.

    In your case, getting younger wouldn't work anyway.

    Are you saying men poop more? O.o

    No. As has already been indicated, defacation and metabolic rate are not in any logical manner connected.

    Men have a higher metabolic rate than women. That's why they can eat more and stay lean.

    I think IS is suggesting you look at your exercise routine. When you say you spend 2 hours exercising, what do you do? That doesn't sound like a very productive use of time?
  • stacybrs
    stacybrs Posts: 24
    Ok lets say you burn 700 calories at the gym, but misjudge your portion sizes at home, so you get an extra 100 calories per meal. That's 300 extra calories per day for seven days. So, 2,100 calories a week. Now, you burn 4,900 calories at the gym per week. This is good, you're at a calorie deficit at this point. However, what are you eating? How often are you eating? How strenuous is your workout?

    Science says people generally have similar metabolic rates, so unless your whole family is a medical anomaly, then you're missing something. Also, science says people notoriously underestimate the amount they eat. Are you logging everything that goes into your mouth? Do you use a food scale?
    [/quote

    Conversely, you might be overestimating. When I started tracking my food, I realized that I was only getting 400-800 calories total a day. I didn't realize that. I ate one meal a day and worked out, but I wasn't losing anything. I kept thinking it was that I was eating too much, because the meal a day I ate wasn't healthy, so I'd try to be a little more healthy, but I still wasn't losing anything. It took me coming here and logging everything to realize that I wasn't eating enough. I talked to my doctor about it, and I realized that I really was putting myself into starvation mode and my body was holding on to what I had for dear life--which actually made me gain weight and keep it on. SO, I am living proof that eating less calories can actually cause weight gain instead of loss. So, maybe you're eating too little, your whole family might be, and mistakenly thinking you're eating enough/too much. It's so crazy, but true. I started trying to up my calorie intake and all of a sudden, my waist size is going down. I guess look at how you're tracking. People's ideas about how they eat can be so completely different from reality. Take a look at it. Eating less can really slow your metabolism down a lot, I think.
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    You can either change sex, get younger, or exercise.

    In your case, getting younger wouldn't work anyway.

    Are you saying men poop more? O.o


    No. As has already been indicated, defacation and metabolic rate are not in any logical manner connected.

    Men have a higher metabolic rate than women. That's why they can eat more and stay lean.

    I think IS is suggesting you look at your exercise routine. When you say you spend 2 hours exercising, what do you do? That doesn't sound like a very productive use of time?

    Basketball shooting and games, treadmill, stationary bike, and the ClimbingSystem. :)
  • kukspuks
    kukspuks Posts: 60
    You can either change sex, get younger, or exercise.

    In your case, getting younger wouldn't work anyway.

    Are you saying men poop more? O.o

    They have a higher metabolism.

    If your question really is about poop, drink more water, eat more fibre.

    I should really start saving up! xD :laugh:
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    You can either change sex, get younger, or exercise.

    In your case, getting younger wouldn't work anyway.

    Are you saying men poop more? O.o

    No. As has already been indicated, defacation and metabolic rate are not in any logical manner connected.

    Men have a higher metabolic rate than women. That's why they can eat more and stay lean.

    I think IS is suggesting you look at your exercise routine. When you say you spend 2 hours exercising, what do you do? That doesn't sound like a very productive use of time?

    I wasn't being that helpful, this early on a Sunday. I only read the first post.

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