The real key to losing weight is Metabolism!!

The real key to losing weight is Metabolism!!


METABOLISM:
definition: Metabolism is the process that converts the food you eat into energy to support life.

There are diets and then there are “diets.” But the real key to LASTING weight loss is making a lifestyle change and doing smart things to speed up how effective your body is in burning off calories AND to keep that calorie burning machine operating at full capacity for as many hours per day as possible.

Here are some easy ways to do it naturally:

1.) Breakfast IS Important:

Why is breakfast soooo important? Your body is naturally programmed to conserve as much fat (energy) as possible when it is not being fed trying to protect vital organs and lean muscle tissue. When you are sleeping at night, so is your metabolism. Starting your metabolism as soon as you wake-up is vastly important. If you are like most Americans, you wake-up, brush your teeth and hit the coffee pot...with food no more than an after-thought a few hours later. Doing this can keeps your metabolism running slow for 10-12hrs/day. Subsequently, eating that first meal is crucial.

Suggestion:
- Minimum: grab a small handful of Nuts and have w/ your coffee; a Boiled egg; a small Low-fat/Low-sugar Yogurt; small piece of Fruit; etc.
- Ideal: Egg whites; Oatmeal (not instant); high fiber cereal;

Furthermore, after you eat your metabolism increases due to something called the thermic effect of food. Thermogenesis is the process of how your body increases heat to burn calories.


2.) Frequency of Eating:

The typical American diet is to skip breakfast, grab a decent lunch, over-eat at supper and snack at night. BAD IDEA!! To promote your body's metabolism, you should eat 5-6-7 times small meals per day. The effect on your body/metabolism by eating often keeps your metabolism running in high-gear. If you're lucky, it will never get into a "preservation" mood and start storing fat unless you are simply over-eating. Combined with moderate exercise, you will burn-off the calories you are consuming.

Frequent eating will raise your metabolism naturally...BUT DO NOT go super-size your meals! As mentioned, digesting food takes energy (i.e., burning calories). So, eating several meals per day, as opposed to 3-squares, raises your metabolism 5 to 6 times a day. Remember...when your body doesn't get food, your metabolism slows down. This is because our bodies are ingeniously programmed to protect against starvation...when your body senses that another meal may not be coming (even though food in our modern world is in abundance) it holds onto your body fat to use as energy.

Of course, to lose weight you will need to make smart choices of what you eat...which means...if you want Cupcakes, have a Cupcake...if you want a Hardee's Six Dollar Burger...have a Six Dollar Burger. But the key here is "Portion Control." For example, just have one cupcake and the burger, cut it in half, eat 1/2 now and the other half 3-4hrs later. Easy!!

An added benefit of eating every three hours is that you don't get hungry. By never getting hungry, you reduce the chances of overeating, or grabbing something quick and unhealthy just because it's there. If you get to the point of “starving”…then you’ve waited too late. You metabolism has slowed down conserving as much fat as possible…and more important, when you eat after “starving,” you body will immediately convert the consumed calories to fat. Not good.

Suggestion: Prepare your meals in advance…this helps you think through your food choices without being tempted to make bad choices.

3.) Exercise:

a.) Regular cardio raises your metabolism while you're doing it, but once your finished the exercise, your metabolism immediately returns to its regular rate. On the other hand, doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cardio raises your metabolism for hours afterward.

HIIT is performed by alternating highly intense bursts of exercise for 30 seconds to a minute ("highly intense" - not less than 85% of your maximum heart rate) with slow recovery for one to two minutes. I personally like the “Sprint 8” HIIT work-out. I do wind sprints for 80-meters and walk (rest) back to the starting line and do the next one until I get to eight. You can do the HIIT work-out on any regular cardio machine such as a treadmill, stairmaster, elliptical, etc. The key here is that sudden burst of energy raising your heart rate to 85% capacity and letting it fall back down. The perk of the HIIT program is it doesn’t take much time. With warm-up and cool-down, you can easily do the whole work-out in 20-minutes…as opposed to 45-60minutes on a treadmill.

b.) Like HIIT, lifting weights raises your metabolism long after you're finished...experts’ estimate that your metabolism stays elevated for up to 39 hours! And again like HIIT, your weight lifting program can and should be completed in no more than 45-minutes. Remember, the key word here is INTENSE, that means no 1-2 minute breaks between sets or exercises. My personal goal is a 15-second break between sets and no more than a 45-second break between exercises. Moreover, exercise physiologists have proven the first 45-minutes of exercise your body uses testosterone to fuel itself; whereas, after 45-minutes, it fuels itself with adrenaline. Testosterone builds muscle and increases metabolism; adrenaline does neither.

It is VERY IMPORTANT to understand...muscles consume calories naturally; therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you are going to burn even while resting. Fat does nothing to burn calories.

4.) Drink Lots of H2O:

I can't emphasize this enough, water is very important to your overall fitness, health and weight-loss quest. There are so many benefits to drinking lots of water I won't even attempt to mention them here. I will say that you should be drinking at least 4-liters/day. Plus, it will make you feel full.


A few final thoughts:
1.) Nutrition is vastly complicated and I do not pretend to know a fraction of what a nutritionist knows, I'm just sharing what works for me.

2.) Not all calories are equal…well sorta. Calories from Carbs is different from calories from protein which are different from calories from fat. I suggest determining how many of each group (Protein, Carbs, Fat) you need to consume per day to support your goal.

3.) Try not to combine fats & complex carbs. Both are turned into energy (fat) by your body and the combination will pack on the pounds. A perfect example is a PB&J sandwich…which is considered to be one of the worse sandwiches in the world…same with Mac & Cheese…both high fat and high carbs.

4.) Good fats such as Olive Oil are not processed the same as bad fats like butter, margarine.

5.) My personal fav suggestion is, “eat as close to the food sources as possible whenever possible.” A great example are Deli Cut meats…they are “processed” meat with something holding them together to make them look like meat. Same w/ butter…if you want butter have butter but DO NOT eat margarine which is little more than a chemical concoction made to sorta taste like butter…same with American cheese…it is cheese in name only.


SOURCE REFERENCE:

Proteins
* Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
* Tuna (Water Packed)
* Fish (Salmon, Sea Bass, Halibut)
* Shrimp
* Extra Lean Ground Beef
* Protein Powder
* Egg Whites or Eggs
* Rib-Eye Steaks Or Roast
* Top Round Steaks Or Roast
* Top Sirloin
* Beef Tenderloin
* Top Loin
* Flank Steak
* Eye of Round
* Ground Turkey, Turkey Breast Slices Or Cutlets (Fresh Meat, Not Deli Cuts)


Complex Carbs
* Oatmeal
* Sweet Potatoes Or Yams
* Beans (Pinto, Black, Kidney)
* Oat Bran Cereal
* Brown Rice
* Farina (Cream of Wheat)
* Multigrain Hot Cereal (Oat Bran #1)
* Whole Wheat Pasta
* Rice (Brown, Jasmine, Basmati, Arborio, Wild)
* Potatoes (Red, Baking, New)


Fibrous Carbs
* Green Leafy Lettuce (Green Leaf, Red, Leaf, Romaine)
* Broccoli (best)
* Asparagus
* String Beans
* Spinach
* Bell Peppers
* Brussels Sprouts
* Cauliflower
* Celery

Other Produce & Fruits
* Cucumber
* Green Or Red Pepper
* Onions
* Garlic
* Tomatoes
* Zucchini
* Fruit (If acceptable on diet: Bananas, Apples, Grapefruit, Peaches, Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries)
* Lemons or Limes

Healthy Fats
* Natural Style Peanut Butter (home made is easy too) Or Almond Butter
* Extra Virgin Olive Oil (BEST), Olive Oil (better) Sunflower Oil, Almond Oil (good), Flaxseed Oil (good)
* Nuts (Peanuts, Almonds, Walnut)
* Canola, and Peanut - Monounsaturated Oils
* Sunflower, Corn, Soybean, and Cottonseed - Polyunsaturated Oils
* Omega-6
* Omega-3
* Fatty Coldwater Fish (Mackerel, Salmon, Bluefish, Mullet, Sablefish) - EPA and DHA
* More fish (Menhaden, Anchovy, Herring, Lake Trout, Sardines, Tuna) - EPA and DHA

Dairy & Eggs
* Low-Fat Cottage Cheese
* Eggs
* Low Or Non-Fat Milk

Water
* 4 Liters/day

Make sure you stay hydrated throughout the day. It is important to be drinking water not only during training, but before and after. Water helps flush out toxins in the body and will keep your body and organs functioning properly. I recommend taking in at least 1 gallon of water a day.


Good luck!!


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Everybody has a theory on what you should and shouldn't do. The simple answer is there is no simple answer . Our body is nothing but a chain of complex reactions. And anybody with any chemistry knowledge knows that there are many things that influence reactions. The reason why some things work (or work faster) for some and not others is because our bodies are not the same nor are our environments. So don't criticize what people find to work for them, just respect that its not what works for your particular lifestyle.

bump :-) people we are all here to support one another. OP was just letting us know what they have found. you dont need to be negative about it