by Adrian Harper, ProFitness Gym
You have probably heard the term metabolism before and understand what it means but for those of you that don’t in simple terms it is the amount of energy your body burns to maintain itself. There are many chemical reactions that happen inside your body that affect metabolism. Muscle and fat affect metabolism – muscle uses more calories than fat does to maintain the body and those who are active, particularly those who weight train are said to have a higher metabolism meaning they will use more calories than an inactive person. Below I am going to give you 5 simple tips that will help boost your metabolism.
1. Eat More Protein – There are many different theories on how much protein you should eat but generally as a rule of thumb we would advise that you eat 1 gram of protein per KG of bodyweight. So if you are 80kg try shoot for 80 grams of clean protein spread throughout the day from real food. Now bear in mind a 30gram piece of chicken is not 30grams of protein – its better to over estimate rather than under estimate on this.
2. Eat less on the days you are not training or less active, sound simple really? but this is a time when many over eat – dont do this, or you will find it hard to lose bodyfat – your body doesnt need the same amount of energy as it does on days of high activity.
3. Eat more green veg, especially dark green veg. Veg is high in nutrients including a powerhouse of fat burning – fibre. Dark green veg is extremely low in calories and carbohydrates making it a big player in your quest to boost your metabolism and stay lean.
4. Exercise – and by exercise I mean a properly planned weight training programme mixed with some aerobic and anaerobic training. You cant out train a bad diet but you can most certainly compliment a good diet by training(properly) with weights.
5. Water – Water plays a key role in your metabolism and your health you will always hear the saying drink 2-3 lires of water per day and to be fair its a good guideline, anything less is not really adequate. Opt for properly filtered water and make sure you stay hydrated throughout the day especially around gym training time.
Hopefully these tips help you and you can implement them today and get into great shape this Christmas. We will have more helpful tips for you next week!
Stay lean!!