Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

These suggestions were shared by the coordinator of the Idaho Falls Weight Loss Challenge. I think they are very valuable in helping to boost our metabolism and to make our body as efficient as possible when it comes to burning calories.

• Eat breakfast within 45 minutes of waking up. When you wake up in the morning, you haven't eaten in a long time. Skipping this meal means your metabolism slows down.
  
• Eat according to your activities. If you do most of your physical activity during the day, make breakfast and lunch your larger meals so you have enough energy to get everything done.
  
• Snack frequently (aka, eat when you are hungry!) Eating fruits and veggies between meals will keep you from becoming too hungry. The hungrier you are, the less control you have over what and how much you eat.
  
• Eat protein with every meal (Egg Whites, Cheese, Soy Milk, Lean Meat, Turkey, Chicken, Fish, Pork, Kidney Beans, Peas)
  
• Avoid alcohol, sugar, and fasting.
  
• Eat negative calorie foods. Negative calorie foods are foods that use more calories to digest than the calories the foods actually contain (apples, asparagus, berries, broccoli, cabbage, celery, cauliflower, chili, garlic, grapefruit, lemon, mango, onion, orange, papaya, pineapple, spinach, zucchini....)
  
• Eat foods with high nutrition values: 7-9 Servings of Fruits and Veggies/Day
  
• Keep a food diary (again, I love the google gadget "Food and Calorie Finder by Fatsecret.com" It has been a big wake up call as to exactly how much I'm eating. I realize that I need to cut a couple hundred more calories out every day.)
  
• Exercise aerobically. Start the day with 20-30 minutes of cardio, first thing in the morning. Even if your mind resists, your body loves physical activity. Plus, cardio exercise speeds up your metabolism for several hours after your work out.
  
• Lift Weights. (or some kind of resistance training) It's important to build muscle tone in order to lose weight. Muscle burns up to five times more calories than fat!!
  
• Drink Water. Your metabolism needs it in order to function properly, and being well hydrated will keep you energized (8-10 glasses a day)
  
• Lose weight gradually, but steadily. If you lose weight at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week, you will be more likely to keep it off permanently.
  
• 8 hours of Deep Sleep every night.

I hope some of those ideas might come in handy to you guys. I know I really need to be more consistent in all of those areas!