Discover the secrets to boosting your metabolism through exercise. Learn the different components of metabolism and how to crank up your calorie-burning potential. Get expert tips on the best cardio and strength training exercises to supercharge your metabolism.

The Basics of Metabolism and Exercise

Metabolism is the process by which your body converts the food you eat into energy to fuel your daily activities. It’s a complex system that encompasses several different components, including your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories your body burns at rest), the thermic effect of food (the energy required to digest and process the food you consume), and physical activity energy expenditure (the calories you burn through exercise and movement).

When it comes to boosting your metabolism, exercise plays a crucial role. Regular physical activity can increase your resting metabolic rate, which means your body will become more efficient at burning calories, even when you’re not actively working out. This is why a combination of healthy eating habits and regular exercise is the key to sustainable weight loss and management.

How Does Exercise Affect Your Metabolism?

Exercise can impact your metabolism in several ways. The more you move your body, the more calories you’ll burn each day. This is because the physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) component of your metabolism is something you can directly control through your exercise routine.

However, it’s important to note that the exact number of calories you’ll burn during exercise can vary based on a variety of factors, including your age, gender, body size, body composition, and genetics. Additionally, as you lose weight, you may find that you burn fewer calories during each workout session, as your body requires less energy to move a lighter frame.

Boosting Your Metabolism with Cardio Exercise

Aerobic exercise, or cardio, is one of the most effective ways to boost your metabolism. Activities like jogging, brisk walking, swimming, biking, and dancing can all help increase your calorie burn and keep your metabolism humming. To maximize the metabolic benefits of cardio, aim for a mix of moderate-intensity exercise (such as a brisk walk) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which involves short bursts of intense activity followed by periods of rest or lower-intensity movement.

The Importance of Strength Training

While cardio is essential for boosting your metabolism, don’t neglect the power of strength training. Building muscle mass through resistance exercises like weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, and resistance band workouts can significantly increase your resting metabolic rate, as muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, even at rest.

Optimizing Your Exercise Routine for Metabolism

To get the most out of your exercise routine for boosting your metabolism, it’s essential to:

• Vary your cardio activities and intensity levels
• Incorporate strength training exercises 2-3 times per week
• Gradually increase the duration and intensity of your workouts as you become more fit
• Stay consistent with your exercise routine, aiming for a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week

The Role of Nutrition in Metabolism

While exercise is crucial for boosting your metabolism, the foods you eat also play a significant role. Eating a balanced, nutrient-dense diet that includes plenty of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates can help support your metabolic processes and provide the energy your body needs to fuel your workouts and daily activities.

It’s important to avoid crash dieting or severely restricting your calorie intake, as this can actually slow down your metabolism over time. Instead, work with a healthcare professional or registered dietitian to develop a sustainable, personalized nutrition plan that complements your exercise routine and helps you maintain a healthy metabolism.

Conclusion

Boosting your metabolism through exercise is a powerful way to support your weight loss and management goals. By incorporating a variety of cardio and strength-training activities into your routine, you can increase your calorie-burning potential and keep your metabolism firing on all cylinders. Remember to be patient, consistent, and willing to adjust your exercise and nutrition plan as your body adapts and changes over time.

Does exercise increase metabolism?

Among the trendy diets and promises of weight-loss fads, the term “metabolism” often takes center stage. But what is this magic, gut-shrinking term, and how does it relate to regular physical activity and exercise?

In short, metabolism is just a fancy way of describing how your body burns calories. Thus, a steady and consistent weight-loss program of healthy eating habits and regular physical activity will help you achieve the desired results through your metabolism. 

Curious about how does regular exercise improve cardiovascular function and your metabolism? Regular exercise does, in fact, boost your resting metabolic rate. This means your body will become more efficient at burning calories and using those extra calories for energy to keep you going. 

With this in mind, keep reading to learn more about how to crank your resting metabolism into high gear.

How does exercise affect your metabolism?

Your metabolism doesn’t refer to just one action. Instead, your metabolism can be broken into three separate methods of burning calories, including:

The sum of all of these equals your daily metabolic rate. When the amount of calories consumed is the same as your metabolic requirements, your body weight and muscle mass will typically remain the same.

This is why exercising is a critical component of weight loss. The more you move your body, the more calories you’ll burn each day. To lose one pound, you need to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. If you break this down into one week, you’d need to create a daily deficit of 500 calories. Depending on your metabolic rate, this can equal anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour of moderate-intensity exercise per day each week.

When you skip the workout portion of the metabolism pie, you must significantly reduce the number of calories you eat. However, over time, eating too little can slow your metabolism down. This is why it’s crucial to work with professionals—starving yourself to reduce calorie intake will only have negative consequences. Sustained weight loss requires a lot more than regulating calorie intake. Found takes into consideration your unique biology when creating a weight care plan designed specifically for you.

What influences your PAEE?

So does exercise increase metabolism? Yes, and your actions have the biggest impact on the physical activity portion of your metabolism. You can control how much you move during the day, but you can’t control how much energy it takes for your body to process your last meal. 

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to pin down the exact number of calories you’ll burn doing physical activities. Everyone has a different level of PAEE, which is largely influenced by:

• Age

• Gender

• Body size

• Body composition

• Genetics

Many people experience plateaus in weight loss. As your body weight decreases, you will most likely burn fewer calories during each session if you don’t change the intensity or type of exercise you’re doing.

How can you increase your metabolism with exercise?

Don’t get discouraged by the fact that you’ll burn fewer calories through exercise as you lose weight. You’ll find that your healthier body has more energy, and you feel ready to tackle tougher workouts as you get fitter. This can help mitigate the decrease in calorie burn and improve your PAEE throughout your weight loss journey. 

Tip #1: Step up your cardio routine

There are many benefits of aerobic exercise and one of them has to do with your metabolism. The first trick to maintaining an effective calorie burn with your workouts is to perform cardio, or aerobic, exercise regularly. The good news is that the list of activities that count as aerobic exercise is quite long and includes a variety of activities. Some excellent choices are:

• Jogging

• Brisk walking

• Swimming

• Biking

• Dancing

• Doubles tennis

• Hiking

• Rollerblading

• Stair climbing

It’s important to vary your cardio exercise routine by mixing both the type of activity you perform and the intensity. The CDC recommends that adults get a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. However, to lose weight, you’ll likely need to increase that amount. The 150-minute as a target heart rate for weight loss suggestion is just a baseline for good health. ​​

Adding intense bouts of movement will also rev up the calorie burn. This can include activities such as:

• Running 

• Biking on hills

• Swimming quick laps

• Playing basketball

• Singles tennis

When you add small bursts of more intense activity, you’ll get the same positive effect of moderate exercise in about half the time—one minute of vigorous activity is equal to about two minutes of moderate movement. This makes it easier to fit your exercise goals into your day while still reaping the metabolism-boosting benefits.

Tip #2: Don’t skip strength training

The next component of your workout routine that can help increase your metabolic rate is performing at least two strength training sessions per week. You’ve probably heard the claim that muscle burns more calories than fat. This is true in that muscle has a higher level of metabolic activity than fat. Thus, when you build muscle through strength training, you’re creating tissue that will use more energy each day.

There are many activities that you can perform to increase strength, including:

• Yoga

• Weight-lifting

• Pilates

• Resistance band exercises

• Body-weight exercises (squats, lunges, push-ups)

Even if you don’t have access to weights or other equipment, your body weight is sufficient for building the muscle you need to experience an increase in RMR.

Tip #3: Break up your workouts

There’s long been a belief that your body will continue to burn more calories after you finish working out. Unfortunately, the increase in metabolic rate after exercise doesn’t last for a significant period. 

While the lasting effect of metabolic burn after you finish exercising is minimal, breaking your workouts into smaller, more manageable chunks does have benefits for your long term weight loss efficiency, such as: 

Adding intensity, strength training, and breaking your workouts into multiple daily sessions boost your PAEE which can lead to greater weight loss success.

What else helps increase metabolism?

Exercising regularly is a major benefactor, but there are other steps you can take to boost your metabolism. When paired with exercise, you’ll find your energy levels increase when you:

• Eat more frequently – This might seem counterproductive—won’t eating more often cause you to gain weight? Short answer: no. As long as you’re consuming the same number of calories, breaking them up into smaller meals will cause your body to rev up for digestion more times each day, moderately increasing calorie burn each time.

• Add protein to your diet – Along with helping you build lean muscle, protein can help you feel full longer, resulting in lower calorie consumption. A study funded by the Austrian Science Fund suggests that a diet rich in lean proteins may also boost your TEF metabolic rate higher than consuming carbohydrates and fats.

• Sleep well – Not getting enough high-quality sleep is linked to a host of health problems, including obesity. When you’re overtired, your body doesn’t burn calories as efficiently as it does when you’ve slept well. Furthermore, you won’t have the pep to get out and exercise when you’re exhausted. 

As you can see, exercise is just one piece of the puzzle you need to fit in to maximize your metabolism’s energy-burning power.

Balance all aspects of your metabolism with Found

A consistent exercise routine is the first step to a higher-performing metabolism. When paired with healthy eating habits, quality sleep, and proper hydration, you’ll find that you feel like your body is balanced and functioning optimally. Sometimes, though, your body resists your attempts to get healthy. 

That’s where we step in. Here at Found, we’re here to help you get back on track. We harness the power of cutting-edge science and leading health professionals to help you lose weight and keep it off. 

Take our quiz today and discover if we’re the right choice to help you achieve your health goals.

Sources: 

Essays in Biochemistry. Metabolism. https://portlandpress.com/essaysbiochem/article/64/4/607/226177/Metabolism

PubMed. A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet Versus a Low-Fat Diet to Treat Obesity and Hyperlipidemia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15148063/

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Control of Energy Expenditure in Humans. https://www.nature.com/articles/ejcn2016237

CDC. How Much Physical Activity Do Adults Need? https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.ht

PubMed. Skeletal Muscle Metabolism is a Major Determinant of Resting Energy Expenditure. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2243122/

PubMed. Exercise for Weight Loss: Further Evaluating Energy Compensation with Exercise. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33064415/

PubMed. A High-Protein Diet For Reducing Body Fat: Mechanisms and Possible Caveats. https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4258944/

The Obesity Society. Drinking Water is Associated with Weight Loss in Overweight Dieting Women Independent of Diet and Activity. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2008.409

National Academy of Science. Impact of Insufficient Sleep on Total Daily Energy Expenditure, Food Intake, and Weight Gain. https://www.pnas.org/content/110/14/5695

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July 19, 2022

We have all heard the phrases ‘high metabolism’ or ‘low metabolism’, but what do they mean, and can you change your body’s natural metabolism rate? Your metabolism is how fast your body converts calories into energy. Although everyone is built differently, the more active you are, the higher your metabolic rate will be. There are even a few exercises you can do to boost your metabolism. This TREK blog will tell you everything you need to know about your metabolism, as well as the exercises you can do to boost it!

What is a metabolism?

Metabolism is the process by which your body converts food into energy. It’s what allows you to breathe, think, sleep and even digest your food.

A high metabolism is the ability to burn calories at a fast rate. This can be advantageous if you’re trying to lose weight, but can also lead to problems like fatigue if it’s too high. A low metabolism is the opposite: You’re not burning calories as quickly as you should be. Low metabolism can make weight loss much harder than it needs to be.

The rapid rate at which your body burns calories by breaking down food can be affected by many factors, including:

1. Age – As you get older, your metabolism tends to slow down. This is due to a range of factors including being less active and burning less calories. For example, one study found that older adults burnt 29% less calories than the younger participants.
2. Gender – Men generally have higher metabolic rates than women because they have more muscle mass, which uses more energy when it contracts and relaxes during exercise. Men also tend to weigh more than women of the same height and age.
3. Body composition – Fatty tissue burns fewer calories than other types of tissue in the body because it contains less oxygen and blood vessels than lean muscle tissue does. For example, research suggests that 10 pounds of muscle would burn 50 calories in a day spent at rest, while 10 pounds of fat would burn 20 calories. Therefore, the more muscle tissue you have, the higher the metabolism, and the more calories burned.

Does exercise increase metabolism?

The simple answer is yes. However, the key is choosing the right metabolism boosting exercises. For example, we know that the more lean muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn daily. Therefore, weight training exercises like deadlifts or squats that focus on compound movements can help you build the right body composition needed for a high metabolism.

Cardio is also key. Exercises like running, jumping and aerobics, (anything that gets the heart pumping), can help boost your metabolism, as well as burn calories. Just remember to have a high protein snack before any high energy workouts. Our TREK protein bars should do just the trick!

Metabolism boosting exercises

The main benefit of these exercises is that they increase the heart rate and make you breathe harder, which means that your body will need to use more energy (calories) to complete them. The more intense the exercise, the greater impact it has on your metabolism. Here are some simple metabolism boosting exercises to help you get started:

1. Walking – We take walking for granted as it is one of the best exercises for boosting your metabolism. It’s easy to do, it burns a lot of calories, and is good for your heart and lungs. It’s also an easy exercise to fit around your everyday life. Try going for a walk at lunchtime, or walking to the shops instead of taking the car. Then you can slowly begin to increase the amount of time you get your legs moving!
2. Swimming – A great full body workout! Swimming works both the arms and legs so is great for strengthening muscle groups while burning fat at the same time! Swimming also improves cardiovascular fitness which helps boost metabolism over time.
3. High knees – This is a great exercise because it gets your heart rate up quickly and burns lots of calories during the course of the workout. It takes only 10 minutes to do 100 high knees (depending on your fitness level), which will help you burn those calories!
4. Push-ups – A great way to strengthen your arms, chest and back muscles while burning lots of calories at the same time! They’re easy to do anywhere and don’t require any equipment at all! They can also be adjusted to your difficulty level. If you are a beginner, try a table top push up using your knees, then progress to the full exercise.
5. Spin Class – Cycling is great for boosting metabolism, and a spin class can help take this to the next level. It’s a great low impact cardio workout that can help strengthen your leg muscles whilst boosting your mood and improving your stamina!
6. HIIT – Interval training alternates between high-intensity exercises with short periods of rest in between. For example, you could alternate sprinting with walking or jogging. HIIT is similar to steady-state cardio but involves short bursts of intense activity followed by periods of rest or low-intensity activity.
7. Squats – Another great exercise for improving your overall fitness level. Squatting works the entire leg and buttock muscle groups and helps to strengthen your lower back, hamstrings and calves.
8. Dancing – Sometimes working out is the most fun when it doesn’t feel like exercise! Dancing is a great way to burn calories whilst having a good time. It can help improve your muscle tone and strength, whilst boosting your cardiovascular health.

There we have it – everything you need to know about boosting your metabolism! From the exercises you can add to your workout routine, to the reasons why your metabolism may be slightly lower or higher. One thing is for sure, you are now equipped with everything you need to improve your metabolism and see the results you want!

For more TREK blogs on all things exercise, read our other articles on How To Get Motivated For The Gym, and Rugby Drill Workouts. Or for a great workout snack try one of our TREK protein bars.

Ready to try great-tasting TREK protein bars?  You can buy them here now!

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How to speed up metabolism in 10 minutes? Top 5 Exercises

Have you decided to shake up your metabolism a little so that weight loss goes faster? Great! But if you think that you need to spend three times as much time on the treadmill for this, you are mistaken. High Intensity Fitness is what you need. Scientists have proven that training

Have you decided to slightly shake up your metabolism so that weight loss goes faster? Great! But if you think that you need to spend three times as much time on the treadmill for this, you are mistaken. High intensity fitness is what you need. Scientists have proven that whole-body workouts are even more effective in this regard than aerobics or long cardio sessions. So what exactly needs to be done?

1. “Scissors”

Sit on one knee, raise your left hand above your head with the palm inward, and lower your right hand along the body. Jump up sharply, changing your arm and leg in the air at the moment of the buckle. Land in the same squat as in the starting position, but be careful not to hit your knee on the floor as you land. Repeat the exercise for 30 seconds as fast as you can. Then rest 10 seconds and do another round.

2. Advanced Push-up

Start from the starting position for the plank exercise – the body is extended in a straight line, resting on the elbows and toes, the buttocks are tensed, the stomach is pulled in, the elbows are pressed to the body, the chest rests on the floor. Push up with your left hand, while throwing your right arm straight forward from your shoulder, palm inward, and lifting your left leg above hip level. Raising the leg, you need to pull the foot forward. Hold this position for a few seconds, then return to the starting position. This will be one repetition. Do 10 repetitions, each time changing arm and leg.

3. Jump Squat

This fun exercise is familiar to us from school physical education classes. Begin in a squat position, feet wider than shoulder width apart, arms outstretched to the sides at shoulder height, palms up. Jump up, while sharply bringing your legs and arms together (above your head, with a clap of your hands). Land in the starting position. Repeat the exercise for 30 seconds as fast as you can. Then rest 10 seconds and repeat again.

4. Side plank with arm outstretched

Lie on your right side, rest your right elbow on the floor, put your left hand behind your head. Bend your right leg at the knee, rest on top of it with the knee of your left leg. The right thigh should touch the floor. Pull in your stomach and, resting your right palm on the floor, straighten your right arm, raising the body, but without raising the hips. The left hand should be extended all this time. From this position, raise the trouble and stretch the right leg, while crossing it with the left (the right will be behind the left). Look at the left hand pointing to the ceiling. You have a side bar with an outstretched arm. Hold this position for a few seconds, then gently lower yourself to the starting position, bending your right arm at the elbow. Do 15 repetitions on one side, then roll over to the other side.

5. Half Bridge

Grab a dumbbell each, lie face up on the floor, holding the dumbbells with your arms extended over your chest (hands turned palms inward). Spread your bent legs shoulder-width apart, lift your heels and rest your toes on the floor. Lower your elbows to the floor without changing the rotation of your arms, rest your elbows and shoulders on the floor and lift your hips into a bridge position while keeping your heels up. Hold this position for a few seconds, then return to the starting position. Do 15 repetitions.

Do you have a favorite workout that helps you “boost your metabolism”?

Photo: shape.com

6 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism Everyone Can Do

Likbez

Health

Eat chocolate, have dinner after eight, and do other pleasant things that will help you lose weight.

To lose weight, all you need is to speed up your metabolism. Such a stereotype exists among those who have set themselves the goal of getting rid of extra pounds. And partly the thesis is true: the more actively the body processes food into energy, the easier it is for excess body fat to evaporate from the surface of the body.

On the other hand, metabolism is a complex, extremely individual and not fully understood thing, which is not always amenable to effective correction.

However, there is still a chance to boost metabolism temporarily.

1. Eat dark chocolate

Many people know that chocolate with a higher (70%) cocoa content is great for coping with stress. But it turns out that this is not all the magic that lurks in a chocolate bar.

Scientists have found that it is enough to eat 40 grams of this cocoa product every day – and in two weeks your metabolism will get a decent boost.

This is also due to the normalization of cell sensitivity to insulin. As a result, the body more actively converts food into energy, and not into fat.

2. Minimize the amount of time spent exercising

A 10 to 15-minute active workout is often more effective in boosting your metabolism than an hour-long jog or some mindful yoga session of the same duration.

High-intensity interval training has long been popular in the US. These are exercises in which short periods of maximum activity are interspersed with short periods of rest.

Quickly did push-ups 20 times – rested 20 seconds – again did 20 push-ups. I jumped over the rope for a minute at maximum speed – rested 15 seconds – again a minute of jumping. 4-5 such cycles once a day (or even once every couple of days) is enough to significantly accelerate the metabolism in two weeks.

The reasons for the acceleration are different. In particular, the absorption of lipids and glucose is improved – those “building blocks” from which, if they are not absorbed, fat is formed. In addition, the body gets used to consuming more oxygen – the main fat burner. Because of this, calorie consumption after a short but intense workout increases dramatically and for a long time (for a period of a couple of hours to a day). Speaking of oxygen…

3. Breathe deeply

Sometimes you read about another diet and you just want to breathe. And it is right! Deep breathing is a much more effective way to lose weight than severe dietary restrictions (in general, rigid diets are more likely to make you gain weight than lose weight, and Lifehacker has already written about this).

And the logic here is simple: the deeper you breathe, the more oxygen gets into the blood and the more actively the process of processing food, including fats and sugar, into energy takes place.

4. Drink cold water

Everyone who loses weight must have heard: if you drink a glass of water 20–30 minutes before a meal, you will eat less. But did you know that if you drink water straight from the refrigerator, it will at least double the effect?

Cold water will not only fill your stomach (which means you will feel full), but will also force the body to spend extra calories on warming. Half a liter of this water – and the metabolic rate will increase by 30%. Until you get warm.

5. Eat before bed

From the point of view of those who seek to maintain or lose weight, this sounds blasphemous. But scientists from the University of Florida found that a light snack before bedtime can improve nightly metabolism, in particular, activate the processing of fats.