How To Speed Up Metabolism: Top Tips

Weight loss, at its very core, is pretty simple. You need to burn more calories than you take on board. Cut out unnecessary calorific foods and up your exercise levels, and you’re on the right track.

How quickly and efficiently your body turns food into energy and then expends that energy is dependent on a series of processes and chemical reactions that collectively make up your metabolism.¹

The holy grail for those dieting and wanting to lose weight is a boosted metabolism that burns calories to the very peak of its ability. One that even does so to a high level while you’re at rest.

There are a few factors as to how quick a person’s metabolism is, with age and sex being two of the primary ones.² However, it’s possible to stimulate and speed up your metabolism with a few fairly simple lifestyle tips. Keep reading to find out how to speed up your metabolism.

What is metabolism?

Metabolism is a term that describes all the chemical reactions your body carries out that keep you alive and functioning. This includes the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy.

Metabolic rate is the number of calories you burn, which is often used interchangeably with metabolism, and is what we’re really talking about here. The higher this is, the easier it will be to lose weight, and understanding this is key to understanding how to speed up your metabolism.

How to speed up metabolism: 8 Tips

1. Focus on building muscle

Even while you’re doing nothing, your body is constantly burning calories.³ People with more muscle mass have a substantially higher resting metabolic rate.⁴

Each pound of muscle consumes approximately six calories per day just to maintain itself, whereas each pound of fat consumes only two calories per day.⁵ That minor distinction can add up over time. Muscles are stimulated after a strength training session, increasing your average daily metabolic rate.

You don’t need to become a bodybuilder – just by building up more muscle than you currently have, you can boost your metabolism and lose more weight.

2. Push yourself with intense workouts

Changing up your exercise programme and incorporating a few high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts will help you enhance your metabolism and burn fat.

HIIT involves short, intense bursts of exertion. It can help you burn more fat by raising your metabolic rate long after your workout is over.⁶

This effect is thought to be stronger with HIIT than with other types of exercise. Furthermore, this kind of exercise has been demonstrated to aid in overall fat loss. If you’re new to HIIT workouts, you may benefit from our guide on how to start exercising.

3. Try to be well rested

Of course, it’s always a good idea to try and get a full night’s sleep. Being well rested is preferable for many reasons, not least the impact it can have on your weight. A lack of sleep is shown to have a detrimental effect on the metabolism, slowing it down and making weight loss much harder than it would be otherwise.⁷

Sleep deprivation can reduce the number of calories burned, alter the way you absorb sugar and disturb your appetite-regulating hormones.⁸ So make sure you turn in nice and early and get enough quality sleep.

4. Spice up your life

Spicy foods contain natural compounds that can rev up your metabolism. So, cooking with a tablespoon of chopped red or green chilli pepper – for instance – can help. The effect isn’t incredible, but if you eat spicy foods frequently, the benefits may build up.

Peppers include capsaicin, a chemical that can slightly increase your metabolism.⁹ The impact of adding spices to your food may only be minor on its own. But when paired with other metabolism-boosting techniques and efforts to improve gut health for weight loss, it can provide you with a minor edge.

5. Consider having more caffeine

One benefit of caffeine is that it can boost our energy levels temporarily, but there are other benefits to caffeinated drinks in regards to losing weight too.

Research has demonstrated that drinks with caffeine in them, such as coffee, can boost metabolism,¹⁰ albeit – again – only temporarily. Not only that, but fat burning is sped up in regular coffee drinkers.

The rate at which you burn calories while at rest is referred to as your resting metabolic rate (RMR). The faster your metabolic rate, the easier it is to lose weight and eat more without gaining weight. Caffeine has been shown in studies to boost RMR by 3-11%, with higher doses having a more noticeable effect.¹¹

6. Drink more green tea

Drinking green tea provides the benefits of caffeine as well as catechins, which have been demonstrated to increase metabolism for a couple of hours.¹²

According to research, drinking two to four cups of tea can cause the body to burn 17% more calories after moderately strenuous exercise for a short period of time.¹³

Oolong tea can also be used to similar effect.

7. Keep hydrated

Drinking plenty of water can also speed up your metabolism, albeit not for very long. According to one small study conducted in 2013, drinking half a litre of water can up your resting metabolism by a third for around an hour or so.¹⁴

Even if staying super hydrated only boosts your metabolism for an hour, there are many other health benefits to drinking water, of course. Water can also help fill you up if you are looking to lose weight, for instance. Additionally, studies have shown that drinking water half an hour before you eat can help you eat less.¹⁵

8. Pack protein into your diet

Eating food kick-starts your metabolism, no matter what kind of food it is. If the meal is protein-heavy, however, it really gives it a boost. That kick-start is known as the ‘thermic effect of food’ or ‘TEF’ for short. The higher the rise in the TEF, the more your metabolism is sped up. Protein causes the most notable spikes.¹⁶ Therefore, consider adding protein-rich foods that speed up your metabolism to your diet.

Focus on healthy habits

Follow a balanced diet and move more: that’s the unsurprising secret to losing weight. Boosting your metabolism can help you along the way, and make you more likely to keep the weight off. Focus on building habits you can maintain for the long-term, like finding an exercise you enjoy and implementing some of our suggestions on how to speed up your metabolism healthily and naturally.