Can You Increase Your Metabolism Without Increasing Your Heart Rate?
Metabolism refers to the number of calories you burn in a day. Your body burns calories while performing its natural functions -- breathing, circulating blood, regulating your body temperature, digestion and keeping your heart beating. Your body also burns calories by the physical activities you do in a day -- whether you're running, standing or simply tweeting. Besides working out, there are ways to increase your metabolism without increasing your heart rate.
Your body needs water to get rid of fat from your system and process calories. Water is also essential for your body's messaging system to work efficiently. The slightest sign of dehydration slows your metabolism down. According to Web MD, one study showed that those who drank eight or more glasses of water burned more calories a day than those who only drank four glasses. Dehydration can also make you feel like you're hungry, causing you to eat and gain weight instead of burning calories. To stay hydrated and raise your metabolism, drink a glass of water before each meal and snack you eat.
Protein not only fills you up, but it's also harder and takes more energy for your body to digest it, as opposed to carbs and fats. The more energy your body uses and the more calories you burn, the more your metabolism is working. Protein also helps you maintain and build muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate. Although you want a balanced diet, try to include lean protein in every meal you eat to increase your metabolism. Healthy protein options include seafood, white-meat poultry, milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs, beans and soy.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day -- as everyone always says, especially for your metabolism. Eating a healthy breakfast -- whether it's fruit, yogurt, cereal, eggs or toast -- will jump start your metabolism and have you burning more calories during the day than those who skipped out on breakfast. Even if you're the type of person who can't eat breakfast in the morning, a little piece of toast or just an egg will do to boost your metabolism. Eating breakfast increases your resting metabolic rate by 10 percent for the rest of your day.
Drink Green Tea
Green tea contains substances such as caffeine and catechins that are shown to increase your metabolism for a couple hours after you drink a cup. According to one study, drinking five 8-ounce cups of green tea a day is shown to increase the amount of energy you use by 90 calories a day. Green tea also prevents the absorption of fat and reduces your appetite. Drinking two to four cups of green tea will help your body burn 17 percent more calories while performing short, moderately intense exercises.
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