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Kris Carr

Wellness

How to Boost Your Metabolism for Weight Loss

Hiya Gorgeous,

So many awesome things happen as we get older: we get to know ourselves better (our likes and dislikes), we develop those gorgeous smile lines that map the joy we’ve experienced and hopefully we stop sweating the small stuff as much—at least that’s the goal.

But as we grow in wisdom, sometimes we also grow in our waistlines. Suddenly, there’s belly fat that’s hard to shake and more cushion in the tuchas.

The truth is, our metabolism slows as we age.

And sometimes, no matter how hard we try, the scale doesn’t budge. While there are many reasons for this, including hormonal changes, dwindling muscle strength and escalating stress, there are also some pretty good solutions.

We all know that what we eat and drink and how much we’re exercising impact the numbers on the scale. But, there are other ways too, and I have a list of tips you may not have considered below. So before you run out and buy another pair of Spanx, read this.

Understanding Your Metabolism

Basically, metabolism is the process your body uses to convert calories into energy (we often refer to this as “burning calories”).

Whether you know it or not, your body is always burning calories. Even when you’re just sitting around watching Gilmore Girls for the third time, your body is using energy to run the inner show that goes on behind the scenes—stuff like keeping your ticker running, blood circulating, repairing your cells, breathing, and the list goes on. This accounts for about eighty percent of your metabolism (study).

In addition to the calories burned just to keep your body functioning each day, you also burn them while digesting food (which takes a lot of energy)—and of course during exercise and any physical activity (folding laundry, painting your nails, even tweeting!). So, that’s your metabolism in a nutshell. Some of it’s within your control and some of it’s not.

As I mentioned earlier, your metabolism doesn’t always stay the same throughout your life. For most women, metabolism drops about 1-2% per decade after age 25. So to put that into perspective, continuing to eat the same foods and exercise the same amount could mean gaining about 2 pounds per year after age 25. No biggie for a year or two, but after 10 or 20 years, a noticeable amount of extra weight may be hanging around.

This is when boosting your metabolism can really help—because you shouldn’t have to starve yourself to attain your (realistic) weight loss goals. In fact, if you do, there’s a good chance you could actually damage your metabolism. And once it’s hurt, it’s hard to heal. Not impossible, but not easy.

So, let’s say you want to lose weight in a healthy way. You’re being mindful of your portions and what you’re eating, and you’re exercising too, but you’re still not losing weight! What do you do?

Try revving up your metabolism with the strategies below. They may be just what you need to tip the scale in your favor.

 

8 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism & Support Weight Loss

1. Spice up your meals: Adding a spicy kick to your food on a regular basis can increase your metabolism (and make your meals even tastier). Try adding hot peppers, chili peppers and even red pepper flakes to your foods throughout the day (study).

2. Eat more plant protein: Protein has a greater thermic effect than carbs or fats (so digesting protein burns more calories!). And when you choose plant-based protein, you get these metabolism-boosting benefits without the potential drawbacks of eating more animal protein (for example, increased heart disease risk and cancer risk). Try adding a serving of beans, lentils, hemp seeds, chia seeds or some of the other rich sources of plant protein to your snacks and meals.

3. Stay well hydrated: Try to consume at least half your bodyweight (lbs) in ounces of water per day. Recently, a study done among overweight children found that consuming the recommended amount of water increased their metabolism by 25 percent (study). On the opposite side of the coin, poor hydration is linked to higher weight and obesity (study).

4. Stay rested: Clocking at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night keeps your metabolism running strong. When you’re chronically sleep deprived (consistently getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night), your body produces more of the stress hormone cortisol. This uptick in cortisol throws your hormonal balance out of whack, which can slow down your metabolism. Plus, sleep deprivation increases your appetite for carbohydrate-rich foods, like sweets and snacks, making sleep loss a double whammy for weight gain. (Study)

5. Build muscle: Thirty minutes of weight-bearing exercises 3 to 4 times a week can help you increase and maintain muscle mass, which keeps your metabolism running high. A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories a day whereas a pound of fat only burns 2 calories a day. So the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism (study).

6. Drink green tea: Research suggests drinking 2-3 cups of green tea daily. It’s been shown to significantly increase metabolism for 24 hours after consumption (study). Also, green tea may boost fat oxidation, which means less storage of body fat.

7. Fill your plate with whole, plant-based foods: People following a plant-based diet usually have an easier time losing weight and keeping it off compared to their omnivorous pals. Why? Because plant-based foods are typically lower in calories than animal-based ones. Also, plant foods (and even more so whole plant foods) have a greater thermic effect than animal-based ones—meaning you burn more calories while digesting them (study). In fact, plant-based eaters burn about 300 more calories a day on average while at rest (study).

8. Reduce your stress level: Maintaining a healthy metabolism is also connected to our levels of stress and overwhelm. So if you want to lose the weight and keep it off, then stress reduction practices, like meditation, breath work, exercise, talk therapy and other self-care strategies, are important parts of your overall plan. In fact, recent research has shown a significant decrease in metabolism and an increase in insulin release (which triggers appetite) the day following a stressful event (study). Over the course of a year, this drop in metabolism could add up to 11 pounds.

I really hope these tips help you see progress with your weight loss goals! Just keep in mind that once you start shedding pounds, your metabolism will drop slightly (this is a survival mechanism for times of famine). So, you might experience faster weight loss at first and then it may become more gradual. You’ll also probably experience some mild hunger in response to the calorie deficit. (I want to stress the word “mild” when referring to hunger—I certainly don’t encourage continual or extreme hunger.) Rest assured that this will disappear once you meet your weight goal and transition your diet into more of a maintenance mode.

Your turn: Share your healthy weight loss or metabolism-boosting tips in the comments. I want to hear what’s working (or not working!) for you.

Peace & spice,

Add a comment
  1. Aditi Gupta says:

    “Lean and Mean”.
    Nice Blog. Also, make sure you can keep building mass for as long as possible.

  2. 8 ball pool says:

    Awesome and inspiring post as usual, Kris!!!

  3. Ivana says:

    Great article Kris. Sleeping, drinking water and exercising are the best ways to boost your metabolism naturally.

  4. Radi says:

    That’s awesome, thank you for the helpful information. I am going to add this to my yoga that I have been finding great success in to speeding my metabolism check it out guys bit.ly/2IWrDFwbit.ly/2IWrDFw

  5. Emma says:

    It’s really inspiring post. I’m absolutely agree with Kelly but in my opinion need to combine all this thing with little exercise something like yoga or home stretching and is very refreshing and help lot. When i try it i feel very good and my body start to look more fit

  6. What I like about your blog is your 8 ways tips. Right now, i started adding hot peppers to my food even if i don’t like spicy before, but now i started to like it.

  7. I think that these are excellent tips to boost metabolism. This website is very helpful.

  8. Stacey McGregor says:

    Slow metabolism is really a problem when it comes to a weight loss. Great text!
    Also, there are some foods that actually slow down metabolism.
    Foods high in pesticides (fruits and vegetables), high sugar foods, bread, margarine, granola bars, vegetable oils, French fries, farmed beef, alcohol can significantly decrease your metabolism and stop you from losing weight.

  9. Stacey McGregor says:

    Research has shown that the basal metabolic rate, or the number of calories you burn while resting drops as we age for incredible 25 percent between 6 and 18, and then for 3 percent every decade of your life after you turn 20.

    So, these are good tips for boosting metabolism.

    I enjoy reading your articles, thanks.

  10. Candace says:

    Very interesting read. I do have a couple of questions, however, in regard to the statements made in bullet #7. I’m working very hard to become healthier and reduce inflammation in my body, through continued exercise and diet modification. Since I have a chronic inflammatory condition, I’m always looking for more information as to how I can control this naturally, such as through dietary adjustments, and thus I read a lot of studies. Naturally, I was excited to read both studies you cite above. With that said, the studies don’t seem to corroborate the statement above. You mentioned “plant foods have a greater thermic effect than animal-based ones”, but the study that you link to doesn’t say this. In fact, it studies the difference between a whole foods diet (which the study says they consider to be fruit, vegetable, or meat) versus a processed food diet. The ‘meal’ that was used for the study was bread and cheese, so no meat or direct plants were used.

    You went on to say that “plant-based eaters burn about 300 more calories a day on average while at rest”, but the study you cite doesn’t seem to say that, at least not that I was able to find. It says that vegetarians do burn more calories at rest, but I don’t see a quantification.

    I’m not bringing any of this up to be argumentative or to be pro-vegetarian OR pro-meat eater, as I’m frankly neither. But I think it’s critical to be an analytical reader when considering dietary change information.

  11. fitsaurus says:

    Boost your metabolism through natural process by drinking water, drinking energy drink, revive with green tea, caffeine etc.

    • Jennifer says:

      Water is definitely a great tool for health and weight loss! However energy drinks and overloading on caffeine can cause adrenal fatigue in the long run. Essentially you are forcing your body to borrow energy that you don’t really have, causing you to crash. So I just wanted to share that one word of caution. Adrenal fatigue is NO FUN!

  12. Your ideas for losing weight are really great. After the start to reading your blog, I found it really enjoyable and helpful for me. But as I am a busy person, I have not enough time to go to the gym or doing exercise. So I am finding an easy way to losing weight quickly. After spending much time on the net. I have got a great weight losing tips and already lost 10lbs in a month. I think your blog will help me always. Thanks for sharing with us this effective information.

  13. Vibeke says:

    Hi, I love your tips to a healthy life. I have always been fit and athletic slim, and I took care of myself, body, mind and soul. Then I became a single mum to a beautiful girl who is now 2 years old. She has always had trouble sleeping and is generally intense. I have very little help with her which has taken a toll on me. I sleep to little, can’t go to the gym and feel stressed and unhappy. I know how I can make myself feel better, I just physically can’t do it. Get enough sleep or go to the gym. What are your tips to single mums?

    • Azul Jewels says:

      I am a single mother, as well, of a now grown child. I incorporated physical activity with playtime and learning. Yoga together, hikes and hiking groups, playtime at the park and playground, gardening, watching inspiring childrens music videos while dancing to them, dancing around the house while playing instruments, youtube is awesome. Check out Brain Breaks. So much fun. I also, did all workouts at home to videos or youtube and lots of walking, biking, running, swimming, hiking together. Outdoor sports and games. Whatever works for you.

  14. Clarissa says:

    Hi Kris,

    A great post with lots of information. I used to be overweight during my younger days. To lose weight, I cut down on my rice intake and go for a plant-based diet. I stick to this diet for a year and it has help me to lose that extra weight. What I didn’t know is that stress will decrease my metabolism. It’s something I have to keep an eye on as I have been feeling stressful lately.

    Cheers, Clarissa

  15. Thanks Kris – just what I needed to read today 🙂 planning on putting all of these into action over the next few weeks.

  16. Katy says:

    I eat half of everything I want, whenever I want. I swap out vegetables for pasta or rice, leaving just enough of the carbs: a handful per serving, for flavour. I feel lighter and more energetic by eating both, to indulge a craving and fuel my body. I have lost my ‘menopause’ weight, and kept it off, by doing this one thing.

  17. helen says:

    Thanks kris!! so drinking green tea – i find it a bit too bitter for my taste. But i now make hot green tea and let it cool.
    I keep it in the fridge and pour a glass over ice – sometimes i add a little bit of bio lemon sirup – it is fresh and good….
    Would this way of drinking green tea have the same effects as drinking hot green tea ?
    XXXX Helen. thanks again for all your inspiration!!!

  18. Ashley says:

    I love your tips!!!! Listening to my body has definitely been my main helper in losing weight. I’ve been vegan 7 years, but a few years ago, 20 pounds had crept on. I began “listening” to when I was really hungry, and when I wasn’t. My sensitive digestion would cry for help and feel super congested when I ate if I wasn’t hungry. I’m only 28 now, but I’ve managed to be a good listener most of the time, and not overstuff myself. Also eating lots of greens helped me with feeling good and weight loss, and digestion.

  19. Barbara says:

    This is a great reminder that starving myself doesn’t help, in fact can hurt my chance of losing and/or maintaining appropriate weight. After years of abusing myself by not eating enough, I am now having trouble with my body knowing what to do with food.. Especially since I am heading into senior citizen times. I am hopeful I can heal this body of mine.

  20. Great list! Kris, I gotta tell you…you are like a breath of fresh air! For real. I get all smiley when I receive information and tips from you. And as you know, sharing is caring. Thanks for caring!

  21. Kat says:

    Always great and useful information. I’m dealing with menopause now and using essential oils to help, but I had not even considered how my metabolism is affected. Thank you! You brighten up my inbox!!

  22. Kelly says:

    Hi Kris,
    I love your blog. My suggestion is eating slower. It seems simple but most people eat standing or spend 25 minutes cooking when they eat they hardly taste their food. Eating slower, taking sips of water in between, breathing in between bites, belps feel fuller. xo

  23. Awesome and inspiring post as usual, Kris!!! I have been really fortunate to maintain my weight pretty easily. I weigh the same at 50 that I did in High School. It’s not that I can eat whatever I want whenever I want. But I really listen to my body. Some days I crave tons of raw veggies. Other days I need more protein. Something that is really important for me is consuming enough healthy fats. Plenty of avocado oil or EVOO on salads. Cooking with coconut oil. I consume ethically raised animal protein, so egg yolks instead of just whites. Getting enough fat keeps me satisfied and honestly helps me think clearer and stay focused. And totally agree with you about getting enough sleep. That is something I still struggle with at times. When I am rested it is so much easier to avoid junk. Thanks for all you do Kris!!! xx00

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