Fast Metabolism? .....Here’s how to get one!

Does it feel as though no matter what you do with your eating and exercise, you just can’t seem to make any noticeable progress with changing your body?

Perhaps it feels as though your metabolism is fighting against you, rather than working for you.

It’s a common frustration - one we work with day in, day out - and one that we believe anyone can overcome, with just a few minor tweaks to your lifestyle.

Your Metabolism is the engine that drives how efficiently your body converts the food you consume into energy. 

A fast metabolism means you burn calories at a higher rate, which can make it easier to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. 

However, as we age, our metabolism naturally decelerates, making weight loss more challenging. 
But fret not, there are strategies available to rev up your metabolism and kickstart your weight loss journey.

There’s 3 key ‘levers’ that you can pull at any time, that will have by far and away the biggest impact on your metabolism, and in turn, your abilities to lose unwanted fat, increase your energy levels, and improve your fitness.

Knowledge is power, and when you KNOW (not just “think”) what you need to do, in order to make the changes you desire, you are essentially set up for life, and it then becomes a case of acting on your newfound knowledge.


So what are these 3 key levers you have at your disposal, in order to get a Fast Metabolism?


1) N.E.A.T
NEAT stands for None Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

A bit of a mouthful, but in laymen terms, it’s all the physical activity you do that ISN’T traditional exercise.

Traditional exercise includes things like going to the gym to fitness class, playing a sport, or going for a run. That stuff is important, but is VERY different to NEAT activities.

NEAT activities include all the day to day movements - walking, moving around the house or office, mowing the lawn etc

We live in a world full of (incorrect) beliefs that if physical activity isn’t highly demanding and punishing (aka gym work) then it isn’t helpful.

A recent BBC1 documentary ran an experiment where total calorie expenditure was measured in 3 groups:

One group sat around for 4 hours, one group did one hour of gym work and then not much else, and one group did gentle housework for the 3 hours. At the end of the 4 hours, the total calorie expenditure was lowest in the sedentary group, but the 1 hour gym group and 3 hour housework group expended roughly the same amount of calories across the total 4 our window.

Focussing on NEAT activities really does embody what it means to have an active lifestyle - appreciating that 10 minutes here, and 5 minutes there, not only adds up over the course of a day, but perhaps most importantly demonstrates a mindset of someone who understands that going to the gym 3 hours a week but sitting on their bum (home, work, car, bed) the other 165 hours a week, just isn’t enough.

You could potentially add 10-20% to your Metabolism just from being a bit more active at a very low level.

Suggestion: Aim for 1 hour of NEAT a day using “micro wins” such as parking as far from the front door of the supermarket, in the car park as possible.
Use the stairs when everyone else is using escalators.
Don’t “nip to the local shop” in the car, walk 5 mins there and back instead. Take a 10min walk after your lunch break (great for digestion too).

__________________________________

2) Take part in resistance training

Resistance training means putting your muscles under stress - aka lifting weights.
Remember, as we repeatedly remind everyone, lifting weights won’t make you bulky or big - quite the opposite. 

Lifting weights will increase calorie burn during exercise (muscles need to burn a load of calories when they’re being properly challenged), as well as increasing calorie burn AFTER exercise (known as the “afterburn” effect)

We talk about this ‘afterburn’ effect a lot at Innovate Fitness, because quite simply, knowing that we can burn more calories AFTER exercise aswell as during, means it’s a no brainer to tailor our training system to incorporate this very clever (and useful) effect.

Imagine if you increased your NEAT activity to ramp up your metabolism by an extra 10% each day, and then added a further 20% by regular, resistance training 3 times a week - you’ve already added around a third extra to your overall Metabolic rate!

Suggestion: Embrace the idea that lifting weights - combined with a bit of ‘Metabolic’ or interval type training, is THE best approach to all round fitness and keeping that metabolism ‘revved up’!

____________________________


3) Manage your stress

To some, this may not seem as directly related as the first two points. 
But there is absolutely zero doubt, that when you (or specifically your body) is in a chronically stressed state, it will put a big fat brake on your metabolism.

The body essentially has two “states” it can be in - there are two branches to your Central Nervous System - one of which is active when you’re relaxed and recovery.
And the other when you’re stressed and ‘frazzled’.

The posh names for these are ‘sympathetic’(stressed) and ‘parasympathetic’ (relaxed).

When we’re in stressed mode, our nervous system tells our body to release stress hormones, and put a brake on anything to do with ‘building muscle tissue’, recovery, being healthy etc

When we’re in relaxed mode, our nervous system feels we are safe, and will prioritise things like building muscle, maximising healthy functioning of the body, and giving us the energy we need to be active, and with a high functioning metabolism.

Is it possible to never be stressed? No, and we don’t want to be. Stress CAN be helpful.

But we should aim to manage and reduce it where possible.


Suggestion(s): Ironically enough, some NEAT activities can help to combat stress. Walking, doing a few chores - they can be considered as “mindful” activities. 
Deep breathing, getting plenty of sleep, taking regular breaks or holidays, taking time out, even being social - these are all proven to help keep a lid on the battle against stress.

COOL STORY >>>>  Several years ago, we had a PT client who used to train 3 times a week at 6am. She had a high-power, high-stress job, and the chronic stress was visible in her eyes.

Eventually, when she had a week off work, we refused to train her for a week too - her instructions (as a client!) was to catch up on sleep, drink plenty of water, and be active (but purely by plenty of walking etc).

She lost 5lbs in 7 days!
Some of that will clearly have been water weight - but still, it showed that her body just needed the right conditions for her metabolism to work as it should.


This is just extra example of how we really do have other “levers” we can pull - that aren’t just “more, hard exercise” and “less food”.

So there you have it - how to get a Fast Metabolism.

What will you focus on implementing first?