Think your metabolic rate is something you’re stuck with? Think again! The way you eat and exercise can significantly increase your daily calorie burn no matter how old you are or what size you are….
7am Wake up to a cuppa
But make it green. Green tea contains catechins and flavanols, potent antioxidants that can increase your metabolic rate and stimulate the release of stored fat.
7:30am Eat a balanced breakfast
Your metabolic rate slows during sleep and you burn fewer calories per hour as a result. Breakfast kick-starts your metabolism and gives you the whole day to burn up those calories. A combination of carbohydrate and protein (such as porridge made with milk) will give you sustained energy
8am Walk to work
Moderate exercise after eating may turn more of the calories you have just eaten into heat and make your body work off more calories. And, after any exercise, your metabolic rate goes on being raised for several hours, depending on the type of exercise.
9am Sprint the stairs
Need to get to the third floor? Sprint each flight, resting for a few moments in between. Repeated short bursts of high intensity activity rev up your metabolism and burn more fat.
11am Sneak a snack
Your metabolism is boosted by about 10% for two to three hours after you eat (it’s called post-prandial thermogenesis). Eating small meals or snacks regularly increases this post-eating burn and is a much better way to to work off calories than one or two big meals a day.
1pm Eat a chicken salad…
It’s high in protein, which raises your post-meal metabolic rate more than carbs or fat. You should aim for three portions of lean protein (poultry, fish, eggs, beans, lentils) daily.
…and a pot of yoghurt for lunch Low-fat dairy foods such as yoghurt and milk can speed up your metabolism and help your body burn fat faster.
6pm Hit the gym…
A twice-weekly weights workout increases fat burning while you’re asleep. If you have a limited amount of time to spend at the gym, resistance-training will do a far better job of boosting your metabolic rate than even the most intense cardiovascular workout.
…and do supersets For time-saving benefits, try supersets – doing two or three different exercises with little or no rest in between.
… or an astanga yoga class. Weight training is the obvious choice for muscle building, but you can get a metabolism-stoking benefit with body weight exericses such as squat thrusts, press-ups, dips and even astanga yoga.
7:30pm Eat after your workout…
Eating within an hour after vigorous exercise encourages food calories to be turned into energy rather than being stored as your metabolic rate is speeded up during this time.
…and cook up a curry Don’t choose a fatty one, such as korma, and make sure it’s got chilli in it, as chilli can rev up your metabolism by increasing your body’s output of adrenaline, making you burn calories slightly faster for a short while.
