Revving up Your Metabolism

You may or may not have noticed but I emptied out my closet of all of my "fat" clothes. These are the items I resort to when my "regular-sized" (its all relative isn't it - who am I trying to kid?) clothing gets to be a wee bit or a whoa holy smokes bit too tight.


Thanks to the calcium diet that I've been adhering to (except for this past weekend but that's another story) for the past month and which has helped me to lose just over 12 pounds of gross hideous lard. My weight has gone from an all-time high (except when pregnant) of 139 lbs to a much more reasonable 126 lbs. I would like to hover between 123 and 125 lbs which puts my BMI at 22.3. I can live with that (hopefully for a long time!)


Now that my weight has plateaued for a few days I hit the internet looking for ways to rev up my metabolism in order to maximize the calories lost through exercise and diet. Here's what I learned:

• Drink water COLD (yes, it really does work)


• Spice up your food with cayenne (I add it to my omelettes along with jalepeno peppers and crushed red chillies; cinnamon is another great spice which speeds up your metabolism


• Increase intake of green tea (called the "metabolism potion")
  

• Alternate quick sprints with slower intervals while walking, running, biking


• Lift weights up and down slowly


• Take fish oils daily: 6 gms and it needs to contain at least 300EPA and 200DHA and take 2 hours before working out (it enhances fat oxidation during exercise!)


• Eat your larger meal at noon and your lighter meal at night & eat good sources of protein like fish and chicken


• Reduce alcohol


• Try to get 8 hours of sleep at night


• Have several short 10 minute workouts throughout the day vs. 1 long workout to increase the afterburn (length of time your metabolism is working hard to burn calories/fat)


• Eat raw veggies (negative calorie effect - more about that later)


• Gain more muscle (muscle burns off the calories longer and more efficiently than fat)
  

Time will tell if implementing these TIPS will have the hoped-for effect. I am doing as many as I can - the 8 hours of sleep is next to impossible however. Stay tuned...