20 Ways To Speed Up Your Metabolism On The Paleo Diet

Guest Post By:  Muscle Fitness And Nutrition  15th June 2016

Switching to a Paleo diet is a great start on the journey to weight loss but if you want to see significant results you have to make several changes to your lifestyle. Most people are slowing their metabolism down in many ways every day without realizing it, which means there are many changes the average person can make to speed up their metabolism. You don’t even have to make them all five or six changes from this list is often enough to achieve your weight loss goals.

Be Sure To Eat Enough

The idea that less food is always better when it comes to losing weight is one of the most toxic ideas in modern diet culture. When you don’t eat enough your body has to work harder just to stay alive and has less energy for burning fat. Lower your caloric intake too much and you’ll also lower your resting metabolic rate.

If you’re working out regularly you should probably be eating around 1800-2000 calories per day with a high concentration of protein.

Match Your Carbs To Your Exercise Level

Carbohydrates provide excellent fuel for your muscles and are one of the best energy sources for long workouts. The more you’re working out, the more carbohydrates you should incorporate in your diet. If you regularly do intense workouts you should be getting 16-20% of your caloric intake from carbohydrates. If you don’t work out much you should aim to get about 7-15% of your caloric intake from carbohydrates to shed weight faster.

Make Sure You’re Getting Enough Healthy Fats

Another toxic idea mainstream diet culture has pushed for years is that all fat is bad for you. Omega 3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats are actually essential to protein development and use. If you want to build muscles you need to incorporate these fats into your diet. Healthy fats can be found in fish, nuts and olive oil.

Stick With The Original

Low fat and sugar-free versions of food are almost always filled with extra preservatives and sodium to make up for the loss in flavor, especially dairy products. The original product is almost always better for you as long as you eat it in moderation.

Mix Up Your Leafy Greens

Choose darker leafy greens or go for a variety of colors. Dark leafy greens have a higher concentration of essential nutrients including iron. They also have a high water content which will fill your belly faster so you’re less likely to overeat. Find a way to add them to every meal and you’ll give your metabolism a significant boost.

Stay Away From Fruit Juice

If you’re serious about losing weight you’ve probably already cut out pop, but what about fruit juice? Fruit juice contains all the sugar from the fruit without most of the nutrients or any of the fiber, making it harder for you to absorb the few nutrients there still are. Most store bought juice contains the same amount of sugar per glass as pop, so you’re better off cutting both out for good.

Eat Fresh

Your food loses nutrients all the time, especially when it isn’t being actively refrigerated(like when your produce is sitting on the grocery store shelf). Go to farmer’s markets when you can and always choose the freshest food available.

Take Regular Movement Breaks

Do you spend a lot of time sitting at your day job? Sitting too much lowers your metabolic resting rate and can completely stall progress on your workout program. Every hour or so you should get up and spend 10 minutes just walking around, stretching or doing some basic bodyweight training. This improves your blood flow as well as speeding up your metabolism.

Start Interval Training

Interval training, doing short bursts (1 minute) of intense exercise in between longer periods (2-3 minutes) of moderate exercise is the most effective way to boost your metabolism fast. A 20-minute interval training workout burns more calories and provides a more significant increase to your metabolic rate than an hour long regular cardio workout.

Buy Some Exercise Equipment

Unless you’re a serious gym addict or you have a gym in your building sooner or later there’s going to be a day when you simply don’t want to go all the way to the gym. There might also come a time when your gym membership is simply too expensive to maintain. Get a simple set of dumbbells (you can choose an adjustable set if you’re low on space), an exercise mat and some resistance bands. If you have space you can invest in a single cardio machine of your choice. There are plenty of home gym equipment options and the easier it is to work out, the more likely you are to do it.

Eat A High Protein Snack After Every Workout

Protein is essential to muscle recovery and development so make sure you have a high protein snack immediately after cool down. The more muscle you build, the higher your resting metabolic rate becomes and all you need is a handful of nuts or a tall glass of milk to get your muscles working.

Have More Snacks In General

Eating more small meals throughout the day rather than three large meals helps keep your metabolism going at a steady rate for the entire day. Try eating three light meals and two moderate snacks to really speed up your metabolism.

Have A Community

A community supports you when you’re struggling to stick to your goals and holds you accountable when you aren’t living up to your potential. Whether you opt to have a workout group in real life or to spend time on forums where people on the Paleo diet gather, having a community is essential to long-term success.

Have A Cheat Day But Be Smart About It

Depriving yourself of all the foods you love and working out for several hours a week might be a great way to lose weight fast but it’s also a great way to eventually hate your new lifestyle and crash and burn. Pick one day a week (or every two weeks if you want to lose a lot of weight) and treat yourself. Choose one meal to go overboard with, have dinner at a fast food place with a small dessert or a milkshake but don’t spend the whole day gorging yourself. Too many people go overboard on their cheat day and undo all the hard work they did during the week.

Don’t Eat Late At Night

Your body doesn’t need food for energy when you’re sleeping so the food is converted into fat instead and it’s processed so slowly you might wake up feeling sluggish in the morning.

Drink More Water

Water helps your body including your metabolism function properly and fills your belly so you’re less tempted to overeat.

Add Some Lemon

Adding a little bit of fresh lemon juice to your water will help speed your metabolism up and clean toxins out of your system.

Learn To Love Green Tea

Green tea is another excellent drink for people who want to lose weight. Studies have shown that it has about a dozen health benefits, most notably increasing your metabolism if you drink at least†3 cups per day. The best part? There are heaps of fantastic tea options that all help to speed up your metabolism.

Sleep More

Sleep helps your body build and repair muscle but its impact on metabolism is bigger than that. Proper rest helps you get through your high-intensity workouts and reduces the amount of sugar cravings you experience. You’ll also have more willpower to resist temptation when the cravings do come.

Reduce Your Stress

Chronic stress causes all kinds of health problems including weight gain. The stress hormone, cortisol, is connected to increased fat production when too much of it is released. Constant stress also negatively impacts your sleep and drains your energy so you’re less likely to work out.

Sometimes you can reduce your stress by something as simple as adding a regular meditation practice to your routine but it may require a total lifestyle change and the only way that’s going to happen is if you’re totally honest with yourself when you assess the sources of stress in your life and start making a plan to change them.

Summing Up

If you want to lose more than a few pounds and keep them off you’re going to have to make significant changes to your lifestyle, but these new habits and practices will get easier every day you do them so why not start today?