As people age, it’s natural for their metabolism to slow down over time. If you want to stay healthy, you should try to do what you can to give your body a hand. Here are 6 proven ways to boost your metabolism and get your internal systems running at an optimal pace.

A balanced diet

Metabolism is defined as a set of chemical reactions in your body used to convert food to energy and create the building blocks of your organism. As with any process that includes fuel, there will be some excess matter, in this case, metabolic waste. If you carefully read the last two sentences, you’ll immediately realize how closely metabolism is tied to what you eat. There is no getting around it; one of the best and most reliable ways to boost your metabolism is to watch what you eat.

Try loading every meal with protein. Food that is rich in protein will feed your muscles, which is really important if you plan to exercise, but we’ll get to that a bit later. Another reason why protein-rich food is important is that it requires your body to work a bit to process and digest it. Keep in mind that protein diets don’t need to be expensive, so you really have no excuse to continue eating junk. Remember to add some fiber to your diet, since that will help with digestion.

Keep your entire life on track

Try to stick to a regular schedule and reduce any extreme stress on your body. Over time, your body will develop an internal clock and will work like a finely tuned machine. If you’ve put a lot of effort into achieving that sort of equilibrium, it would be a shame to upset the balance. Find a routine and stick to it. This is true for almost anything in your life, but here are the two important aspects that can affect your metabolism:

• Eat your meals at the same time every day. Never skip breakfast; it will give you the calories you need to start your day. Consider having a glass of lemon juice first thing in the morning as an additional kick-start for your metabolism.
• Develop regular sleep patterns. Getting enough sleep is imperative, especially if you are working out. This is when your muscles and your entire body recovers from the day before. One of the best ways to ensure you are getting enough rest is to go to bed at the same time each day.
• Small details matter

When people discuss diet and nutrition for exercise or weight loss, most get caught up just on calorie intake. However, there are so many little details and nutrition hacks that are actually ways to boost your metabolism:

• Spicy food and peppers contain capsaicin which has a positive effect on the metabolism.
• Coffee, especially caffeine in black coffee, can also help your metabolism and prepare you for the day ahead.
• Green tea gets your body burn fat. Both green tea and coffee have caffeine, so you should be careful not to drink too much of either.
• Magnesium to recover from exercise and to help when you’ve had a long day. Taking supplements can also be good on hot days when you are sweating a lot and losing plenty of fluids.

Avoid crash diets and fads

In your quest to get your body working optimally, you should avoid new fads and miracle solutions. Just stick to proven ways to boost your metabolism instead. Crash diets can have a detrimental effect on your body and health. Sure, some of them may cause you to lose weight, but ultimately – your goal shouldn’t be about that. If you exercise regularly and stick to a proper diet, you may even gain some weight and look better than you did before. Your main goal should be to boost your metabolism in a healthy way while building up your body to be stronger than before.

Crash diets will actually cause you to lose muscle and can end up slowing your metabolism. What else can you expect if you purposefully starve your body? Even weight loss can be temporary, and most people yo-yo back to their old weight or even exceed it. There can also be other unwanted effects like forcing your body into starvation mode. This is when you burn calories slower and gain weight faster due to your body not getting enough nutrients.

Work out

Develop a workout routine that will keep your body constantly in motion. In order to work out multiple times a week, you need to make exercise a habit. Pick something you like doing so that physical activity doesn’t feel like a chore. If you are struggling to find motivation, consider hiring a personal trainer. They can help you stay on track and achieve results much faster than if you were working out alone.

High-intensity workouts have become a popular choice since they consist of sudden but short bursts of physical activity. That makes them effective and easy to fit into anyone’s schedule. Lifting heavy weights can help you retain muscle even if you are dieting and losing mass. If you want to help your body perform its basic functions better, there are plenty of proven ways to boost your metabolism through exercise. The main trick is finding something that you consider fun and then sticking to it.

Drink cold water

Everyone knows that water has no calories, but did you know that cold water functionally has negative calories? Your body needs the energy to warm up the water you drink, and that causes you to burn calories. Drinking plenty of water will also help your body expel toxins and metabolic waste. There are so many benefits to drinking more water, that we have a whole article about that topic.

The bottom line

Regardless if you are trying to lose weight or build muscle, you should treat your body with care and respect. Instead of looking for shortcuts and trying to find the newest miracle diet, you should stick to proven ways to boost your metabolism, which give measurable results. Set your fitness goals and achieve them today!