How to Lose Weight With a Slow Metabolism

A slow metabolism could keep you from staying in shape. When your metabolic rate is slower than others, it means you have to work extra hard to get the same results. You will also need to watch what you eat in order to maintain your shape.

A slow metabolic rate is usually caused by two things: poor diet or an underlying health problem. If you’re concerned about the sluggishness of your metabolic rate and you suspect that you’re suffering from a health condition, it’s best to consult your doctor to get a proper diagnosis.

What Causes Slow Metabolism?

Hyperthyroidism

The thyroid gland is directly altering a person’s metabolic rate because it regulates the body’s metabolism. An underactive thyroid gland could cause slow metabolism and even obesity.

Fat in Muscle

Did you notice that people with lean muscle mass tend to have a faster metabolic rate? If there is too much fat relative to muscle, it results in having a sluggish metabolism. This is why people who turn to fad diets to lose weight tend to lose more muscle mass resulting in slower weight loss.

Lifestyle

The kind of lifestyle you lead could be slowing down your metabolic rate. For example, if you live a sedentary lifestyle or you’re habitually skipping meals, you are inadvertently slowing down your metabolism. You need to get moving and continuously nourish the body to kick-start the metabolism, especially in the morning. When the body lacks fuel, it slows down. As it slows down, it holds on to stored fat and fuel to burn as little calorie as possible. This leads to weight gain that’s difficult to shed off.

How to Lose Weight With a Slow Metabolism

Eat More Protein

One of the most effective ways to keep the metabolic rate speedy is by boosting your diet with more lean protein. Eating protein-rich foods like grains, eggs, poultry, and lean meat will help you burn more calories than fat. How? Protein is a major building block of muscles tissues. With a high-protein diet, you could maintain more muscle mass while minimizing fat buildup.

Go Organic!

Did you know that organic foods could actually help you burn fat and restore normal metabolic function? The kind of food you eat could affect your overall health and weight. Because organic foods are grown without using chemicals like pesticides or insecticides, they are broken down easily by the body and burned as fuel. On the other hand, processed foods tend to be high in chemicals and they are stored by the body as fat.

Add More Spices

Spices not only make your favorite dishes taste even more amazing, some of them could actually help you win the war against the bulge. Cayenne pepper, Jalapeno, ginger, and cinnamon are spices known to speed up the metabolic rate. Mustard, curry, and turmeric are other popular spices that could kickstart slow metabolism. By slowly incorporating spices to everyday meals—such as adding powdered turmeric to rice or a sprinkle of cinnamon to your morning coffee—you slowly help speed up your metabolic rate, leading to faster weight loss.

Count Calories

An important part of losing weight is watching what you eat — more so if you have problems with your metabolism. Ideally, you want to limit your calorie consumption to 1,200 per day. Try not to cut down too much calories from your diet because it could backfire. Cutting back too much calories will cause the body to go on “survival mode.” The brain will signal the thyroid glands to slow down the metabolic rate in an attempt to conserve energy. Worse, the body will hold on to stored fat and will try to burn as little energy as it possibly could. The result? Persistent bulges that are extremely hard to get rid of.

Instead of triggering the body to work against you, consume recommended 1,200 calories per day. This way, the body will continuously burn fuel from food without storing most of it in the body as fat.

Get Some Exercise

Increasing physical activity will cause the body to burn more calories, including stored fat. And no, you don’t need to enroll in a super pricey gym just to stay in shape. You can increase physical activities without going to the gym. For example, rather than watching TV until midnight after going home, take a 30-minute walk instead. Go out to the local park and walk your dog. Go to the local playground with your kids and spend quality time with them. You could also go on a run for a minimum of 30 minutes each day to keep the body fit. Light aerobic and strength training will also help tone the muscles and keep the heart rate up.