Want to know how to burn more fat without the need for hours and hours of cardio every single day? The tips you’ll find in this article will allow you to naturally boost your metabolism type without the need for hours of cardio. Learn how to get your body to work more efficiently for you, without stepping on that treadmill.
One of the main problem areas for for many people is abdominal obesity. Abdominal obesity is defined as being someone who has a waist circumference of more than 35 inches, or 88 cm for women and 40 inches, or 102 cm for men.
It’s generally women who have stubborn belly fat as this is where the reproductive organs are. Your body wants to protect these organs to ensure humans can reproduce. However, it is also often a problem area for men as well.
Of course, where your stubborn fat areas are differs from person to person. Some will get it on their hips and thighs, others perhaps on the upper back and arms. Wherever you get your stubborn fat, speeding up your glucose metabolism will help to reduce this.
So, how do you boost your metabolism without doing cardio?
What Is Metabolism & How Does It Work?
Simply, metabolism is the chemical reaction at a cellular level that change what we consume (food & drink) into energy. Our bodies need this energy to do absolutely everything. From moving around and thinking, to growing, breathing and even healing.
When we consume food and drink, our digestive system uses enzymes to break it down into fuel for the body.
- Proteins are broken down into amino acids
- Fats are broken down into fatty acids
- Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose
Once these have been broken down, they get transported around the body in the blood stream which takes them to the necessary cells. Once in the cells, a chemical reaction takes place where the energy from these food sources can be released. The body can then decide if it want to use them as energy, or store them to use at a later date.
If you continue to eat in a calorie deficit, your body won’t have enough left in its stores. This is when you will start to put on weight when you do eat because the body is trying to replenish its stores. It’s also why your metabolism will start to slow down because your body wants to hold on to the little stores you have left.
Drink More Water
One of the best and simplest ways of naturally boosting your metabolism is to drink more water. Without proper hydration, your body can’t metabolise fats and carbs as efficiently as it should. The water you drink will help to break down the fat cells and flush them out through your system.
Many studies, and research papers have shown that people who drink more water, naturally burn more fat. However, you should never replace drinking water with healthy, nutritious food. Doing this could actually cause you to put on more fat as it will slow down your glucose metabolism as you eat less. Water is NOT a meal replacement!
How Much Water Should You Be Drinking?
To workout how much water you should be drinking on a daily basis you simply need to half your body weight in ounces. This will give you the basic amount of water you should be drinking every day. If you se this as your base, you can then adjust it depending on your activity levels and the climate you live in.
For example, if you do nothing all day, and live in a pretty cold climate, chances are you won’t need much more. However, if you run marathons everyday and live in somewhere hot and humid, you will need to increase the base level of water you drink.
Eat More Lean Protein
Of all the food groups, protein is the one the body finds the hardest to digest. This means you will burn more calories per gram of protein than you would with any other food group. This is caused by TEF (thermic effect of food).
Of course, we are talking a very minimal amount of extra calories. However, it will add up to help you speed up your metabolism. This is especially true if you are going from a low protein diet to a higher one.
Not all of us are trying to look like a body builder, so we don’t mean you should start eating nothing but protein. Or to start having 200 grams of protein per day – especially if you’re only 52kg, and not very active. Instead, you should be aiming for approx 1 gram or protein per pound of body fat.
Get A Better Night Sleep
Sleep is such an important factor when it comes to fat loss, and having a good metabolism. No matter what day of the week it is, you should always aim to go to bed around the same time every night. By having a good have a good sleeping pattern, you should start to have better sleep at night.
It is said between 7-8 hours sleep per night is the optimal amount for an active adult.
If you have a poor sleeping pattern – getting up late, going to bed late, not getting enough sleep, your body won’t be able to function as well as it should. If your body is tired, it will try to reserve as much energy as possible. It will slow down your metabolism as a way of doing this.
Poor sleep also has a way of disrupting other areas of your life and of your health as well. It’s thought that approximately 50% of men and 70% of women have abdominal obesity. A permanent routine of good sleep, exercise and diet can help reduce this.
You also won’t be able to put in as much effort into your workout sessions and you body will be craving food for extra energy. A combination that will only lead to gaining weight if you don’t change your sleeping habits.
Include Resistance Training
Resistance, or weight training is one of the best ways to maximise burning fat. Cardio is a great short term solution for fat loss, however, long term, you’d be much better off doing some form of resistance training.
Cardio burns calories in the short term, whereas resistance training will continue burning more calories – even once you’ve stop working out. For example, if you wanted to lose that last little bit of fat for a wedding, or a beach holiday, you might do some extra cardio. However, over time your body will adapt to this style of training and you’ll start to see your weight stops dropping. It may even start to go back up.
Whereas with resistance training, you can always keep your body guessing. You can add more weight, or add in more repetitions to each exercise. Resistance training is also a great way to get rid of stubborn fat.
Grow Muscle To Speed Up Your Metabolism
Plus, another great thing about growing muscle with resistance training is, the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn. OK, so you might not look like a body builder, you might not want to. However, even having lean muscle, just enough to look toned will help speed up your metabolism.
However, we aren’t saying don’t do cardio. Cardio is great for heart, lung health and short term fat loss, but not optimal for fat loss in the long term. So maybe dial back the cardio – unless you really love it, and do more weight training instead.
Eat More To Speed Up Your Metabolism Type
Yep! If you start eating more, you will start to speed up your metabolism type. However, there is a way to do this, and a way NOT to do this!
Eating in a calorie deficit can, and will start to slow down your metabolism type as your body adapts to having less food (as we spoke about above). As you give it less food, your body will start to slow down your metabolism so you don’t starve or run out of fuel.
Eat In A Calorie Surplus
The same thing happens when you eat more food. Your body wants to stay in where it is, in homeostasis. It’s happy where it is, it’s adapted to everything you do and it doesn’t particularly like change. So, when you start to eat more food, it will start to increase your metabolism type so you don’t gain weight.
However, say you currently consume around 1,500 calories a day. If you suddenly start to eat 2,500 calories a day you WILL put on weight. What you need to do is start slowly so your body has time to adapt and doesn’t just gain fat. You could perhaps start by adding an extra 50 calories a day to your diet. Slowly increasing each week by another 50 calories.
Don’t be scared to give it a try, your body will adapt if you do it slowly. Then, the more food you give it, over time, your metabolism will also start to speed up.
Eat More Fibre
Lastly on the list is to eat more fibre dense foods. You should be aiming to eat around 35g of fibre a day. Why? Because fibre rich foods – fresh fruits and vegetables take longer for your body to digest meaning the body works harder, and you burns more calories.
If you eat a diet high in processed foods, essentially you’re taking out the bit your body has to do for you. Your body would normally do the processing part, so eating highly processed foods means they’ve done most of it for you. Your body doesn’t have to work as hard so you burn less calories. Eating whole foods helps to speed up the thermic effect of food (TEF). In a nutshell, this simple means your body burn calories when you eat. If you take out the harder part of digestion out, you burn less calories.
We hope you found this article of interest. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below, or you can message us directly.
FAQ’s
What Is The Main Purpose Of Glucose Metabolism?
Glucose metabolism provides the cells in your body with the energy it needs for survival.
How Does Glucose Get To The Liver?
Glucose enters the liver through the pancreas. Any excess glucose gets stored and converted into glycogen for your body to use at a later date.
What Are The Steps Of Metabolism?
There are multiple stages involved in the glucose metabolism processes including – glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, glycogenolysis, and glycogenesis.
What Controls Blood Sugar?
Insulin regulates sugar in the bloodstream. Unless you have a disease such as diabetes, your insulin levels are carefully controlled by your body to keep the blood glucose level perfect.
How Many Metabolism Types Are There?
There are 6 metabolism types in total – parasympathetic, autonomic balanced, sympathetic, slow oxidiser, mixed oxidiser and fast oxidiser.
Such an interesting post!
Danielle | thereluctantblogger.co.uk