The concept that you need to starve yourself in order to be skinny used to be very common. But there are reasons why starvation diets don’t work in the long run.
Women in particular have a habit of following diets that encourage you to have few calories, with the result being that you end up looking boney and ill. However the worst thing is that the weight returns after the diet, plus a little bit extra.
Forget about diets. They won’t work. You have to make a total lifestyle change, change your eating and exercise routines. When you don’t allow yourself to have any food, your metabolism a.k.a Basic Metabolic Rate reduces.
This is the body’s natural reaction when it adapts to less calories being taken in.
Here is what you should do to raise your metabolism:
1. Do a bit of exercise. It burns calories to get the energy needed. These calories are sourced from food. Doing aerobic exercise raises the metabolic rate, but the most efficient exercise to burn calories is weight lifting. This is due to the fact that you challenge your muscles to become bigger when you lift weights. The result of this challenge can raise your metabolic rate even 2 days after you have stopped exercising!!! The more muscles you develop, the more energy you need. You can eat more and also look amazing!
2. Don’t miss out on any meals, eat more often and have smaller portions. Your metabolism is boosted when you do, so it works faster. A good starting point is to try and eat 4-5 small meals a day. If you already work out then 3 meals and 2 snacks is a good eating plan. You should try to eat something small around every 3 hours.
3. You shouldn’t ever miss breakfast. The phrase about it being the most significant meal of the day is right. It increases your metabolism after you have been fasting overnight.
4. Protein, protein, protein. I can’t say enough how important it is to eat protein with every meal, specifically if you want to build some muscle. Protein is also very thermogenic, i.e. it makes the body burn a lot of energy during the digestion process.
5. last but not least look out for traps like a night out with friends or that glass of wine with coworkers. Be observant of your food size and what’s in it when you order and don’t allow others to influence you with what to eat. Be conscious of how many drinks you have. If you need to drink, choose a small glass of wine.
Wine has natural antioxidants and the alcohol percentage is much lower than in whiskies, vodka and other heavy alcoholic drinks. Cocktails often contain a lot of sugar.
