Ways to increase your metabolism? Does walking do this or not.?

Question

I would like to know if there or any natural ways to increase your metabolism. The one I know about is eating 6 meals a day instead of the traditional 3. I am on a 1200 calorie a day diet and started walking 2 miles twice a day. Total of 4 miles a day. What other things should I be doing as well as these two things to loose weight?

Answer 1

I lost 105 pounds in 6 months. Here is how I did it.
1. Every morning get up and walk for 45 minutes. You can start with less time, but you want to get up to 45 minutes, and it must be fast walk. You want your heart rate to go up. It must be in the morning, it kick starts your metabolism.
2. I cut out Red Meat, and fatty foods. Boneless skinnless chicken breast, baked, or grilled, rice and vegetables (steamed).
3. Eat half. Just eat half of what you normally eat. Put 1/2 on your plate, and put the rest away. Cook less. When you go to fast food, get salads only. Or grilled chicken. No fries, only diet soda. Or water.

It will work, once you get into a routine, you will get hooked on the results, and you will keep the routine. It has been over a year for me.

Also start counting your calories. Write them down. You would be amazed as to how much more aware you are of your caloric intake, if you actually write it down. We recently discovered a site that offers a great program that counts calories, as well as keeps track of everything. It allows multiple users, so everyone in the family can keep track. They offer a free 7 day trial, and so far I am very impressed with the product. Try the 7 days and see. It allows you to add the exercise that you do during the day, which increases the amount of calories you can take in. Very Cool!!
http://www.calorieking.com

A sight with some really cool diet calculators and interesting calorie counting calculators is here. Check it out.
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/



Check out my before and after pic at my yahoo 360 page
http://profiles.yahoo.com/gorillamyke

Stay motivated, and get up and walk every day. I seriously lost all my weight starting off my day on my walk.

Good LUCK!

Answer 2

Walking, and any other exercise, increases your metabolism while you're doing it. It goes back to normal when you stop.

The many small meals concept is intended to prevent your system from going into "starvation/conservation" mode that happens when your blood sugar drops between meals.

I assume you're trying for a balanced diet, limiting fat and high glycemic foods also. If so, it looks to me like you've got a realistic plan for success. Hang in there. It doesn't happen overnight, despite what you see in all the ads and TV commercials.

Answer 3

1,200 calories is not enough. That will thwart your metabolism, by eating so little. Aim for about 15 calories per pound of ideal weight you are targeting. Stay away from refined sugar. Look up low glycemic carbs on the net and find out which foods are in this category. Get your protein from lean sources like chicken, turkey, or fish. You can supplement with a whey, casein, or egg protein powder.

To boost your metabolism you need to boost your heart rate while exercising at least up to 85% of its max. (look up 'high intensity interval training' on wikipedia). This type of cardio boosts your resting metabolism for up to 24 hours after you perform it. So you'll be burning more calories just sitting around for the 24 hours after you do it. A basic example is to do all out efforts of sprinting, or cycling, or whatever exercise, and do recovery intervals in between. I seriously recommend a heart rate monitor to help you achieve your target heart rate and above (85% of your max heart rate, approximately 220-age*.0.85). I do think you should build your walks up to a jog first, (depending on your age) before you do any HIIT cardio.

I also suggest you lift weights. More muscle equals more calories getting burned while you are sitting around. Stick to the core exercises: squats, deadlifts, pullups, dips, overhead presses, bench press. See www.exrx.net

Good luck to you. It is your body and you have complete control over it.

Answer 4

Getting a healthy amount of sleep is important.
Without it, a person can't lose weight or otherwise function very well.
Eating organic is very prederable, as toxins weaken the body & arae very difficult for the body to eliminate. If in one's regular diet, they are therefore stored in fat & fluids for safer keeping. This is why cleansing one's system thoroughly helps get rid of some weight right away. To keep that gone, stay away from toxins.
Excersize is vital to many body functions, metabolism being just one. You might like to check out these articles for the others, & other helpful hints:

"Do You Really Need to Excersize?"
- "Are You Getting Enough?"
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20050522/article_01.htm

"Why Take a Walk?"
- "Walking Is Good Medicine"
- "Some Dos and Don'ts of Walking"
- "Enjoy a Good Walk"
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20040222/article_01.htm

How to Safeguard Your Health
- Choose Healthful Foods
- Moderate Exercise
- Avoid Smoking, Drugs, and Alcohol?
http://watchtower.org/e/19990708/article_02.htm

Choosing a Healthful Diet for All
http://watchtower.org/e/19970622/article_04.htm

Answer 5

well...someone is bound to answer this better than me, but if you stick to smaller 6 meals instead of a big 3 meals, that should raise your metabolism...also eating spicy food and getting alot of fiber can raise your metabolism as well.. the way to raise it up fast is to do something more intensive than walking 4 miles a day....maybe try jogging 4 miles a day, get to the point where you raise your heartrate, and you raise your metabolism

Answer 6

Weight training, each additional lb of muscle will increase your basal metabolic rate by 50 calories.

Answer 7

Walking will do little to raise your metabolism.. you need to eat small regular meals combined with some resistance training. Don't eat after 6pm either as its more likely to get converted to fat. There's a lot of useful advice on here.. http://www.musclebulletin.com/index/display/261

Its an article on getting in shape using a combination of cardio work and light resistance training.

Answer 8

Try having breakfast real early to kick start metabolism, fruit, grain bread cereal, sounds like yor doing really well anyway., just keep up the good work, keep up with the walking your on a winner.

Answer 9

increase your organism's activity as much as you can:
eat 1/4 of your regular meal but 4-5 times a day (don't eat after 18:30);
get up at 5:30;
do sports as much as you can - preferrably dinamic (joggin' ; swimmin'; soccer; tennis)
PS )) sex is the best sports - both pleasant and usefull..))

Answer 10

Walking is a fine way to do that and you seem to be doing all you can