Hey again,
In my last email, I shared with you 5 ways you can naturally boost your metabolism without going on some crash diet or exercising like crazy.
On top of that, I also want to share with you my personal metabolism-boosting tips, because the more you know, right? :)
I hope these help!
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#1: Eat nutritious, balanced meals and measure calories (but don't reduce them)
While you're trying to speed up your metabolism, it's important that you eat enough quality nutrition, so that your metabolism will up-shift.
Here's what I would recommend:
For 3-4 weeks, aim for the maximum amount of nutritious food that your body can consume WITHOUT gaining weight (remember, at this time, you're only focused on increasing your metabolism, not losing weight).
If your goal is fat loss, then after you've eaten this way for 3-4 weeks, gradually reduce calories every 7 days until you reach a sustainable rate of weight loss.
If weight loss stops, you can start over with the metabolism-boosting phase.
#2: Eating the best diet for my genetic profile
When it comes to losing weight, we both know that trying to guess your way to the right type of diet isn't exactly a winning strategy.
In fact, eating the wrong diet can actually cause you to gain weight, and may even slow your metabolism if you're not getting the nutrients you need.
I've recommended it before, but I used DNAFit to finally learn the right diet for my unique makeup — and for me, that's a low carb, high fat (LCHF) diet.
Eating this type of diet significantly increased my metabolism and ability to lose weight, but since we're all different, the opposite could be true for you.
Remember, there are several different combinations of diets (high carb, low fat; high protein, low carb, etc), so knowing which is right for you could make the difference between losing weight or getting stuck.
#3: Regular exercise
As you know, I've wasted about half my life on the treadmill (okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it certainly felt like that!).
At the time, I figured: exercise is exercise, right? And longer, more intense exercise MUST be better...right?
Not quite. All that time and sweat on the treadmill just slowed me down, both in terms of my metabolic rate and daily energy levels.
What finally flipped the switch for me was discovering how effective (and honestly, EASIER!) "smart" workouts are.
Smart workouts purposefully expose you to a variety of movement patterns (and levels of intensity) that focus on strength and balance — they work because they keep your body (and metabolism) from plateauing.
And you know by now that if your metabolism can't keep up with what your body is doing, that means no slow down, and no fat storage (aka what happens with ineffective diets and workouts).
The best "smart workout" approach I've found is Metabolic Aftershock, and here's why I like it:
It's quick and convenient
Rather than using my old strategy of wasting hours on the treadmill, this workout is just 15 minutes per day (3x per week). I can do it before or after work, and it doesn't cut into my life.
Anyone can do it
You don't have to be in amazing shape to start. The instructor offers modifications for every exercise depending on your fitness level, which makes it easy to keep up.
I set the pace
One of the reasons I hate going to classes is I feel like I can never take a break without being judged. With Metabolic Aftershock, the instructor actually encourages REST (it's an integral part of the program, which is pretty cool), plus I get to do it in the privacy of my own home. :)
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While these 3 tips (recapped below) may seem simple, they truly made all the difference for me when it came to boosting my metabolism and losing weight:
#1: Eat nutritious, balanced meals and measure calories (but don't reduce them)
#2: Eating the right diet for my genetic profile
#3: Smart workouts (Metabolic Aftershock works for me)
Do you have any personal metabolism-boosting tips that work for you? I'd love to hear them!