Boost Your Metabolism - Eat Small Meals, Eat Often

It's important to be aware of your metabolism when you're trying to lose weight, and to "boost" it if you can. With a higher metabolism, your body will work more efficiently. You'll have more energy, and you will lose weight naturally, as your body burns your fat cells.

Metabolism is the rate at which your body converts fuel (the food you eat) into energy. When you're overweight, your metabolism slows down. This is because an overweight body is composed of more fat cells than muscle cells, and fat cells need only one eighth the amount of fuel that muscle cells require.

Eat More, And Eat More Often And Beware Of Plateaus

One of the easiest ways to boost your metabolism when you're losing weight is to ensure that you're eating enough. Small, frequent meals at regular intervals keep your metabolism burning throughout the day and even while you're sleeping. There's a danger of plateaus, however.

If you've been on diets, you're aware of the plateau effect. When you're in a plateau, it can last for weeks: you stay on your diet, you're definitely not eating more - in fact you can be eating less - and yet your body doesn't lose a single ounce over weeks. It stays at the same weight.

A plateau occurs when your metabolism is converting the food you eat into energy, and muscle. Although it seems as if you're not losing weight, your metabolism can be converting fuel into muscle, without you being aware of it.

This is a good thing - muscles use more fuel (food) than fat cells, so gaining muscle is great, even though no weight loss is showing on the scales.

The danger of plateaus is that you will start to eat less, hoping to kickstart your body into weight loss. However, what happens is that your body goes into starvation mode, slowing your metabolism.

Eat - And Lose Weight Because You Boost Your Metabolism

This means that you must EAT - even though you don't seem to be losing weight. Eating more, and more often, ensures that your metabolism keeps doing its job. The fact that you're eating is boosting your metabolism: your body must convert the fuel into energy, and it boosts your metabolism when you do this.

So ensure that you have several small meals right throughout the day, with some protein at each meal. This will keep your metabolism high, and not only will you lose weight, but you'll look and feel great too.