When it comes to health and fitness, it’s likely that you’ll hear a lot of talk about your metabolism, and especially making your metabolism faster. There are a lot of products out there that claim to do just that – speed up your metabolism to help you lose weight.

But your metabolism is a complex biological process that involves multiple systems in the body. A special tea isn’t going to change how it works. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t change your metabolism, but there are only a few tried and true ways to influence the biological processes that make up your metabolism – and none of them come in fancy packaging.

Let’s get into it.

What Is Your Metabolism & How Does It Work?

The term “metabolism” refers to the processes by which the body takes the food and drink that you consume and turns it into energy. Through a complex process involving combining calories with oxygen, the body creates and releases energy that it can use to power everything that goes on in our bodies, including breathing, circulation, growing new cells, repairing old cells, regulating your body temperature, etc.

Metabolism is often such a central question in health and fitness conversations because you always need energy. Even when you’re just lying in bed and not moving, your body needs to burn energy to keep everything working, like keeping your heart pumping or your breathing steady. The energy (or number of calories) your body needs to maintain these functions at rest is called your basal metabolic rate. 

Your basal metabolic rate makes up about 60-70% of the total energy your body uses, so if you can boost your basal metabolic rate, it means you’ll burn more calories even at rest – and that can be a game changer for your health and fitness goals.

The basal metabolic rate is different for every person and can depend on a number of factors, including your body size and composition, your muscle mass, and your age.

When discussing metabolism, you may hear terms like “low,” “high,” “fast,” or “slow” to describe metabolism. A “low” or “slow” metabolism generally refers to when someone does not burn a lot of calories at rest, or has a low basal metabolic rate. A “high” or “fast” metabolism is the opposite – that person’s body burns a lot more calories when at rest. 

Our metabolism’s main function is to help us survive and keep us alive. At any given time, it functions at the rate that it thinks will optimally keep our necessary organs functioning. So, centuries ago, for example, a slower metabolism was likely more advantageous. The body could retain more calories and energy between meals if food and resources were scarce. 

In the modern world, faster metabolisms are a natural adaptation to our wealth of resources. Very few of us have to worry about where our next meal is coming from, so it’s better if our bodies can burn through energy more quickly rather than retaining it.

5 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

Most people these days are looking to boost their metabolisms, but there are only a few sure-fire ways to do so. Let’s dive in.

1. Strength Train

Strength training is the first major step in boosting your metabolism. When you strength train effectively, you build lean muscle mass. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn at rest.

Muscle is more metabolically active than fat is. In other words, it’s more metabolically expensive. It requires more calories per pound to maintain, meaning your body burns more calories to repair and maintain your muscles than it does fat, when you’re not even moving. 

Plus, if you’re actively strength training, any calories that you eat beyond maintenance are more likely to go toward building and restoring your muscles after a training session. Your body now has a new process it has to maintain, so it will route calories there rather than storing them as fat.

2. Eat More Protein

The next step in boosting your metabolism involves what you eat, and specifically protein. Eating enough protein helps you build and maintain that lean muscle mass that enables you to burn more calories at rest. If you’re strength training and aiming to eat enough protein to build muscle, you should aim for about 0.6g-1g of protein per pound of body weight.

It’s not just about protein, though. Eating enough in general – and sometimes eating more – can help support a fast metabolism. 

When we eat too little, or we spend too long in a calorie deficit, we signal to our bodies that there isn’t enough food in our environment. This will cause our metabolisms to start slowing down, because it thinks that it needs to start conserving energy.

Maintaining lean muscle mass is also the first process that your body will stop supporting if it thinks there’s a shortage of food or resources, because it will always prioritize necessary organ functions. So, if you’re not eating enough to fuel your body and any strength training activities, you might see a decrease in muscle mass, and therefore a slowing of your metabolism.

3. Sleep Well

Sleep is another critical piece in the metabolism puzzle. If you’re not sleeping enough, this is perceived as a stress on the body, the same way that starvation is perceived as a stress on the body. When the body is under too much stress, its natural response is to store as much energy as possible – in the form of body fat.

Overall, sleeping enough (and sleeping well) can help your body understand that it’s in a safe and secure environment and encourage it to metabolize energy for other functions, rather than storing it as fat.

4. Balance Your Hormones

Having balanced hormone levels is an important part of having a fast metabolism, but this one is generally something that works itself out once you start doing other things to take care of yourself, such as strength training, eating enough protein, and sleeping well and for long enough. Those three things should help your hormones balance out at levels that support a healthy metabolism.

When you’re consistently working on building muscle, it’s likely that your hormone profile would show higher levels of testosterone, growth hormone, increased insulin sensitivity, and cortisol levels that are higher in the morning and lower at night. These would all be markers that your metabolism is on track.

If everything is going well – you’re regularly strength training, you know you’re eating enough protein, and you’re sleeping 7-9 hours a night – and something still feels off, it’s definitely possible that there’s still a hormone imbalance. It’s even more likely if you’re seeing symptoms like a low libido, low energy, skin issues, or hair problems. If that’s the case, it could be a good idea to visit a doctor and order a hormone panel.

Many hormone imbalances will work themselves out naturally when you take care of your body. Others, like a possible issue with your thyroid, can only be determined by a diagnostic hormone panel and should be addressed medically with guidance from a healthcare professional.

5. Increase Physical Activity Throughout the Day

We’ve talked a lot about strength training, but almost any physical activity that you engage in throughout the day can help support the maintenance of lean muscle mass and an efficient digestive system – which is all part of metabolism.

Moving around more – like choosing to take the stairs instead of the elevator, or going for a short walk – especially after meals can help keep your circulation going, aid in digestion, and overall keep your metabolism running steady. Moving after meals can also help increase your insulin sensitivity, meaning your body is better able to take up the glucose in your bloodstream and put it to use as energy, rather than just letting it float around.

Plus, while the best way to maintain lean muscle mass is through regular strength training, any movement throughout the day can help signal to your body that your muscles are important. When it comes to your muscle mass, your body operates on a “use it or lose it” mentality, so make sure to use it whenever you get the chance.

Take the First Step: Start Strength Training Today

For many, strength training may seem foreign or intimidating, but strength training doesn’t have to be scary – especially if you have the right support. And it truly is the first and most important step you can take to boost your metabolism and your overall health.

Working with an online fitness and nutrition coach could be the support that you need to get started and stay on track with strength training and weight loss. If you want to learn more about working with an online coach, read the comprehensive guide. And if you think online coaching is for you, head to the inquiry form so that we can connect one-on-one.

Written by Emily Greffenius. Reviewed by Meghan Farrell, CPT, BSN