Are you searching for metabolism boosters?  Sure you can use diet pills or supplements to help you lose weight and rev up your metabolic rate, but why not look towards nature as well to really kick it up a notch.

These 10 tips are a natural boosting method to increase your metabolic rate.  They are easy to apply to your lifestyle and the best thing is they are free.  Use these simple tips to rev up your metabolism and lose weight.

Natural Metabolism Booster Tip #1

Exercise

Exercising has been shown to boost your metabolism and keep it boosted even after your exercise routine is done.  If you really want to keep your metabolism going for hours after your exercise, try interval training.  This form of exercise adds quick spurts of high intense aerobics, like sprinting or running.  Your metabolism can stay boosted for up to 5 times longer than an easier workout.

Of course many people cringe at the very word exercise.  If this is the case for you then you probably don’t want to start out with interval training.  Instead find something you enjoy that will get you active.  Go swimming, take a brisk walk or even go out dancing.  The key is to get active in order to boost your metabolism and lose weight.

You will also want to add strength training to your weekly routine.  While strength training does not give you the high calorie or fat burn, it does build lean muscle.  The more lean muscle mass you have the higher your basal metabolic rate (BMR).  BMR is responsible for approximately 60% to 70% of the total calories you will burn in a day.  So the higher your BMR the more calories you will burn.

Natural Metabolism Booster #2

Eat Smaller Meals More Often

Less really can be more.  When you eat smaller meals more often during the day you feel full and satisfied.  Experts also say that eating smaller meals more often keeps your metabolism going, so think of your meals as metabolism boosters.

According to the experts you should eat about every 2 to 3 hours, so depending on your schedule this is about 5 to 6 meals a day.  Many weight loss programs have meal plans for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  But if you notice they also have “snack” times as part of their weight loss plan.  These “snacks” are in fact your additional meals for the day.  Always make your meals and snacks healthy snacks.

Natural Metabolism Booster #3

Eat Breakfast

Are you a breakfast skipper?  Do you believe that by skipping meals you can lose weight?  Well the truth is skipping meals is one of the worst mistakes dieters can do.  When you skip a meal you are actually slowing down your metabolism.  This is turn can mean gaining weight instead of losing weight.

There’s a reason for the old saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”.  This reason is that you are refueling your body for the overnight fasting and starting up your metabolism.  By eating a healthy breakfast you are starting up your metabolism and revving it up for the day ahead of you. 

Your breakfast doesn’t have to be huge.  You can have some whole wheat cereal with skim milk or some whole wheat bread and a fruit.  The key is to re-fuel your and kick start your metabolism.  So think of breakfast as just one of your metabolism boosters and eat. 

Natural Metabolism Booster #4

Drink Water

Okay you have probably read this at least a 100 times if you are trying to lose weight.  Although there are very few scientific studies done on the benefits of water and weight loss, most agree that by drinking 8 to 10 (8 oz) glasses of water a day does help with weight loss. 

The reasons for why water helps with weight loss is debated because there is little scientific evidence or studies.  But it could be as simple as people have replaced their sugary drinks with water.  Or it could be that the water helps to make you feel fuller and therefore eating less.  Regardless of what the miracle is about water, studies have shown that those people who drink the recommended amount of water tend to lose more weight than those who do not drink water.

Natural Metabolsim Booster #5

Protein with Every Meal

Of all the foods you can eat, protein rich foods are the best for boosting metabolism.  There are a couple of reasons these metabolism boosters are so important to have for each meal. 

One, protein helps improve your lean muscle mass.  And as you have already learned, the more lean muscle mass you have the higher your basal metabolic rate.  The higher your BMR the more calories you will burn.

The other reason this food is so important for speeding up your metabolism is that protein requires more effort to digest than carbohydrates or fats.  This means your body is working harder to process the food, which in turn means a boost in your metabolism in order to digest the food.

Natural Metabolsim Booster #6

Minimize Your Stress

Stress is a leading cause for many medical conditions including potential weight gain and excess body fat.  When stressed, your body will release cortisol, also known as the stress hormone.  When cortisol is released into your body you can experience an increase in appetite and it also stimulates the release of insulin.  When you have excess insulin your metabolism slows down.

Reducing stress can be easy for some people but for others it can be a challenge.  One of the best ways to reduce stress is the exercise.  So exercise!  This will give you two metabolism boosters for the price of one.

Natural Metabolsim Booster Tip #7

Fidget

Ever notice how some people are constantly moving their hands, tapping their fingers or bouncing their leg up and down?  More than likely these people are skinny as well.  Although these actions may come across as a nervous behavior, this constant movement is a metabolism booster. 

These fidgeting and incidental movements are known as NEAT, or non-exercise activity thermogenesis.  Thermogenesis is the term for energy burning.  When you are fidgeting your body assumes there is excess energy so it boosts up your metabolism and begins to burn excess fuel.

Natural Metabolsim Booster Tip #8

Breathing Exercises

When I mentioned exercise in the metabolism booster number one, this is not what I had in mind.  So that’s why this is listed as its own tip.  By taking time out in your day to do some deep breathing you can increase your metabolism.  By breathing deeply you are oxygenating your body.  This increase in oxygen allows your body to burn calories more efficiently, which basically means a more efficient metabolism.

Aim for performing deep breathing exercises 3 times a day for 5 minutes each time.  Not only is this a great metabolism booster but it also helps you stay relaxed and relieve stress.

Natural Metabolism Booster Tip#9

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep is essential to your body and your metabolism.  When you sleep your body is recovering from the day before.  During sleep your body rejuvenates the various systems like your digestive system, allowing you to digest foods more effectively. 

Sleep also helps you feel more energized and you are more likely to feel motivated to get active.  This means you will get more out of your exercise routines and burn more fat and calories. 

Natural Metabolism Booster Tip#10

Eat the Right Amount of Calories

This is one metabolism booster many people get wrong or don’t believe.  All the literature and tips tell you to reduce calories in order to lose weight.  This is in fact a true statement.  But what many tips and articles fail to tell you is that you can reduce calories by too much.

When a person reduces calories by too much the body in turn reacts and goes into survival mode.  This means that your body, in self preservation, slows down your metabolism.  So you actually end up burning fewer calories than you did before you reduced your calories too low.  In fact this method of trying to lose weight by slashing calories to an extreme can lead to weight gain.

So be sure to boost your metabolism by eating the right amount of calories; not too many but definitely not too few. 

Julie Barros is the author and creator of Exercise 4 Weight Loss.  Here you will find lot's of exercise and weight loss tips, weight loss tools, healthy recipes, free fitness videos and more.

 *Posted 9/11/08