Looking to give your metabolism a little boost? Or maybe a major boost? We got you!

Here are 3 things that are scientifically proven to increase your metabolic rate. Yup, that’s right. These are no gimmicks here or “too good to be true” hacks.

These are things we teach ALL of our clients and followers. Ready to learn? Let’s do it!

1. Stop dieting

Ok, this one isn’t as simple as it sounds. You might find that stopping your dieting patterns can be really hard because “it worked” once or twice before. But if you’re now finding that your previous methods aren’t working anymore, hear me out:

What do I mean by “dieting” exactly? 

• Eating wayyyy below your true calorie needs. 
• Restricting your carbs to fewer than 50 grams a day
• Following a rigid meal plan or program that stresses you the F out all the time…so you end up not eating very much at all
• Being scared of eating healthy fats because they are too calorically dense

…you get the idea. Overall, you’re essentially living off half a tank of gas every day because your calorie intake is rather low. 

What does this mean for your metabolism? She’s slow, she’s unhappy, she’s run down. Dieting long-term does us no metabolic favors. 

So when we’re trying to increase our metabolic rate or “boost our metabolisms,” we HAVE to stop dieting. We have to put more energy into our metabolic fire. You can’t expect to have a happy roaring fire (that helps us burn fat) if you’re only adding minimal fuel.

Your body and metabolism require adequate energy in order to increase its efficiency and the rate at which it can burn energy.

So, how can you stop dieting? 

• Start eating enough protein. Simply put, this means at least 30 grams of protein at every meal. You can also figure out your own total daily protein needs, which is .8-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (or realistic goal weight).

• Eat for satisfaction. I want you full for 3-4 hours. I want you eating MORE at your meals instead of grazing all day. This helps you fuel more properly and it also makes your blood sugar a lot happier. Happy blood sugar = happy metabolism.

• Learn what your body really needs every day for fuel. I can guarantee it’s more than 1200-1500 calories. Use a simple TDEE calculator like this one and make sure to include an appropriate activity factor (since you’re not just laying in bed all day). 

If you find that your estimated needs are much higher than what you’re currently eating, that’s ok! That just means you’re not at your current metabolic potential. I recommend increasing your calories very slowly and steadily over several months.

You can fully understand what your body needs for an optimal metabolism in a signature 30-day program as well! 

2. Eat protein, healthy fat, and fiber at every meal

Including all three of these at your meals is great for increasing the metabolism for several reasons. 

First, this is going to help you eat enough food for your body’s needs. Think about it – if your focus is keeping your calories under a certain number per meal, this isn’t really doing your metabolism any favors like we previously talked about. 

If you’re thinking about getting each major food group in your meal, you’re not restricting yourself to a certain number of calories anymore. 

To be more specific, we recommend hitting at least 20-30 grams of protein, 10-30 grams of fat, and 5-15 grams of fiber at your meal!

Another reason eating PHFF (protein, healthy fat, and fiber) at your meals is helpful is that it does a great job at keeping your blood sugar trends stable throughout the day. This directly increases your metabolic efficiency because it allows the body to stay in a fat-burning mode!

If blood sugar is going through crazy highs and lows by not eating enough protein, healthy fat, or fiber, the body cannot as easily burn fat because the focus has to be on bringing equilibrium back to the blood sugar status.

One final thing I’ll mention about the benefit of PHFF for metabolism is that it reminds us to get enough protein in a day! Your body needs enough protein consumption to maintain and build lean muscle tissue, and this has a huge correlation to our metabolic rate. 

If you want to dig into the PHFF structure more, check out this blog post.

3. Lift weights 3-4 times a week

Last but definitely not least.

Strength training is the GOAT (greatest of all time) for increasing your metabolism. 

Why? More muscle = more calories we burn at rest. More calories we burn watching Netflix, sunbathing, or sleeping. Sign me up. 

Let me be clear about what strength training is best for building lean muscle tissue. This means lifting weights that are truly challenging to the muscles, and you often reach failure after 8-12 reps. Ideally, this also means following a progressive overload strength programming where you are gradually increasing your weights and reps over a period of about 12 weeks. You’re setting your muscles up to be challenged and grow!

Something else I want to mention is that random workouts = random results. If you want to be serious about increasing your metabolism and putting more muscle on your body, I highly recommend following a progressive overload strength program like I mentioned. This type of strategy will also have you stick with similar movements for about 4 weeks so that your muscles have time to practice! You’re not jumping around from movement to movement every week.

Now, am I saying don’t bother with strength training if you’re not going to follow a strategic program? Not at all. You can still challenge muscles this way and it’s absolutely still beneficial! What I am saying, though, is that if you have specific body composition goals or want to see the best results for increasing your metabolism, consider bringing some strategy into your strength training plan.

Where can you find progressive overload programming?

• In our continuation program for Metabolism Makeover members (M3), we include 12-week programs for every season year-round.
• Peloton has strength training programming to follow over several weeks.
• Trainer Whitney Simmons has an app with a variety of strength training programs.

Remember, a high-functioning metabolism makes it easy to lose weight, so implementing one or all of these strategies will help to increase your metabolism. 

If you’ve been struggling with your metabolism and tired of figuring things out on your own, let us help! We have 3 major ways you can work with our team of metabolism experts:

1. Get on the waitlist for the next round of Metabolism Makeover. 
2. Schedule a Power Hour call with one of our coaches.
3. Apply to work 1:1 in our VIP program for our most high-touch support option.

Stay healthy!

Coach Elle