Your “High BMR” To Do List:

Breakfast – Always eat breakfast within the first hour of waking up to get your body out of “Starvation Mode”, which it enters into during 4-5 hours of sleep. Rolled Oats/Oatmeal make a great breakfast – and some Egg whites is a great balance of carb/protein.

Frequent, Small, Healthy Meals – Eat 5-6 meals a day at 200-300/cal each for women 400-600/cal each for men. If you only eat more meals, but don’t keep your calories low or you are eating poor quality foods, this will not help you. You must have several meals that are small and healthy. This will force your metabolism to go work more often. Once your body knows it’s going to be fed regularly – it will feel free to “let go” of the fat it’s been holding onto.

Green Tea – Instead of Caffeine or Energy Pills/Drinks – the caffeine in Green Tea is balanced with Antioxidants and it will give your metabolism and energy level a boost without the jitters or without crashing you down later.

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Exercise – Do I really need to say how important this is? Especially the resistance training. When you build more muscle, your metabolism will speed up to support that new muscle causing you to burn more calories. Interval training is also key! Ever notice how some people do a ton of cardio, but their bodies never change? That’s because their metabolism has adjusted and stabilized to the activity and also because it really takes weights to actually “sculpt” the body to look different. Intervals (high/low training) will keep pushing your body to different levels kicking that metabolism way up!

Spice things up – Yes, literally spice up your food! Cayenne Pepper, Jalapenos or other spicy hot spices increase the body temperature and aid in a boost to your metabolism. They also temporarily stimulate your body to release more stress hormones, such as Adrenaline which in turn speeds up your metabolism. Further spicy foods have a way of making people feel fuller faster, thus decreasing your appetite a bit.

Women Work out that PMS – yes, I said it! According to arecent study “women burned about 30% more fat for the two weeks following ovulation to about 2 days before menstruating”. Apparently the reproductive hormones estrogen and progesterone are at their peak, and since these hormones promote the body’s use of fat as energy, more fat is burned off during this time. So resist the urge to curl up in the fetal position and get up and move!

Relax – Stop stressing. Studies have shown that when your body produces stress hormones (other than Adrenaline) that they stimulate fat cells deep in the abdomen to increase in size and fat storage, and it increases your appetite making you more likely to overeat.

So – here’s the bottom line…if you are not a man, or a tall thin woman, or even Obese, don’t fret…this means you probably fall into the category that the majority of people are in, the petite woman, with a less than stellar naturally lower BMR than the others….but with this knowledge, just know that you have to work harder to maintain or raise your BMR as you age. Be careful with what you eat and be sure to move your body…and never ever again compare yourself to your boyfriend/husband, that model in the magazine or that person on Biggest Loser. Your body is unique and it’s special. It’s the only one you have for this life journey, so take care of it. You know what to do.

Happy Training!  Written By: Jeanene Cannon NASM CPT, CES, MSW   Connect with Jeanene Cannon on Facebook and Twitter!

 This is part three of a four part fitness series on “Metabolism What is it and How It Affects Your Weight” 

“Turn ON Your Metabolism” Part IV coming in November.

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