5 Bad Habits You’ll Need to Drop to Activate Your Metabolism
Do you belong to the 48% of people wanting to improve their fitness after New Year’s?
And you still couldn’t make it fly? Don’t give up just yet. Most, just don’t know where to start to live a healthier life. It all seems too much. Let me tell you, it’s not. Why?
Because I’ve asked my friend, who’s a certified nutritionist, what to do to boost your metabolism and fasten your weight loss journey.
According to him, here are the five habits you need to drop to activate your metabolism:
#1: Lack of sleep
Be honest: how much do you sleep on average?
6 hours?
5 hours?
Or even less?
Everything under 6:30 hours is unacceptable. Sleep isn’t just laying in bed, wasting time.
It’s key to a long and healthy life. It:
- improves your memory
- boosts your mood
- decreases inflammation
- boosts your immune system
- regulates body weight
And, of course, it boosts your metabolism.
Your body has an intrinsic clock. And the more you mess with it, the worse your health becomes. Take care of your circadian rhythm.
Sleep at similar times each day. Don’t interrupt your sleep. And make sure your sleep is worthwhile.
Aim for a minimum of 7 hours of sleep. 8 are even better.
#2: Sedentary Lifestyle
Weird things are happening.
People started using stanley cups. That’s weird. But even weirder are people thinking they can lose weight while sitting most of their waking time.
What are they thinking?
You need to understand that our human bodies are optimized for energy saving. Whenever they can save energy, they will.
That’s why we need to push them, to boost our metabolism, lose weight, and look sexy.
Movement is an essential part of all of it.
I know today’s life is comfortable. That’s cool.
But also unfortunate. Why?
Because we don’t have any reminder of a simple truth:
We’re made for movement.
Humans are made for getting their hands dirty. For moving around. Overcoming themselves and nature.
But we became so good at it, that we can live a lazy life.
When do you really need to move?
To get food.
And that’s only minutes, if not even seconds, away.
Even with an empty fridge, I could literally only take the elevator to the first floor, walk 50 meters, and enter the next supermarket.
Meaning, that if you don’t move for your food, move for your health instead.
Move your body. Walk for a bit. Exercise.
Boost your metabolism by doing something.
#3: Excessive stress
Our bodies are remarkable.
They do hundreds of thousands of processes in parallel. Or have you ever felt a skin cell growing?
But what they suck at doing at the same time, is providing energy for both mental and physical stress. They always prefer to solve mental stress first.
Why? Because our brains are greedy bastards. They consume most of the carbohydrates, we consume.
This means whenever you’re stressed, your metabolism gets shut down.
What’s the solution?
Be less stressed. Relax. Wind down.
Take your foot off the gas pedal.
Do what grounds you. Be mindful.
Meditate. Get enough sleep to reset your body.
Change your mindset to experience less stress.
Make reducing your stress level part of your daily routine.
#4: Poor diet choices
I know you googled for superfoods boosting your metabolism before. I did, too.
But what if instead of consuming more, you consume less?
What if instead of eating superfoods to boost your metabolism, you avoid foods that slow your metabolism?
Hint: that’s the way to go.
Poor diet choices are like Dolby: all around you.
No matter where, we see them in the form of:
- sugary drinks/snacks
- processed foods
- instant meals
- fast food
- energy drinks
But metabolism only thrives on healthy foods.
Why? Because our bodies suck at making sense of processed foods.
You can’t even pronounce Phylloquinone, why do you expect your body to process things like that? Yep.
Then, what’s the solution?
The solution is stupid simple: eat whole foods.
Foods that aren’t processed. Foods with less than 5 ingredients, of which you can all pronounce. Drink 80% water, 10% tea, and 10% coffee. Maybe an occasional kombucha.
Choose healthy as often as possible.
#5: Dehydration
If you can’t remember: water is the source of all life.
We are made of more than 70% out of water. Just like our earth.
Coincidence? I think not.
The problem is, we drink too little.
Let’s take my mother as an example. With her body, she’d need around a minimum of 2 liters of water every single day. She drinks 750 ml of tea and another 500 ml of water. Perhaps a coffee.
That’s it. And it’s too little.
Chances are, you have a similar drinking pattern.
You need to step up your drinking game.
Our bodies don’t need water, only for puffy cells, making us look younger. They need water for many metabolic processes.
I’ll save you the boring details, but let me tell you: you need to drink more.
How much?
Around 3,5 liters for men.
Around 2,5 liters for women.
What?
Mostly water. Aim for at least 80%.
If you don’t like coffee or tea, great!
If you do, don’t drink more than 20% of your daily intake of tea or coffee.
What are you waiting for? Drink a glass of water.
Summary
Boosting your metabolism is a clever balance of less and more.
You want less:
- processed foods
- stress
and more:
- movement
- water
- and sleep
No, you may ask how to do all of that. My answer?
Combine different things.
Feeling stressed? Go for a walk. → Stress reduction, more movement.
Craving unhealthy foods? Drink more water. → Reduces appetite, and increases water intake.
Don’t force yourself. It needs to be fun to be sustainable.
But remind yourself you’re doing something good for you.
Now, go boost your metabolism.
Thanks for reading.
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