13 Ways to Speed Up Your Metabolism, According to Dietitians

From standing up regularly to eating more fiber the tips below will teach you how to speed up your metabolism. To answer the age-old question of how to burn calories with ease and shed excess fat more quickly, we tapped four experts in the diet and nutrition space. Keep reading for the pros' top 13 tips on how to speed up your metabolism.

What Is the Metabolism?

Metabolism is a term used to describe a set of chemical reactions in the body that converts food and water into energy to fuel bodily functions. Your body converts nutrients in food—such as sugars, proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids—into a molecular form that cells can absorb, known as adenosine triphosphate. According to holistic health coach and nutrition practitioner Kimberly Spair, this absorption releases units of energy (aka calories) that your body uses immediately or stores in body fat for later use. The metabolism also removes metabolic waste, substances created during metabolism that are unusable by the body.

How to Speed Up Your Metabolism

Though you cannot control set factors like age or genetics, there are several lifestyle changes you can make to potentially boost your metabolism speed. Here are 13 ways to boost your metabolism, according to dietitians:

Eat a Metabolism-Boosting Breakfast

There is some debate around whether eating breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper is really the secret to weight loss. Instead of worrying too much about size, it's the type of foods you include on your breakfast plate that affects metabolism. If you want to fire up your system, a 2011 study found that you should factor in low-GL (so low-sugar) and high-protein foods at breakfast. Think savory, and include some lean protein like chicken (yes, for breakfast) or eggs.

Do Cardio

When it comes to basic cardio, you only raise your calorie burn while you're active, but HIIT and strength training will keep your metabolism elevated for hours afterward, increasing fat burn for far longer than just the time you were working.

Drink Green Tea

"The coffee bean is a hard seed to crack. Your morning brew is very high in antioxidants but also linked to excess cortisol and adrenal fatigue," says celebrity health coach Kelly LeVeque. "Drinking brewed green tea, on the other hand, is an effective way to get caffeine and provide your body with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an ingredient known to speed up metabolism. Take the beWELL approach: Enjoy a cup of brew in the morning and then stick to green tea throughout the afternoon. Since high cortisol levels caused by excessive caffeine are more likely to put extra weight around your waist, avoid all sodas and calorie-laden coffee drinks."

Factor in Fiber

Increasing your fiber intake might aid in weight loss. How so? High-fiber foods boost metabolism because fiber is indigestible. There are two types of fiber: soluble, which takes on water as it's digested and helps you feel fuller for longer, while insoluble fiber simply passes through the system, helping us to pass our food.

Most fiber has a combination of both insoluble and soluble fibers. Foods higher in insoluble fiber include wheat bran, beans, cauliflower, and apples. Soluble fiber can be found in brown rice, oat bran, and artichokes, among other foods.

Get Your Micronutrients

A healthy metabolism equals a healthy body, but metabolic syndrome can lead to diabetes and heart disease. Of course, exercise and a healthy diet will go a long way to prevent this, but if you're going through a busy period and your workouts and healthy meals have taken a back seat, make sure you're supplementing with the right micronutrients. Certain vitamins and minerals have been found to support a healthy metabolism. While we can get these from a varied diet, it's worth adding your intake with a supplement sometimes. Research has shown that fat-soluble micronutrients, such as Vitamins A and E, may be crucial for preventing metabolic syndrome. Vitamin D may also be vital in preventing metabolic syndrome, and since we live in a country where the sun doesn't always shine, it may be worth taking this every day regardless of the merits of your diet.

Build Muscle

As we have mentioned, strength training is the key to burning more fat at rest (in other words, raising your BMR). Lean muscle is your ally in raising your BMR. In fact, an older 2002 study found that weight-lifting increased calorie burn for 38 hours after exercise.

Registered dietician Su-Nui Escobar notes, "Muscle burns more calories than fat at rest. Muscle loss occurs due to lack of exercise, and it also naturally happens as people age."

While cardio is integral to maintaining health, muscle is equally important. "[What] I see with many of [my] clients is that their exercise consists [of] walking a couple of times a week, which is great but is not great for muscle building. The key to maintaining muscle mass is to do strength training workouts, from weight lifting to pilates," Escobar says.

Get More Sleep

"Sleep does not decrease the metabolism, but lack of sleep can create a hormone imbalance that results in a dysregulation of the hormones related to hunger and appetite," Escobar notes.

"Lack of sleep can cause a person to be hungrier throughout the day and feel less satisfied as they eat," Escobar continues. "Plus, it can cause cravings for sugary foods. As you can see, it is not that lack of sleep reduces the metabolism but it makes it a lot harder to eat in a way that [leads] to a good body weight."

Eat a Varied Diet

"It is not that certain foods will decrease our metabolism, but proteins take more energy to digest, absorb, and use than fats. Thus, if a person eats a diet with more protein and less fat, this person will use more calories. On the other hand, if the diet is high in fat, it will take fewer calories to digest and absorb the meal. This is called the thermic effect of food." Escobar says.

"This does not mean that I recommend a low-fat diet but rather just make sure my patients avoid a high-fat, high-sugar diet and eat a diet that includes lean proteins, veggies, fruits, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats," she continues.

Hydrate

Studies have found that those who drink more water tend to burn more calories. The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that adult men get roughly 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids per day, and adult women get roughly 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids per day.

Stand Up

Standing up is integral for those looking to boost their metabolism, as long periods of sitting equate to fewer calories burned. In fact, research shows that breaking up long periods of sitting can help reduce health risk factors and may have positive outcomes on metabolism.

It's easier said than done on work days, but investing in a standing desk or taking short breaks throughout the day — to stand up and move around — may help.

Keep Things Consistent

Avoid crash diets, which may cause your metabolism (and weight) to yo-yo. Instead, make lifestyle changes like getting more sleep and taking on a workout and diet that are easy to maintain. While it might seem like a good idea to drop weight quickly via short but heavily regimented diets, those may cause your body to lose muscle and cause you to get run down quickly.

Fight Inflammation

"Anti-inflammatory foods, like those found in a high-quality, plant-rich diet, can reduce inflammation in the body and support metabolic health [r, r]," says Sakara co-founder Danielle Duboise, a certified holistic health coach and nutritionist. "Reducing inflammation can improve metabolism for a variety of reasons, like enhancing insulin sensitivity, restoring hormonal balance, improving mitochondrial function, reducing oxidative stress, and lowering the risk of metabolic disorders."

She adds: "Whole, plant foods, especially vibrantly-colored foods like blueberries, dark leafy greens, and beets, offer essential polyphenols and antioxidants that help repair our cellular function and mitochondria."

Mitochondria are the powerhouse of cells responsible for generating energy. Chronic inflammation can impair mitochondrial function, leading to reduced energy production and metabolic inefficiency [r]. By reducing inflammation, mitochondrial function can be enhanced, leading to improved metabolism and energy production."

Nourish Your Gut

"The gut microbiome, the ecosystem of microbes that live in your digestive tract, plays a large role in influencing metabolic health [r, r]," says Duboise. "A healthy and balanced gut microbiome nourished by an abundance and diversity of plants can influence a variety of aspects of metabolism—from maximizing nutrient absorption and regulating appetite to generating metabolism-boosting compounds like short chain fatty acids and supporting energy balance. Getting a diversity of plant foods—at least 30 species per week—has been shown to be the most effective way to cultivate a healthy gut and therefore healthy metabolism [r]."