How to Boost Your Metabolism

I'm guilty!!

I was one of those that blamed my weight gain on my metabolism. 

After my twins turned 2, I felt like they literally sucked the life out of me and 

I believed that my metabolism was making me fat.

Here's the truth though. We are, for the most part, in CONTROL of our metabolism.  Think of your Metabolism as a Furnace for your body.  A literal furnace needs a constant supply of  gas or oil to burn and keep your home warm.  Your METABOLISM (your body's furnace) needs a supply of food/calories to continue to burn and fuel your body.  Make sense??

You and I can literally transform our metabolism by learning how to fuel it!!! Yay!!!

Now Here are a few ways you can do this.

Fall in Love with Strength Traning-  Build Muscle. Incorporate some form of strength training into your weekly program. Most of Beachbodys program implement strength training, whether it be by the use of resistance bands, dumbbells or your body weight.  Great examples are Focus T25, PiYo, Body Beast or 21 Day Fix Extreme. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn everyday.

EAT!!!!  EAT REGULARLY!!!!  Not eating enough slows your metabolism.  You push your body into starvation mode forcing it to slow down everything including digestion and metabolism. Learn how many calories you should be getting in for your activity level and eat. But not all at once.  Im sure you have heard of eating 5-6 small meals a day.  Here is the logic.  Your furnace needs to be fed enough to keep burning. What happens to a fire when there is no more wood to burn.... it simmers and dies.  So feed your body regularly foods that will nourish you.  My top choices- Veggies, Fruits, Shakeology, Nuts and Seeds, Complex Carbs like Quinoa.

Do Less Cardio. YES!!! Im no cardio fan but I love to get in a good balance of it to boost my endurance and for heart health.  Plus, when it gets warm, I enjoy a brisk walk or jog along the lakefront. But what's necessary to boost your metabolism is a slightly different cardio.  HIIT workouts like Insanity Max 30 and 21 Day Fix Extreme and TurboFire are perfect HIIT workouts.  HIIT workouts are High Intensity Interval Training workouts. This means you do a short burst of High intensity/Max effort cardio followed by a lower intensity rest interval....My kinda workout!! And what has been recently discovered about HIIT workouts is they burn calories during your workout and in the hours afterwards. 

 LASTLY.........

Go To Sleep.Sleep at least 6-8 hours each night. When you are tired, your body does not operate at its best. And the Chain Reaction begins. Your body stresses itself to complete simple tasks.  Then, you start to release that stress hormone "cortisol." Cortisol makes you hungry. Most reach for a high carb snack. But, since you are tired, your body has trouble metabolizing carbs, which then spikes your blood sugar.  The spike in blood sugar causes an increase in insulin, which then tells the body to store any excess calories as fat. 

And OMG who wants that.  Id MUCH rather go to sleep.

Hope this helps. For more tips, be sure to subscribe and 

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Vegetarian Mealplan for The Week

Ive been easing off of meat for the last few weeks. I am not going completely vegetarian but I want to eat less meats during the week and focus more on having fresh fruits and making vegetables the main course at dinner.  This will also help me lose the 20 lbs that I would like to drop by the end of May.

Here is my mealplan for the week. I am also working out daily- 6 miles Monday- Friday on my stationary bike and then Body Beast every evening. Im in the Bulk Phase. That being said, if there is anytime, where I feel like I need more food, I will increase my intake of protein.

Make it a Great Week!!