• To boost metabolism, do not skip any meals. Eat 5-6 small meals during the day. Starving will slow down your metabolism.

• Exercise daily

• Build your muscles. Do you Know: 1 pound of fat burns only 2 calories a day while 1 pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day !!! The more muscle you build, the faster your metabolism will be, and the more calories you will burn while at rest. When muscle mass decreases, the metabolic rate also drops.

• Avoid alcohol, sugar, and fastings

• Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily.

• Eat foods with high nutrition values

Make Your Food Work For You

Not eating breakfast has terrible effects on your metabolism for the rest of the day. In fact, it tells your body to slow the metabolism and store more fat!

2. Eat Whole Foods

WHAT you eat is very important. Food not only provides fuel for your body, but it also provides specific instructions for your metabolism. Certain foods can tell your body to store fat while others will tell it to burn fat and increase your metabolism.

3. Eat Often

Every time you eat you increase your metabolism. But, if you only eat 2 or 3 times, you only get 2 or 3 boosts. Try to eat 5 or 6 smaller meals to get more boosts in your metabolism!

4. Build Lean Protein Into Every Small Meal

Your body has to work much harder to break down protein. Therefore, you will burn more calories to break it down and digest it. Adding protein to every snack and meal will increase your metabolism boost.

5. Avoid 'Fake' Foods

There are toxic ingredients in many pre-made and packaged foods. Check foods that have a label closely for High Fructose Corn Syrup and Hydrogenated Oils. These ingredients are chemically altered and wreak havoc on your metabolism.

6. Don't Eat Before Bed

Once you go to sleep your body goes into storage mode. Eating just before bed causes all those calories to be stored- mostly as fat! Give yourself at least 2 hours after your last meal.

Note that foods can increase your metabolism only marginally. Only the lifestyle changes can make a dramatic effect on metabolism.

Some over the counter pills for speeding up the metabolism are available that contain animal thyroid. You should not take these products as these may have side effects as diarrhea, increased heart rate, excessive sweating, nervousness, tremors, bulging eyes, etc

Be physically active. In an activity like walking, bowling, dancing or playing golf, the energy you expand is greater if you have more weight to move around. A 140 pound man who walks 3 miles in an hour burns 220 calories as compared to a person of 110 pound, who burns only 180 cal going the same pace.

Exercises That Increase Metabolism

1. Resistance Exercises

Exercises that use weights, bands or bodyweight are called resistance or strength exercises. Including these exercises builds lean muscle. More muscle = faster metabolism! As we age we begin to lose muscle, UNLESS you put a stop to it.

2. Interval Exercises

Interval training is a fancy way of saying: "Go fast then go slow." These exercises have been found to burn more fat in less time than traditional cardio (maintaining a constant speed). They also tell your body to continue burning fat and maintaining lean muscle for LONG after your workout.

Causes for Low Metabolism

• Fasting

• A low calorie diet

• Snacking throughout the day on high sugared foods (candy, colas, cakes, gum).

• Eating or drinking too much sugar containing foods.

• Lack of physical activity.

• Under active thyroid.