Slow metabolism is blamed by many people for their excess body fat.
There are hundreds of things that can slow your metabolism down, but to keep your body running in high gear you need to make sure that you develop habits that will increase metabolism.
Your body's natural fat and calorie burning machine is what will make you lose weight and keep it off.
Your metabolism is how your body processes energy, you can think of it like your body's power plant.
For each calorie you burn, your body needs to get that energy from somewhere.
It will either take stored energy that your body keeps in the form of fat, or it will burn calories that are more readily available like food that is in your stomach being processed.
On average about 65% of your body's daily energy use is spent taking care of basic functions like breathing, blood circulation and thinking.
About 25% is used to power your muscle movement and daily exercise and the last 10% is used to process food that you take in during the day.
By changing how energy is used in your body, you can alter your metabolism.
The equation is pretty simple, if you eat fewer calories than your metabolism requires, then your body will take energy from stored fat and you'll lose weight.
What most people do is increase the portion of calories burned through exercise.
This is quite often the most readily apparent way to increase metabolism and it is the first thing that you think of when you talk about losing weight.
But there are other ways for you to increase metabolism as well.
Many experts suggest that eating more often, but eating less food at each meal, will increase your metabolism as well.
This makes sense, remember the tortoise and the hare, slow and steady wins the race.
By keeping your body working steadily at a lower rate over the entire day, it will have energy readily available when you need it, rather than having to burn fat and making you feel hungry.
Your body requires many nutrients and compounds to keep your metabolism burning efficiently.
If you want to increase your metabolism, making sure that you are getting a balanced diet including the recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals is essential to burning fat quickly and effectively.
Because many of these nutrients and vitamins are water soluble, meaning that they dissolve and are stored in water, you need to make sure that you are also well hydrated.
Dehydration can slow your metabolism as well and cause your body to store fat and water.
While controlling calorie intake and consumption is important, there are also many ways that you can increase your metabolism by just changing your daily habits and routines.
By keeping your metabolism working while you sleep, you'll lose weight quicker and keep that weight off once you do.
Your body works while you sleep too, and you can help it burn fat at night by changing what you do during the day.