Master Your Metabolism After Weight Loss!

HAPPY Wednesday :D
How are you doing?! How's your week going so far?! Are you CRUSHing IT in the fitness department?! My week is going strong :D I'm ROCKing IT in cardio and using more weights this week! WOOO WHOOO!!

Now days, there's so much information on weight loss, but what if you've already accomplished your goal! Now what?! The key to lasting weight loss is mastering your metabolism! Today's post is how to keep your internal engine speeding along!! The following information is from SHAPE Magazine. KEEP READING and find out how to keep the weight off OR if you're not there yet, find out what to do when you finally check off that goal :)

You're working to maintain your healthy new weight. But in order to be successful, there's 1 important thing you need to know: Just as your size shrinks after dropping pounds, so does your ability to burn calories, unfortunately. Learning what to expect and how to handle those metabolic changes are what will help you stay slim over the long-term, experts say.
As you shed pounds, your body enters what scientists call a starvation state, slowing your metabolism to encourage you to regain weight. In a study at the University of Melbourne, levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, were 20% higher in participants who lost weight, while levels of hormones associated with suppressing hunger were very low. "The most likely explanation is that this scenario evolved in prehistoric days to protect us from malnutrition," says endocrinologist Joseph Proietto, Ph.D., a study author. "It's the body's way of encouraging you to eat."
Subsequent research has found that these metabolic changes are evident up to 3 years after weight loss. "We evolved very potent systems to increase fertility and ensure survival back when food was scarce," explains Michael Rosenbaum, M.D., a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. "Our physiology is designed to preserve fat."
On average, people who have had more than a 5 to 10% drop in their weight require 300 to 400 fewer calories a day to maintain it than someone who weighs that much naturally, according to Dr. Rosenbaum's research. "After we lose pounds, changes occur in our endocrine, nervous, and muscular systems to make us burn fewer calories for the same amount of effort while our brains are telling us to eat more," he says.
Your body may be working against you, but by starting a few new habits, you can reignite your metabolism. Luckily, these changes are easier than you might think.

Get on your feet. Standing, stretching, and walking throughout the day is crucial to keeping your system revved, according to researchers at the Mayo Clinic. "Every time you get up, your muscles activate, and within 90 seconds your cellular engines turn on," says James Levine, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of medicine at Mayo and the author of Get Up! Set a timer on your phone or computer to remind yourself to walk around for 10 minutes every hour.

Exercise less but harder. Amp up your workouts with high-intensity interval training. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology showed that people who performed high-intensity intervals on stationary bikes every other day for 2 weeks burned 36% more fat afterward than they did during a steady cycling workout. "Shorter bursts of intensity can increase mitochondria in the muscles, making it easier for the body to generate energy by metabolizing fat for fuel," explains lead study author Jason L. Talanian, Ph.D., an assistant physiology professor at Fitchburg State University. On your next run, go fast for 4 minutes, then take a 2 minute break; repeat 7 times.

Time your coffee. If you're a coffee drinker, downing caffeine an hour before your workout will help you burn 15% more calories afterward, according to a study in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. "Caffeine appears to raise the adrenaline levels in the body," explains study author Valentin E. Fernandez-Elias, Ph.D., an exercise scientist at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. That causes you to expend more energy to blast calories, which in turn revs your metabolism.

Get up and get out. People who are exposed to bright light from morning to noon have healthier BMIs than those who get more light exposure at other times of day, research found. Blue light, which is greater in the a.m., helps synchronize our circadian rhythms, keeping our appetite in check and our metabolism running. On the flip side, "Exposure to light in the evening may alter the hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism so that we eat more and burn fewer calories," explains Phyllis Zee, M.D., Ph.D., the director of the Northwestern Medicine Sleep Disorders Center. Natural light is best, so go outside early.

Turn off your brain. Stress slows metabolism, a study in Biological Psychiatry revealed. People who ate high-fat meals torched 104 fewer calories when they were feeling tense. "Some data suggests that stress alters the mitochondria in our cells in a way that lowers our metabolic rate," says Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, Ph.D., the director of the Institute for Behavior Medicine Research at Ohio State University. Every day, schedule some downtime to focus on something you enjoy, like taking a bike ride or spending time with friends.  

Eat plenty of protein. If you don't get enough of this macronutrient, you'll be more likely to store any excess calories you eat as fat, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. "Protein takes more energy for the body to digest than carbohydrates do, so if you eat the proper amount, you'll burn more of the calories you consume overall," explains study author Leanne Redman, Ph.D., an associate professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University.

If you have ANY questions OR comments about this post...don't be shy :D
Have a FITastic day!
SEE YOU back here on Fridayyyyy!!