Metabolism: Which Hyped-Up "Cures" Work?!

Hi there! Happy Monday!!
I hope you had a GREAT weekend! My weekend was a colorful one with fireworks, friends, and lots of food!! I ate wayyyyy too much over the weekend so I'm doing extra cardio and strength training this week to burn the unwanted calories...lol! I got this :D You got this too...so lets start the week off going strong! Make sure you workout DAILY, watch your calorie INTAKE, and DRINK plenty of water :)

Today's post is all about METABOLISM. Which hyped-up "cures" work AND which ones don't?! Keep on reading and find out!!

EXTREME DIETING?
Cutting calories, bad for weight loss--say whaaaaa? Truth is, going TOO LOW sends your body into starvation mode and slows your metabolism as your body clings to every last morsel. Worse, the effect may last months or years, nobody really knows how long.

SUPPLEMENTS?
Plenty promise to spur metabolism, but they're not FDA-tested for efficacy and some may not contain the ingredients they claim! Even pills that pack legitimately helpful things (like green tea, see below) typically don't have enough to make any real difference.

MENTAL ENERGY?
Sadly, brainpower doesn't run on carbs :( One-fifth of your RMR (resting metabolic rate) does go to maintaining your mind but that amount is a constant. You won't use any more solving calculus equations then you do watching TV.

SPICY FOODS?
It's oft repeated that capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers hot, can fire up fat burning. While technically true, the payoff is so tiny that pros consider it negligible.

TEMPERATURE?
Being above shivering but below comfortable (right around the 60-degree mark) can bump up your metabolism. Why?! The "good" kind of fat, called brown adipose tissue, helps regulate body temperature by turning calories into fuel!

GREEN TEA?
Healthy compounds known as catechins found in tea have been shown to stoke your internal food furnace. Unfortunately, it can't be decaf, but down 2 to 3 cups a day with meals and you can incinerate 80 calories. Easy if you drink green tea!

LATE NIGHTS?
Weirdly enough, running on only 5 hours of sleep a night led people in 1 study to burn slightly more calories during the day. Too bad those study subjects ate even more then they blasted through that mild metabolism boost, gaining just under 2 pounds in a week.

CAFFEINE?
The stimulant helps jolt your metabolic engine into high gear for about 3 hours after consuming it. And around 16 ounces pre workout can also help you obliterate up to 15% more calories. Caveat: Your body will acclimate to the buzz, so several cups a day could blunt those rewards.

PALEO?
Even though it seems too awesome to be true, just digesting food helps shave calories!! If your diet is heavier on protein, a nutrient that uses between 20 and 30% of a food's calories to digest, compared with just 5 to 15% for carbs...you'll get a metabolism surge!

STRENGTH TRAINING?
Toned abs don't just look HOT, they also annihilate calories when you're just sitting around. That's because muscle is metabolically active tissue, i.e., always "on." For every pound of flab you turn into muscle, you burn an additional 14 calories a day...without even flexing! Wooo Whooo!!

If you want to know how many calories you should eat in a day, you can refer back to my post: Calories and Weight (February 6, 2015). Use the formula that I provided. DON'T let the math scare you! If I can do it, anyone can...lol!

If you have ANY comments/questions about this post OR how to use the math formula, shoot me a message and I'll get back to you!
Have a FITastic day!!
See you on Wednesday :D