When your metabolism is boosted, your weight loss speeds up! 6 effective ways to enhance metabolism and burn more fat

Middle-aged weight gain is a common issue many people face. This happens because after the age of 35, the efficiency of various bodily functions decreases, muscle mass begins to decline, and the body's metabolism slows down. As a result, daily calorie expenditure isn't as fast as before, and excess calories are more easily converted into fat accumulation.

A person's total metabolism is composed of basal metabolism, activity metabolism, and the thermic effect of food, and the metabolic rate (basal metabolic rate, BMR) determines the rate at which a person burns calories.

During weight loss, an increase in metabolism means the body will burn more calories each day, making it easier to create a "caloric deficit," and the body becomes more likely to slim down.

How can you effectively boost your metabolism? Learn these 6 methods to increase your metabolic rate and burn fat faster:

1、Increase Muscle Mass
Muscle is an energy-consuming tissue that burns more calories than fat. For every kilogram of muscle added, the body burns about 13-25 extra calories per day.

Strength training is an effective way to build muscle mass. We can start with compound exercises such as bodyweight squats, push-ups, pull-ups, and hip thrusts to work on major muscle groups. Train every other day and gradually increase weight to raise your basal metabolic rate and accelerate fat burning.

2、Supplement with High-Quality Protein
For those losing weight, it’s important not to just eat vegetables but to include high-quality protein sources such as salmon, bass, tofu, shrimp, chicken breast, and lean meats. These provide the body with amino acids, promoting muscle synthesis.

Protein is a macronutrient that requires more calories for the body to break down, which can increase the thermic effect of food. It is recommended to include a palm-sized portion of protein in each meal, which will help you maintain satiety for longer, keep your metabolism high, and reduce the chances of overeating.

3、Maintain Regular Eating Habits
People who skip meals or eat irregularly, such as having one meal with too much food and another with too little, confuse their body’s eating pattern. This leads the body to enter “famine mode,” where it tries to store fat with every meal rather than metabolize and function efficiently.

By maintaining regular meals and eating until you’re 80% full, you can effectively boost your digestive system, increase your metabolism, and prevent fat accumulation, which helps in developing a naturally lean physique.

4、Drink Enough Water
When the body is dehydrated, metabolic processes slow down. Sufficient water intake can accelerate blood circulation and make your stomach feel fuller, helping to better control your appetite.

It is recommended to drink more than 1.5 liters of water daily, spreading it out throughout the day. For example, drink a glass of water after waking up, before meals, and replace sugary drinks with tea or water infused with goji berries. This can help speed up your weight loss process.

5、Ensure Adequate Sleep
People who often stay up late and get less than 7 hours of sleep are putting their bodies under strain. Lack of sleep decreases leptin (which suppresses appetite) and increases ghrelin (hunger hormone), leading to increased appetite and a higher likelihood of overeating.

Those trying to lose weight should establish a regular sleep schedule and ensure 8 hours of sleep each night. This will promote body function repair, and during the day, metabolic activity will be more efficient, helping burn more calories. Your appetite will also be better controlled, improving your weight loss efficiency.

6、Eat Spicy Food in Moderation
Chili peppers contain capsaicin, which can boost the body's metabolic rate and increase energy expenditure by about 4-5% in the short term. The spicy sensation also reduces cravings for high-fat, high-salt foods, indirectly reducing calorie intake (though the effect may diminish for those who consume spicy food regularly).

In addition to chili peppers, ginger (gingerol), black pepper (piperine), and cinnamon also have certain metabolism-boosting effects and can be consumed in small amounts alternately.