Metabolism

What is metabolism? Basically stated it is the process our bodies use to burn the calories we eat. Everyone wants to know how to increase metabolism. The rate of it is effected by age, hormones, what we eat and what we do in terms of activity. While we cannot change our age, we can work on everything else. If you are concerned about your hormones, talk to your doctor about having them tested first. Otherwise we cam change our eating and our activity to keep the thermal effect up.
Eating lean proteins and eating meals every 3-4 hours will keep your body happy. The best form of lean protein is wild caught fish.
Two types of exercise that help the metabolism are strength training and cardio. The two types of exercise that don't help with metabolism are balance exercises and stretching, while both are very important they do not turn on the furnace. If you have yet to add strength training just know that adding 3-5 pounds of muscle will burn an extra 100-250 calories a day! Your metabolism also increases after cardio and stays increased for a while after, so make sure to take the stairs at work or get up every 45 minutes and move around to get the heart rate up a little, even if it is just to go up and down a flight of stairs, start using bathrooms on different levels in your building if you can.
Want to know if you metabolism is burning right? Test yourself. It is a simple self test, and not 100% accurate but gives you a good idea. First thing upon waking in the morning, don't get up right away stick a thermometer under your arm and test the temperature. It is most accurate if you test for a month so we can take into account the hormones that increase our body temp during our female cycle, but if not 7 days of testing gives you an idea. Your underarm temp upon waking should be 98.6 or higher. If it is off, it lets you know your body is slowing down a little. Again if you think your issues might be hormonally related, please contact your doctor.