Here’s a fast look at 5 major factors that YOU control that play a role in how fast or how slow your metabolism is:

FOOD CHOICES – Eating a balanced, whole-foods-based diet with enough protein and fiber can help boost your metabolism and keep you feeling full. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day will also make a big impact!

EXERCISE – Nearly all workouts can help you burn more calories, but strength training and high-intensity interval training workouts can give you some bonus burn after your workout is over.

STRESS – When you are stressed, it can affect your body’s hormones, which can in turn make your body burn fewer calories (and store fat).

SLEEP – Not getting enough sleep also affects your hormones. You can end up feeling extra hungry AND burn fewer calories (this is why I talk about self care and sleep so much!).

OTHER ACTIVITY – This is a secret weapon for metabolism! Basically, the more active you are OUTSIDE your workouts, the more calories you burn all day. It can add up fast.Here’s the best thing that no one talks about when it comes to those 5 components: when you get them working together, not only does your metabolism rev up … but you also FEEL GREAT.

You’ll feel more energized, lighter on your feet, and you might even start to hear people comment on your healthy “glow!” A renewed sense of energy! This is exactly what the ladies in my Renew and Refuel program experience within the first week.

My goal is to make this as simple and easy to follow as possible, and give you strategies that will work no matter what nutrition philosophy you follow.

The basics of Metabolism 101 basically boil down to this:

• If you want to lose fat/weight, you have to eat a little less fuel than you burn.
• But don’t eat too little, because over time this can actually slow your metabolism down – and you definitely don’t want that!
• No matter your weight/fat-loss goal, choose foods that help support your metabolism and your health.

Make sure to read through your Metabolic Jumpstart Guide for details and tips.

The goal is to eat a clean, whole-foods diet that’s low in sugar and processed foods and that contains a variety of micronutrients.

What’s good for your overall health is also good for your metabolism. Just something to keep in mind. :-)

That being said, there is ONE MACRONUTRIENT that has an edge when it comes to  revving your metabolism …. it’s PROTEIN.

It can help you burn more calories … keep you feeling full between meals … and help your body keep your valuable muscle as you lose weight. 

It’s definitely worth making sure you get enough of it.

As I mentioned in our challenge guide, it’s tempting to think of your metabolism as something you can “turn up” or “turn down” ... but the fact is, metabolism is a complicated process that happens in your cells – and the more cells you have, the faster your metabolism.

(Random fact: the average person has 30 trillion cells! That’s a lot of cells … and a lot of metabolism.)

The biggest chunk of your calorie burn (aka your metabolism) happens just to keep you alive – it’s known as your BMR, your basal metabolic rate. BMR can vary a LOT between people. 

Some things that impact your BMR are things you can’t control – genetics, gender, and more (we’ll get into some of this later).

But there’s actually a lot you CAN do to turn up your metabolism, and it has to do with your body composition. 

I like to think of these ‘metabolic boosters’ like compound interest ... it’s not going to make you rich overnight, but over time, it adds up in a big way!

Here it is …

Add more muscle to your body through your workouts. And I’m not talking about giant Hulk muscles, btw. I simply mean strong, flexible, and supple muscle!

Scientists estimate that every pound of muscle you have burns about 6 calories a day while you’re resting. That’s triple the amount of a pound of fat, which comes in at about 2 calories a day. 

So, 10 pounds of fat would burn 20 calories a day, while 10 pounds of muscle would burn 60. Not that impressive.

But over a year, 10 pounds of muscle burns 21,900 calories (a little over 6 pounds), while 10 pounds of fat burns 7,300 calories in a year (around 2 pounds).

That means workouts that build your muscles – whether it’s old-school bodybuilding workouts, or fitness workouts that include weights – have a double-whammy effect!

Not only are you burning calories WHILE you’re doing them, but you get a BONUS burn in the future as you build muscle! Pretty cool, right?

Beyond your workouts, it’s important to get enough protein (between 10% and 35% of your daily calories) to help build, repair, and maintain your muscle. 

Want to get even MORE tactical?

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that if you want to build muscle, on top of adding resistance training to your workouts, you should eat 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day – which equals 0.5 to 0.8 grams per pound of body weight. 

Let me tell you a little story about a woman I know. I have permission to use this story, but I’m not using her name. :) 

She was absolutely crushing her program – getting her workouts in, following her nutrition, and staying active even outside her workouts – and she also was making sure she got plenty of downtime to destress. 

Her fave destressor: arriving early for appointments and listening to audiobooks in the car (her personal sanctuary, where no one would bother her)!

In just a few months she dropped 4 pants sizes and 30 pounds. Amazing, right?

But then her elderly mom had a stroke … and suddenly she was in the middle of a major stress overload. 

Especially when the job of being a caretaker (which she took on happily and willingly) fell onto her shoulders – on top of her already demanding career.

And you guessed it … suddenly her results screeched to a halt … even though she kept up with everything else on her plan to the best of her ability. She even started to regain some of the weight she had worked so hard to lose!

I want to talk about SLEEP and your metabolism … because the two are linked in so many ways. 

Poor sleep can lead to weight gain, which can lead to poor sleep, which can lead to weight gain, and on and on! This is not even mentioning the health issues involved with sleep (like sleep apnea). 

I saved one of the BEST ways to boost your metabolism for today – so that you can carry it forward!

Fact: A lot of times we blame our “slow” metabolism on this one thing. It’s something we have complete control over, and it’s something that creeps up, slowly, over time.

Actually, it’s something that creeps DOWN … it’s how much we MOVE over the course of a day!

The truth is your metabolism naturally slows down as you get older.

It happens at different paces and different times for each of us, but I do have some good news for you. There are things you can do to offset it. 

And the sooner you start, the better! 

Here are some of the top reasons your metabolism begins to slow:

• You’re less active
• You’ve lost muscle
• Your body’s metabolic processes have slowed down because of age