Posts
Earlier this week,
I discussed the symptoms you should look out for if you feel like you
have done some damage to your Metabolism. Today, I want to share how
to get your metabolism back on track.
1. Reverse Dieting: What
is it? Reverse dieting is used as a technique to restore your metabolic
rate. It's a progressive way for you to start adding calories back in to
your diet. When reverse dieting, you should start by adding in about 5%
more calories weekly, which equates to about 50-100 calories more per
day. If you feel good after a week of adding in calories, you can add
50-100 more the following week. How long you need to reverse diet
totally depends on how little you were eating & how long you were
dieting for. The point is to get your body out of depletion and restore
your body with nutrients. You gain energy, strength, speed up your
metabolism, and see great results! Once you reverse diet for a few weeks
and are at a place where you are maintaining your weight, then you can
start tweaking your diet again - either continue slowly adding or
decreasing calories.
2. Build More Muscle:
Strength train - you will speed up your
metabolism. Switch up your routine every 4-6 weeks (change the sets,
reps, weight and rest time). Building lean muscle doesn't mean you will
get bulky (men have 10 times the testosterone we do, so it's nearly
impossible for us to bulk up unless we are eating crazy amounts). You
can speed up your metabolism by 5 times if you build lean muscle. Muscle
burns 5 and a half times more calories than fat, so the more muscle you
have the more your metabolism allows you to eat. Girls often say, "well
I eat less than her, why is she smaller than me?" Truthfully, she has a
faster metabolism than you because she eats enough!
3. Recover fully from workouts:
Do I have to explain this? Stop wrecking
yourself in the gym without stretching, recovering, or treating your
injuries. Hydrate before and after, and fuel yourself properly! Think
about your caloric intake both in terms of your resting metabolic rate
and expended energy from workouts. For example: if your resting
metabolic rate is 1,500 calories and you burn 500 calories in your
workout, then you need to eat 2,000 that day to simply maintain your
weight. Make sure you SLEEP, because this will allow your body to
recover and repair. If you don't sleep enough, you won't recover
properly.
4. Supplement:
I love Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs).
They can help speed up muscle recovery and growth. If you drink BCAAs
in the morning and at night, studies have shown less hunger, higher
calorie expenditure, and direct the energy being used to fat stores
rather than eating up muscle.
5. Get blood work done:
If you have more of the severe symptoms
listed in last weeks' newsletter, then definitely go to the doctor and
have blood work done. Your doctor can check on your thyroid to see if
it's too fast (hyper) or too slow (hypo), your testosterone levels (help
build muscle & speed metabolism), and Leptin (satiety hormone). You
might need a medication for a little while to regulate hormone
function.
If
you feel like you have done metabolic damage, you need to take yourself
out of the routine you are in. Is it truly balanced and getting you to
your goals? If not, let's switch things up!
