Embrace the Cold
Cooler temperatures can increase your percentage of brown fat—the healthy type of fat that acts more like muscle, helping your body burn the other kind of fat and increasing your metabolic rate—according to a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health. Two surefire ways to get a beneficial dose of chill? Sleeping in a cool room (around 66-degrees Fahrenheit) and embracing cold showers in the morning.
Minimize Your Stress
“The stress response activates the hormone cortisol,“ says Francesco Celi, M.D., chair of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. “And that’s been clearly associated with a worsening of metabolism and, in the long-run, increasing the risk for obesity.” One recent study found that participants who were stressed out over a 24-hour span burned, on average, 104 fewer calories after a meal. The researchers point out that this deficit could translate to an 11-pound weight gain over the course of a year.
Stay Active
(and Build Muscle)
Long, sedentary periods at your desk or watching TV essentially put your muscles and metabolism to sleep. But scientists and personal trainers agree that taking brief breaks for light activity (i.e. a 10-minute walk or a few jumping jacks) can meaningfully speed up the rate the body burns glucose, lowering blood sugar levels. But the kind of exercise that works best to activate brown fat and rev metabolism is strength training. “By increasing muscle mass, we can increase our resting energy expenditure, which is what’s going to help you burn calories all day long,” Celi says.