How to Speed Up Your Metabolism: 9 Easy Ways Backed by Science

How does metabolism affect your health?

Metabolism is a term that describes all the chemical reactions in your body that keep your body alive and functioning.

Your metabolism is also responsible for converting nutrients from the foods you eat into fuel. This provides your body with the energy it needs to breathe, move, digest food, circulate blood, and repair damaged tissues and cells.

However, the word “metabolism” is often used to describe your basal metabolic rate or the number of calories you burn at rest.

The higher your metabolic rate, the more calories you burn at rest. Many factors can affect your metabolism, including your age, diet, sex, body size, and health status.

There are several evidence-based strategies that can help increase your metabolism to support weight management and overall health.

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1. Eat plenty of protein at every meal

Eating food can temporarily increase your metabolism for a few hours.

This is called the thermic effect of food (TEF). It’s caused by the extra calories required to digest, absorb, and process the nutrients in your meal.

Protein causes the largest rise in TEF. Dietary protein requires 20 to 30 percent of its usable energy to be expended for metabolism, compared to 5 to 10 percent for carbs and 0 to 3 percent for fats.

Eating protein has also been shown to give you a greater sense of fullness and prevent you from overeating.

Eating more protein can also reduce the drop in metabolism often associated with losing fat. This is because protein helps prevent muscle loss, which is a common side effect of dieting.

2. Drink more water

People who drink water instead of sugary drinks are often more successful at losing weight and keeping it off.

This is because sugary drinks contain calories, so replacing them with water automatically reduces your calorie intake.

However, drinking water may also temporarily speed up your metabolism.

According to one 2013 review, a small study showed drinking 17 ounces (500 mL) of water increases resting metabolism by 30% for about an hour.

However, additional research is needed to support this. A 2015 study suggested that drinking water may not necessarily increase metabolism after drinking it.

Water can also help fill you up if you are looking to lose weight. Studies show that drinking water half an hour before you eat can help you eat less.

Interestingly, one small study found that people who drank 17 ounces (500 mL) of water 30 minutes before meals for 12 weeks lost nearly 3 pounds (1.3 kg) more than those who didn’t.

3. Do a high-intensity workout

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves quick and very intense bursts of activity.

If this type of exercise is safe for you, it can help you burn more fat by increasing your metabolic rate, even after you’ve finished your workout (14Trusted Source, 15, 16Trusted Source).

This effect is believed to be greater for HIIT than for other types of exercise. What’s more, HIIT has also been shown to help you burn fat (17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source).

To get started, choose a modality, such as biking or running, that you are already familiar with.

4. Lift heavy things

Muscle is more metabolically active than fat. Building muscle can help increase your metabolism to help you burn more calories each day, even at rest (19Trusted Source).

Lifting weights can also help you retain muscle and counter the drop in metabolism that can occur during weight loss (20Trusted Source, 21Trusted Source, 22Trusted Source).

Plus, according to one review of 58 studies, resistance training was significantly more effective at reducing body fat percentage, total body fat mass, and belly fat compared to a control group (23Trusted Source).

5. Stand up more

Sitting too much can have negative effects on your health (24Trusted Source, 25).

This is partly because long periods of sitting burn fewer calories and can lead to weight gain (26Trusted Source).

One 2018 review found that standing or stepping at work was associated with lowered cardiometabolic risk (CMR) scores, weight, body fat, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting triglycerides, total/HDL cholesterol, and insulin. However, stepping rather than standing resulted in greater improvements to lower systolic blood pressure and insulin resistance (27).

If you have a desk job, try standing up for short periods to break up the length of time you spend sitting down. You can also try going for walks during the day or invest in a standing desk.

6. Drink green tea or oolong tea

Green tea and oolong tea have been shown to increase metabolism and fat burning (27Trusted Source, 28).

These teas help convert some of the fat stored in your body into free fatty acids, which may increase fat burning when combined with exercise (29Trusted Source).

As they are low in calories, drinking these teas may be good for both weight loss and weight maintenance (30Trusted Source).

It’s thought their metabolism-boosting properties may help prevent a weight loss plateau in people who are losing weight that occurs due to a decrease in metabolism (30Trusted Source).

However, some older studies find that these teas do not affect metabolism. Therefore, their effect may be small or only apply to some people (31Trusted Source, 32Trusted Source).

7. Eat spicy foods

Peppers contain capsaicin, a compound that can boost your metabolism (33Trusted Source, 34Trusted Source, 35Trusted Source).

However, many people can’t tolerate these spices at the doses required to have a significant effect.

For instance, one study discussed in a 2016 review evaluated the effects of capsaicin at acceptable doses. It predicted that eating peppers would burn around 10 additional calories per meal. Over 6.5 years, this could account for 1 pound (0.5 kg) of weight loss for an average-weight male (36).

Alone, the effects of adding spices to your food may be quite small. However, it may lead to a slight advantage when combined with other metabolism-boosting strategies.

8. Get a good night’s sleep

Lack of sleep is linked to a major increase in the risk of obesity (37Trusted Source).

This may partly be caused by the negative effects of sleep deprivation on metabolism (38Trusted Source).

Lack of sleep has also been linked to increased blood sugar levels and insulin resistance, both of which are linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes (38Trusted Source, 39Trusted Source, 40Trusted Source).

It’s also been shown to affect levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and leptin, a hormone that controls fullness (satiety) (41Trusted Source, 42Trusted Source).

This could explain why many people who are sleep-deprived often feel hungry and may have difficulty losing weight when weight loss is their goal.

9. Drink coffee

Studies have shown that the caffeine in coffee can help temporarily boost metabolism. Like green tea, it may also promote fat burning (43, 44Trusted Source).

If your goal is weight loss, several studies have found that coffee’s effects on metabolism and fat burning may contribute to successful weight loss and maintenance (45Trusted Source, 46Trusted Source).

However, the effects of caffeine may vary based on several factors. For instance, one study found that caffeine was more effective at increasing fat burning during exercise in individuals with a less active (sedentary) lifestyle in comparison with trained athletes (44Trusted Source).

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