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Multiple factors influence your metabolic rate, including age, body type, gender, and lifestyle choices. Age plays a key role, as metabolism tends to slow down with age due to loss of muscle mass and reduced physical activity, which often leads to weight gain. Gender differences exist as well - men generally burn more calories even at rest due to greater quantities of muscle mass and higher testosterone.
Lifestyle choices that support metabolism include staying physically active, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and eating a balanced, nutrient-rich diet. A holistic approach is needed when it comes to boosting metabolism, and here at the Independent Pharmacy, we’ve got the expert knowledge and quality products to help you jump-start your weight management journey.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an effective way to increase your metabolic rate. HIIT combines aerobic activity like running or cycling with short bursts of intense anaerobic exercise. This encourages your heart rate to reach around 80% of its maximum before resting briefly and repeating.
HIIT is more time-efficient than steady-state cardio. Sessions typically last 10-30 minutes but burn more calories by pushing your body into fat-burning mode. Incorporating 2-3 HIIT workouts each week helps boost calorie burn. Take care not to overdo it, though - rest days are important to prevent overtraining.
Incorporating strength training into your workouts is important for building muscle mass and supporting a healthy metabolism. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, even at rest. However, muscle loss occurs naturally with age and inactivity. Strength training counteracts this by building and preserving calorie-burning muscle mass.
Weightlifting, resistance bands, and bodyweight exercises like push-ups and Pilates all encourage muscle growth. Focusing on large muscle groups like the legs, back, and core is particularly effective. Strength training combined with cardio forms the basis of a metabolism-boosting workout plan.
Resistance training should be a key part of your workout routine for supporting metabolism goals. Exercises incorporating resistance bands, weights, or leveraging your body weight all build calorie-burning muscle. Great options include:
What you eat and drink impacts how fast your metabolism works. Extreme diets that cut way back on calories or food groups slow your metabolism over time. Without enough nutrients from protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals, your body can’t properly fuel all its chemical processes that are tied to burning energy.
Lacking certain nutrients hampers metabolism-regulating enzymes and hormones. Poor nutrition plus inactivity causes muscle loss, further reducing calorie burn during rest.
Overeating calories also strains metabolism over time. Without enough physical activity to burn excess energy, the extra calories get stored as body fat.
Eating a nutritious, balanced diet is key to maintaining a fast metabolism. This includes getting enough:
Protein fuels all cells and body processes tied to energy use, making it crucial for metabolic health. Iron allows red blood cells to carry oxygen to tissues to burn calories properly. Vitamin-rich foods provide phytochemicals that optimise enzyme production central to metabolism.
Spicy thermogenic (heat-producing) foods like black pepper, ginger and chilli may subtly boost metabolism. Their heat-generating compounds raise body temperature slightly, triggering quicker calorie burn.
Loading up on protein at meals helps elevate metabolic rate. Great high-protein options to incorporate include:
Protein provides amino acids that drive nearly all metabolic processes, making it the ultimate metabolism booster nutrient. Eating protein causes a bigger thermal boost versus fats or carbs, burning more calories during digestion. It also helps maintain calorie-torching lean muscle mass.
Staying adequately hydrated is important for keeping your metabolism running efficiently. Water makes up over half your body weight and performs many essential functions tied to energy expenditure and calorie burn.
Dehydration causes metabolic processes to slow down as less fluid is available to fuel these chemical reactions. Daily water needs differ by age and activity level. As a general guide:
Here at The Independent Pharmacy, our expert pharmacists take the time to understand your health history and goals to offer the best solutions for you.
Boosting your metabolism requires balanced, sustainable lifestyle changes, most importantly, changes to diet and activity levels. It’s vital to consult your doctor if you’re making radical changes to your lifestyle – they will be able to offer advice and help along the way.
Contact us today at The Independent Pharmacy to learn how we can help you reach your metabolism goals.
Increasing physical activity, eating a balanced diet rich in metabolism-boosting foods, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, and managing stress levels can all help boost your metabolism to support weight loss.
Yes, certain supplements like green tea extract and capsaicin may provide a small metabolism boost to help the body burn slightly more calories.
Combining strength training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts is the most effective way to naturally boost metabolism in the long run.
Yes, you can speed up a slow metabolism through lifestyle changes like adding muscle-building exercise, eating more protein, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, and managing stress.
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