6 Things You Did Today That Ruined Your Metabolism

Metabolism. It’s the set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of living organisms. It’s such a big concept that you might believe you’re at the mercy of it. Well, you are! It’s thermodynamics at work, after all. But there are a bunch of simple — even easy — things you can do to boost your metabolism and make your body run more efficiently. Make tomorrow a great day by learning from the common metabolism mistakes you probably made today.

1. You didn’t get a good night’s sleep

If you're chronically sleep deprived, don’t be surprised if you gain a few pounds without eating a morsel of extra food. “A lack of sleep can cause several metabolic problems,” says nutritionist Seth Santoro. “It can cause you to burn fewer calories, lack appetite control and experience an increase in cortisol levels, which stores fat.” Lack of sufficient sleep — which experts say is 7 to 9 hours a night for most people — also leads to impaired glucose tolerance, a.k.a. your body's ability to utilize sugar for fuel. “We all have those less-than-adequate nights of sleep,” says nutritionist Lisa Jubilee. “But if it's a regular thing, you're better off lengthening your night's sleep than working out, if fat loss or weight maintenance is your goal.”

2. You started your day dehydrated

For Jubilee, one of the best and cheapest ways to give your metabolism a jolt is to drink water (she suggests 20 to 32 ounces) shortly after waking. Why? During sleep, your body’s metabolic function slowed, and unless you woke up in the middle of the night to swig some water, it didn’t receive any fluids. Jubilee suggests completely rehydrating before stressing your body with any other food or drink. “My clients who have implemented this report less bloating, more energy and a smaller appetite,” she says. Her motto for getting your inner furnace stoked and ready for the day: “Rehydrate, then caffeinate!”

3. You drank too much caffeine

Plenty of studies indicate that caffeine can boost your metabolism in the AM. But nutritionist Amy Shapiro says that guzzling coffee and other caffeinated drinks all day could actually work against you. Caffeine is a natural appetite suppressant. If you’re constantly consuming it, you may not eat much — or realize how hungry you really are — until you get home for dinner. “Not eating enough throughout the day can make your metabolism sluggish,” she says. “By the time you eat dinner, instead of immediately using that food for energy, your body is aggressively storing it as fat, just in case it will be deprived again.”

4. You sit too much

Ideally, we sleep about eight hours for every 24. Most people spend another seven to ten hours sitting at their desk. That means most of us spend the overwhelming majority of our time sedentary. Our bodies weren't designed for this level of inactivity — most of humans’ evolutionary history involved being active, searching for food and fuel. Jubilee says that one way to burn more calories daily is to stand more and sit less. She cites a British study which found that standing at work burned 50 more calories per hour than sitting. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider this: If you stand for just three hours of your day, in one year you’d expend more than 30,000 extra calories — which amounts to about 8 lbs of fat! Another good office habit: Set a phone timer to remind you get up every hour and walk around, even for a few minutes, says Jubilee.

5. You didn’t eat organic

“Hormones dictate how our body utilizes the energy we give it,” says Jubilee. “Between our reproductive, thyroid and growth hormones, appetite, insulin and hunger hormones — leptin and ghrelin — our bodies have to perform a tricky balancing act to keep us lean, energized and viable reproductive beings.” Those tasks have become much more difficult because of the hormone residues we consume via cage-raised foods. If you want to give your metabolism a leg up, Jubilee says, switch to organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised beef, eggs and dairy products, thereby avoiding those nasty hormones at mealtime.

6. You ate too many calories too late in the day

“Not eating enough calories in a day is an easy way to slow your metabolism,” says Santoro. “It’s a common mistake people make.” When you don’t consume enough calories, your body switches into starvation mode, and your brain tells your body to store fat. This can increase cortisol levels, leading to belly-fat storage, which comes with health risks.
“Eating a large dinner, especially too close to bedtime, can be detrimental to your metabolism,” says Shapiro. “It’s likely to throw off your inner clock and make you not hungry in the morning, which can ultimately lead to weight gain.” It’s at this point in the day that people are more likely to have an alcoholic beverage, which can bedevil your metabolism even more. “When a person drinks, acetate is formed,” says Santoro. “The body spends time trying to detoxify itself rather than burn calories.” He adds that drinking alcohol can impair protein synthesis and anabolic (muscle-building) hormones. Shapiro suggests that you prepare for busy or unpredictable days by packing healthy snacks to keep you from overeating or making unhealthful food choices.
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Lets Look At Some Ways Muscle Can Change How You View Yourself

To be committed to your fitness, you have to strength train. Cardio is great, but you need muscles for your metabolism to be fired up and to get a strong body. The more muscle you have, the more equipped your body is for your workouts, athletic events, and everyday movements (functional fitness). So, if you aren’t strength training, it’s never too late to start. If you are currently weight training, did you know building muscle can actually change how you view yourself?

Here are four ways strength training does more for you than you might think:

1) Muscle makes you feel mentally strong. When you use your bodyweight, hand weights, circuit machines, and muscle-building tools like resistance bands, kettlebells or exercise balls, you are building your physical strength. But something else is happening too. As you work on getting a stronger body, it immediately translates into feeling more mentally strong. You are respecting your body and taking care of it well. As you see your progress with endurance or lifting heavier weights, you start to see yourself as a strong person. When your thoughts are: “I am strong,” you feel more mentally tough too. You are establishing resilience and grit. You become better equipped for the challenges that pop up in your life outside of the gym.
2) Muscle gives you proof of your workouts. We all gravitate toward immediate gratification. We want to do a workout and see proof in the mirror the next day, but we all know it takes more than one workout to see results.

When you weight train regularly, you will begin to see differences in your body. Muscle takes up less volume than fat, so strength training regularly can really sculpt and tone your body. If you consistently workout with weights, you develop muscles you couldn’t see before and you see more definition. What you do it the kitchen matters, but strength training also plays a significant role in how you look in the mirror.  Seeing a muscular and sculpted body that you built is an incredibly powerful feeling.

3) Muscle helps you look and feel young. Call it the science of telomeres, those caps at the end of chromosomes that control aging. Recent studies have found a link between regular exercise and the lengthening of the telomeres, essentially slowing down the aging process. But there are so many other things muscle-building activities do to keep you young. You build and preserve your muscle to keep you strong with full mobility. Your skin glows. You have a better chance to stave off chronic illness. You reduce stress, increase flexibility and gain energy. And when you do a heart-pumping muscle-building workout, you get those same runner’s high endorphins that make you feel on top of the world. When you are fit with muscle, you radiate health and that keeps you looking (and feeling) young.
4) Muscle gives you confidence. When you feel strong physically, you know there is a lot you can do. You believe in yourself and that fuels your confidence. A strong body can perform better at sports and with every day activities where you need to lift, bend and stretch. A strong, muscular body is less prone to injuries. Knowing how strong you are and liking how you look gives you a positive attitude and makes you feel good. Keeping your commitments to work out regularly helps raise your belief in yourself too. Bonus: Good muscle tone helps with your posture and standing tall just exudes confidence.
Next time you work your muscles, keep in mind that you are doing more than achieving a strong body, you are empowering your mind too.
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