Simply Shanni: Give Me A Boost

So.. as stated before, I am working towards my goal of 110 lbs. and today I was looking up some tips to boost your metabolism and decided I would share what I found with you.

I typed this up and printed it out, it is now on my fridge to serve as a reminder to me everyday! =)

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Eat breakfast!! It starts your digestion early and keeps your metabolism revved all day!!

Eat small healthy meals more frequently, the constant digestion of the low cal foods keeps your metabolism going.

Don’t ever starve! If you’re really hungry, it’s been too long!! Eat more frequently (smaller and more health conscious meals)!

Eat : Asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lettuce & zucchini.

Apparently they are "zero calorie" foods. (While there isn't such thing as a "zero calorie" food, they are considered such because the act of digesting the food burns more calories than the calories from the food)

Eat foods rich in protein, they increase the burning of calories by about 25% (low fat dairy, lean meat, skinless chicken, fish, dark green veggies). It's harder for your body to digest and break down the protein so you burn more calories and keep your metabolism going longer since digestion takes longer.

Drink at least 2 liters of water everyday! (Bonus: Ice water or really cold water takes more energy to get to body temperature [hence burning more calories just by drinking WATER])

Green Tea is also a great metabolism booster (although I HATE tea).

Being either really cold or really hot is shown to increase metabolism by up to 20%! (Cold shower, sauna, hot shower, cold pool, hot tub) (Even better: If you switch temperatures [steam room, to a cool pool, to the hot tub, to the cold shower, to the hot sauna] you can REALLY burn the calories and get your metabolism racing!) now just to convince Muscles to install a hot tub, pool, sauna & steam room in our house ;) haha

Increase your heartrate! By exercising, DUH! haha but ALSO by eating spicy foods! Adding spices (chili pepper, green pepper, cayenne pepper) to your meals can increase your metabolism by up to 50%!!
Caffeine helps to speed up your heartrate as well, but that doesn't mean you can drink all the Mountain Dew you want, but the occasional can or cup of coffee isn't all bad (I mean it is HOT & Caffeinated DOUBLE BONUS! [too bad I don't like coffee either, just Mt. Dew, maybe I'll just drink ICE COLD Mt. Dew haha])

Try to move around as much as possible! Fidget, squirm, put your dinner in the sink one item at a time to make the extra trips, print papers seperately to walk to the printer more, take extra trips to the water cooler for the (COLD) water, or to the freezer to suck on ice! Lift light weights while talking on the phone (or a water bottle full of lose change), do sit ups while watching TV, while sitting at your desk do individual leg raises to work your lower abs and get some physical activity in, really the possiblities are endless! It's up to your imagination!

Don't forget the "ABC workout", wall squats, planks, push ups, and sit ups.. all great, easy, age-old, tried, and true workouts!!

[[Exercise explanations below]]

ABC Workout