You’re not doomed. Though it may seem like the lock was suddenly changed and no one gave you a key, it’s possible to rev up that metabolism again. It just requires a little smooth talk with your hormones. Start your hormone romance with the following six tips.
Add matcha before exercise. Make yourself a little hot matcha latte or add matcha to a simple shake before exercise. A serving of the powdered green tea leaves give you the equivalent of drinking about 10 cups of green tea, which is well known for it’s antioxidant boost. The catechins contained a teaspoon of matcha about 90 minutes before exercise can increase your fat burning by 29%.
Choose intervals. Intervals create a significantly higher fat burn post exercise than steady state exercise. The combination of matcha and interval training increased fat burning after exercise by 29%.
Keep intervals and recovery relative. High intensity exercise requires recovery. Work intervals can range from the popular Tabata 20 seconds to five or more minutes. There appears to be a sweet spot where results are positive and injury risk is reduced. Super short intervals done super high increase risk of injury. At some point your form will fade. You may also increase the stress hormone cortisol level and impede your results.
Find the sweet spot at about 20-30 minutes of total interval training time and a recovery duration that is equal to or greater than your work interal. If you do more than one or two interval sessions a week, vary the activity and impact so you avoid injury. Run one day, row another, and use the elliptical another. Work for a minute, rest for one to three minutes, and gradually increase your work intervals to four or five minutes, slightly reducing your exercise intensity.
Lift weights to fatigue. Whether you can lift heavy or you have to choose lighter weights, fatigue is your best friend for adding lean muscle that boosts fat burning. Recent studies confirm that you can play it safe if heavy weights scare you from the weight room, as long as you get to the point you are temporarily losing form.
Power with protein. Older adult women, in particular, often don’t get enough protein. To support your lean muscles you want to follow your exercise (or your inactivity) with protein regularly and particularly after more vigorous exercise sessions. Get in between 20 and 30 grams of high quality protein about 60-90 minutes after your workout. Especially if you’re on a weight loss program including exercise and reduction of calories, protein will help you lose the fat and retain the lean muscle that increases metabolism and fat burn.
Sleep your way to lean. Two important hormones will make that exercise pay off much better if you give them a good night’s sleep. Growth hormone is released in your deepest stages of sleep. It’s responsible for helping you keep that lean muscle you’re working hard to get. You’re already producing less of that than you did a decade or two ago. Give yourself every advantage by improving your sleep hygiene. Cortisol, on the other hand has her way with you by causing cravings and sabotaging your hard work if you short sheet yourself on sleep. If you can’t get to sleep, you’re waking frequently, or you wake too early, it’s time to work on sleep hygiene.
Drink in your muscles. Drinking water does not help you burn more fat directly but being dehydrated prevents fat loss. Falling short of your daily water quota causes stress on your body. A body under stress reacts by protecting you – by holding on to every calorie. Say cheers to a glass of water regularly between meals.
Get active early. A study of 7157 women finds that those less active in the morning hours were 26% more likely to be obese. The best time to exercise is always the time that you’ll do it. If that’s morning you may be better off.
That’s it. Put these half dozen fat burning strategies to work for you.