In this post, we will explain why having an accelerated metabolism is important, how to do it consistently and healthily, and provide 9 tools to achieve it, avoiding the possible consequences and the dreaded rebound effect.
Having an accelerated metabolism is beneficial for our body to acquire metabolic flexibility that allows it to know how to use the different energy substrates (fatty acids or glucose) in different daily contexts.
If our body is metabolically flexible, all its molecular reactions will be able to be carried out efficiently. With this, we can achieve our aesthetic and health goals.
All people, at some point in life, consider going on diets with the aim of losing weight, either because summer is coming and we want to wear a bikini, or because we have a special event. Whatever the reason, the problem in most cases is that wanting to achieve our goals quickly, we follow very strict and aggressive diets, which ultimately have physical and emotional negative consequences.
In this post, we will explain why having an accelerated metabolism is important, how to do it consistently and healthily, and provide 9 tools to achieve it, avoiding the possible consequences and the dreaded rebound effect.
What is speeding up metabolism, and why is it beneficial?
For our metabolism to work well, there must always be a balance between two antagonistic molecular pathways :
The AMPK pathway: is aimed at catabolism, tissue destruction, such as the destruction of fat for energy, and autophagy, which is the process by which our body destroys aberrant molecules.
The mTOR pathway: aimed at anabolism, the construction of tissues, protein structures, and tissue repair.
When we talk about ACCELERATE METABOLISM, we mean favoring metabolic pathways aimed at CATABOLISM to enhance glucose and fatty acids consumption to obtain energy.
By promoting this pathway, with strategies such as intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet, we will obtain benefits derived from keeping our glucose levels low, which will help to sensitize our insulin receptors and improve pathologies such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative, polycystic ovarian syndrome, autoimmune diseases … and on the other hand, by enhancing this metabolic pathway, hormones and neurotransmitters such as adrenaline or dopamine will be released that will allow us to be more active, happier, more motivated, with better cognitive focus, so it will also be beneficial for our state of mind, for those people who are tired or lack energy.
But if we only carry out nutritional or sports strategies to enhance the AMPK pathway or apply them very strictly, an unhealthy metabolic acceleration will occur. For this reason, it is essential to use compensatory strategies at certain times that enhance the anabolic pathway to avoid an imbalance in the metabolism so that our body does not catabolize the muscle reserves of amino acids.
- 9 Strategies to speed up your metabolism
- Decreases Total Daily Calories:
There must be an energy deficit so that more calories are burned (through our basal metabolism, which would be equivalent to the calories that we burn at rest; through our daily activities and training) than are consumed since this will promote catabolism of our body, in an attempt to obtain energy to continue performing vital functions.
But if this deficit is very extreme, it can cause malnutrition due to a lack of essential fatty acids or amino acids, which will cause an imbalance in your body. It will detect a hostile environment and generate protective strategies such as slowing down the thyroid, prolactin elevation, and interference in sex hormones … and a diet, which is supposed to cause weight loss, will cause the opposite effect, the dreaded rebound effect, due to these hormonal regulations.
That is why it is important to know how to compensate and when to apply the different nutritional tools to achieve a metabolic balance and achieve our goals while preserving health.
Reduce the number of carbohydrates
This strategy aims to lose weight rapidly, especially in the first days or weeks of the nutritional plan. By promoting the consumption of fats and proteins, we are going to get the body to progressively eliminate glycogen reserves, which is the result of the union of glucose and water molecules, so we are going to deflate, and this is going to generate Motivation to follow through with the plan.
On the other hand, by decreasing plasma glucose levels, the body will begin to speed up metabolism and oxidize fatty acids accumulated in the triglycerides of adipocytes; it will adapt to obtaining energy through fat, especially visceral fat, which is related to metabolic, cardiovascular, immunological pathologies, etc. long-term.
Exercise regularly:
Carrying out high-intensity exercise for a short period, or functional exercise, two or three days a week in the beginning, will favor the acceleration of metabolism, improve the functionality of mitochondria and activate the pathway for catabolism, to autophagy, along with other strategies such as intermittent fasting, carbohydrate reduction, or a ketogenic diet.
But there must be a balance between exercise aimed at promoting autophagy (high intensity, which allows us to raise heart rate) with exercise aimed at generating or preserving muscle mass; for this reason, after two or three weeks of starting the plan, exercises aimed at maintaining muscle mass must be carried out, to maintain our basal metabolic rate, because if we lose weight very quickly in the form of both fat and muscle, we will burn very few calories at rest and each time we would have to decrease our caloric intake to maintain our weight. We will run the risk of having a rebound effect.
Occasionally incorporate carbohydrates into the plan:
It is very beneficial that, together with exercises aimed at preserving muscle mass, carbohydrates are incorporated, especially in the context of post-workout, to replenish muscle glycogen and ensure that the insulin released by this glucose stimulus generates beneficial effects such as the activation of the anabolic pathway to build protein structures and to maintain our metabolic rate while we are losing weight.
In addition, this will generate beneficial hormonal modulations such as the release of leptin ( satiety hormone ) and serotonin ( relaxation neurotransmitter ) that will make the plan more bearable, healthier, and paradoxically faster because we are going to maintain the higher basal metabolism and burn more calories at rest.
Modulate your biorhythms:
On many occasions, diets fail or cannot be carried out because they are carried out inconsistently, depending on our schedules.
Suppose we guarantee throughout the entire process of the nutritional plan periods of hours in which autophagy, catabolism, oxidation of fatty acids, and other periods dedicated to tissue repair and the creation of protein structures are promoted. In that case, our bodies will be much healthier all the time. You will find a balance at the intestinal, immune, endocrine, nervous, and emotional levels… and this will generate diet sustainability in the medium-long term.
We can enhance periods of autophagy and catabolism with tools such as intermittent fasting, waiting two or three hours for the first intake, and that it be rich in fat and protein to continue enhancing the AMPK pathway, we can walk in the morning while the sun shines…
And on the other hand, during the periods of repair and creation of tissues, we can enhance them with the incorporation of carbohydrates at dinner, after strength training in the afternoon, which will allow the entry of tryptophan into the system. The central nervous system generates serotonin to help us relax and sleep better, favoring entry into the restorative phase of sleep.
Rest, sleep, and adaptation to stress
With diets aimed at accelerating our metabolism, one can be tempted to lengthen ketosis, intermittent fasting, overtraining… because they cause us to be hyperactive, they make us release a lot of adrenaline, which makes us very motivated, we don’t sleep, and This can favor the release of cortisol, necessary to be able to face moments that are stressful for the body, but with long-term detrimental effects, since the body in these situations will urgently require glucose and cortisol will obtain it at the expense of muscular amino acids and, therefore, will lower our basal metabolic rate.
For this reason, trying to carry out a plan in an extreme way and by trying to do things perfectly without skipping any guidelines will generate a stressful situation, which will cause an increase in glucose by cortisol, which leads to an increase in insulin levels and, paradoxically, insulin resistance will be generated without ingesting carbohydrates in some cases (with the metabolic, cardiovascular, immunological, intestinal consequences … that this situation entails), and each time it will go further lowering our basal metabolic rate and our muscle tone, due to the degradation of muscle amino acids that cortisol elevation entails. Therefore, the objectives of losing fat and maintaining our muscle mass will be lost.
Maintain good hydration and a good intake of minerals:
This strategy would not be a tool to speed up metabolism as such, but rather to avoid abandoning the nutritional plan due to side effects such as fatigue and migraines … derived from dehydration that can cause low carbohydrates (remember that when lowering carbohydrates, we deflate when we lose water) or by the elimination of liquids through sweating during intense exercise. That is why it is important to guarantee at all times, especially if ketogenic diets are followed, a good daily intake of water and mineral salts.
Follow a ketogenic diet:
This tool can favor the process of losing fat in the medium-long term and eliminating fluids in the short term, with significant weight loss in the first few days, but always carried out consistently and in a healthy context, taking care of the training, calorie intake, guaranteeing a good rest, controlling stress levels and guaranteeing the preservation of muscle mass.
The ketogenic diet produces the release of dopamine, adrenaline, and ketone bodies, which can generate saturation in the satiety receptors of the hypothalamus and reduce the feeling of hunger; this can make us fall into an aggressive caloric deficit, which generates alterations in hormones that can generate the opposite effect to the one we are looking for and slow down our metabolism, due to the affectation of thyroid hormones and muscle catabolism due to excess cortisol release.
That is why you have to know how to introduce a few days a week, especially in the context of peri-training, a load of carbohydrates, especially in people who start the diet being inflamed, without the habit of training, with a lot of emotional loads… because first, they have to acquire metabolic flexibility, so that their organism knows how to use these ketone bodies as an energy substrate, without having to resort to muscle amino acids at the moment in which our liver and muscle glycogen reserves are depleted.
Supplementation:
The ideal supplements to accelerate fat burning are not only aimed at releasing adrenaline or activating thermogenesis but are focused on improving our metabolic environment, our hormonal flexibility, and our health in general so that collaterally our body is able to oxidize fat efficiently. These supplements include:
Insulin sensitizers include BERBERINE, ALPHA LIPOIC ACID, OMEGA 3 DHA, or METFORMIN.
If we have sensitive insulin receptors, when we are exposed to glucose, our body will be able to introduce it into muscle cells, and it is not deposited in the form of triglycerides in our fat cells.
Catecholamine releasers such as CAFFEINE or GREEN TEA, which also thanks to epigallocatechin, will favor activating the AMPK pathway and autophagy, in addition to keeping these catecholamines, elevated for longer and the fat-burning process more sustained.
Dopamine releasers: such as L-TYROSINE or MUCUNA PRURIENS in the morning will promote the activity of our thyroid hormones, which are responsible for accelerating metabolism, promoting fat burning, draining fluids, maintaining the state of alert, maintaining our cognitive focus…
solgar Choline Supplements that improve the functionality of mitochondria: mitochondria are in charge of oxidizing energy substrates to obtain energy; therefore, if we want to burn fat efficiently, we need their proper functioning. In this aspect, we can include supplements such as COENZYME Q10 or UBIQUINOL. In addition, ACETYL-L CARNITINE can favor the entry of fatty acids into the mitochondria to oxidize them.
MELATONIN is the hormone in charge of guaranteeing entry into the restorative phase of sleep and that we can release growth hormone (linked to tissue repair and breaking down the triglycerides of our fat cells to obtain energy). Without melatonin, the ability to regenerate our tissues and recover is lost. As we have already mentioned, it is essential to improve the health of the body to guarantee the proper functioning of the metabolism and to be able to burn fat efficiently.
ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS: if we lose muscle mass along the way when we lose weight, we are going to become more resistant to carbohydrates, and the moment we introduce them, we can fall into the rebound effect and accumulate fat again. Therefore, the contribution of amino acids will help us preserve this muscle mass so that weight loss is more sustainable and improves our body composition.
Conclusion
As you can see, the acceleration of metabolism has multiple beneficial effects on our body, including weight loss, with its corresponding benefits not only aesthetic but also derived from improving the evolution of pathologies whose origin often lies in being overweight.
But LOSS IS NOT ONLY LOSS KILOS; it is to improve our body composition at the expense of fat while we are maintaining our muscle mass to guarantee and PROMOTE OUR HEALTH and not suffer rebound effects or both physical and emotional consequences that can fall when performing very strict or poorly controlled plans.
