25 Things You Did Today That Ruined Your Metabolism

by Grant Stoddard

Metabolism. Its the set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of
living organisms. Its such a big concept that you might believe youre at the mercy of it.
Well, you are! Its 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 didnt get a good nights sleep

If youre chronically sleep deprived, dont 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 bodys ability to utilize sugar for fuel. We all
have those less-than-adequate nights of sleep, says nutritionist Lisa Jubilee. But if its
a regular thing, youre better off lengthening your nights 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
bodys metabolic function slowed, and unless you woke up in the middle of the night to
swig some water, it didnt 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 youre
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 werent 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 doesnt sound like a lot, consider this: If you stand for just three hours of
your day, in one year youd 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 didnt eat organic

Hormones dictate how our body utilizes the energy we give it, says Jubilee. Between
our reproductive, thyroid and growth hormones, appetite, insulin andhunger
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. Its a common mistake people make. When you dont 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. Its likely to throw off your inner clock and make you not
hungry in the morning, which can ultimately lead to weight gain. Its 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.

7. You sprinkle food with sea salt

Sea salt has cachet, especially when paired with chocolate or caramel. What it doesnt
have is iodine, a key element that gives your thyroid gland what it needs to get the job
done. The thyroid gland helps to regulate your metabolism. If you dont have enough
iodine, its unable to produce thyroid hormones, and your metabolism can grind to a
screeching halt. Most table salt is iodized; just a half-teaspoon will provide 100% of your
RDA for iodine. You can also eat seaweed, cod, shrimp, and eggs, all of which are great
sources of iodine.

8. Your home or workplace is too warm

If youre reading this, youre almost certainly a mammal. It follows that youre also an
endotherm. This means that you can set heat free from within your own body to regulate
your body temperature, rather than relying solely on the ambient temperature. Its not
just a neat trick common to both mammals and birds it also burns calories. So turn
down your thermostat and let your body do the heavy lifting. Researchers at the
National Institutes of Health found that participants who slept in bedrooms cooled to
66F for a month doubled the amount of brown adipose tissue they burned. Brown
adipose tissue is a type of fat that burns calories rather than stores them. Brown fat
becomes more active in cooler temperatures to help keep us warm, explains Aaron
Cypess, MD, an endocrinologist at the NIH. The take-home? Turning down your heat,
sleeping in cooler temps, and spending time outdoors is going to help to stoke your
metabolism, so chill out to get lean.

9. Youve nixed carbs completely

Although its true that eating too many refined carbs can get in the way of your health
and weight-loss goals, eating too few can have a similar effect. Thats because when
we exercise, our muscles need carbohydrates stores of glycogen for energy; if they
dont get enough, they cant grow. Thats bad because the more muscle you can get
and keep, the more calories youll burn at rest. But thats not all. With your muscles
starved of energy, you wont be able to exercise as intensely as you otherwise would.
That means fewer calories burned while active. Have a serving (about the size of once
cupped palm) of oatmeal, sweet potato or brown rice prior to working out.

10. Your entire focus is on lifting weights, not lowering them

It feels great to work out in an efficient amount of time, but when it comes to cranking
your metabolism, haste makes waste. Thats because there are big metabolismboosting benefits that come from the eccentric (a.k.a. lowering) aspects of these
movements. Eccentric movements damage muscles more than the act of lifting them.
They require more effort from your body to repair and demand more caloric energy to
do so. Greek researchers demonstrated that women who performed one weekly
strength workout that focused on eccentric movement increased their resting energy
expenditure and fat burning by 5 and 9%, respectively, over a period of eight weeks.

11. You dont snack like a nut

A review of research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that
polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), particularly those contained in walnuts, could
enhance the activity of certain genes that control fat burning, meaning that a nutty
snacker may burn more calories throughout the day than one who grabs another type of
lower cal snack. One to 1.5 ounces amounts to a small handful of walnuts. Have a
snack of this size once daily for better burning.

12. Youre not being intense

Researchers in Australia found that when women performed a 20-minute

HIITworkout three times per week, they shed nearly 6 pounds more than those who
exercised for 40 minutes three times a week at a steady pace. Why? Researchers
explain that while high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is of shorter duration than a
regular cardio workout, it results in greater post-exercise oxygen consumption, meaning
that you continue burning calories for a period of time afterward.

13. Youre working out at the wrong time

Northwestern University scientists have suggested that getting out and about in the
early morning sunlight could help to regulate your circadian rhythm. That controls the
many functions your body performs, including how much and well you sleep, how much
you eat, and how much energy you burn. Try stepping outside for a jog or walk first
thing in the a.m. Studies have shown that people who are up-and-at-em first thing have
a lower BMI compared to those who take their sunshine later in the day.

14. Youre eating inconsistent amounts at irregular times

Ready to do some simple math? Figure out how many calories you need to achieve
your desired weight and evenly divide that number by the 3, 4 or 5 meals and snacks
you eat per day. Aim for each of your meals to be roughly this size. Why? Research
from John Moores University in Liverpool found that women who fluctuated between
eating low- and high-calorie meals were less happy with their bodies than those whose
plates contained a similar number of calories from meal to meal. But its not just a
fluctuating size that can derail your weight-loss goals. A Hebrew University study from
2012 found that mice that were fed high-fat foods sporadically gained more weight than
mice that ate a similar diet on a regular schedule. Experts suspect that eating at the
same times every day trains the body to burn more calories between meals.

15. Youre consuming too many pesticides

A Canadian study has found that chemicals in pesticides called organochlorines can
mess with your bodys energy-burning process and make it more difficult to lose weight.
The researchers found that dieters who ate the most toxins experienced a greater-thannormal dip in metabolism and had a harder time losing weight. Dr. Whitney S. Goldner
of the University of Nebraska Medical Center has noted that there is growing evidence
for a link between exposure to pesticides and thyroid problems. Your move is to buy
organic fruits and veggies whenever possible.

16. Youre consuming dietary toxins in processed foods

Studies have shown that mice that have had sustained exposure to chemical
preservatives develop significant abdominal weight gain, early insulin resistance, and
type 2 diabetes. Limiting your exposure to dietary toxins, sugars, refined carbohydrates
and processed foods will help keep your metabolism revved.

17. Youre Drinking Water Containing Fluoride and Chlorine

If your thyroid is dragging, your metabolism will slow down and may even become
dysfunctional. Drinking fluoridated and chlorinated water supplies have been linked to
dysfunction in metabolic processes both chemicals interfere with normal thyroid
function. Drink filtered water whenever possible.

18. Youre taking unnecessary meds

Weve come to rely on various medications to deal with lifestyle diseases. For many
people, these medications do for them what bold lifestyle changes have not. For others,
drugs for diabetes, cholesterols and high blood pressure have been taken too soon and
for too long. Thats bad because in they can interfere with critical metabolic processes,
which dramatically reduce the expenditure of energy. Its well worth talking to your
doctor about what can be achieved with non-pharmaceutical interventions, such diet,
exercise and meditation.

19. Youre eating too little

This one sounds counterintuitive, but bear with us. When you dont sufficiently fuel your
body, it can switch into starvation mode. In effect, your metabolic rate slows and your
body clings to the remaining fuel. Thats because in our evolutionary past before the
advent of agriculture food was often scarce and the body adapted to conserve fuel.
Even if youre cutting calories and creating a calorie deficit, your best move is to eat
often and in a way that enables you to be active without getting exhausted.

20. Youre not eating enough protein

Protein is a one-stop metabolism shop. It fills you up, making you less likely to forage
for less metabolism-boosting food. It can rev post-meal calorie burn by as much as
35%, according to research, and it helps you grow muscle, which is like a calorieincinerating body cloak thats hard at work blasting calories while youre at rest. It ought
to be a component in every meal. Eat protein-rich foods such as fish, egg whites, lean
meat or nuts daily.

21. Youre not catching enough D

Vitamin D. Wild salmon has plenty of it. In fact, you can get 90% of your recommended
daily value (400 IU) in a 3.5-ounce serving of this delicious fish. Dont have a taste for
salmon? Thats alright, alright, alright: Go all McConaughey and take your shirt off.
Exposing your full torso to the sun for at least 30 minutes will produce approximately
10,000 IU.

22. Youre not getting enough calcium

Calcium plays a key role in regulating the way your body metabolizes. Specifically, it
determines whether you burn calories or sport them as a tire. According to research
conducted at the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, a diet
thats high in calcium could help you burn more fat. Consume dairy, Greek yogurt and
these calcium-rich foods.

23. Youre eating refined carbohydrates

When a carb is complex, the body has to work a little harder to break it down. White
bread, pasta and rice are broken down more easily because the complex carbohydrates
have been taken out of them and their carb content has been refined. The result? A
slower metabolism. Refined carbs dont offer much nutritional value in the first place, so
youre way better off choosing whole-wheat breads, pasta and brown rice.

24. Youre eating too many sweets

Avoiding sugary foods is a great idea. Why? Sugar creates a spike in blood glucose
levels and is very quickly absorbed into your system. Both of these mechanisms are
putting the brakes on your metabolism. Replace candy, chocolate and ice cream with
fresh fruit for weight loss. It will help to satisfy your sweet tooth without causing a spike
in your glucose levels.

25. Youre drinking too much alcohol

Sad news, folks: When you have an alcoholic drink, you burn less fat. What fat you do
burn, you burn more slowly than usual. Thats because the alcohol is used as fuel
instead. Quaffing a couple of martinis can reduce your bodys fat-burning ability by up to
73%! Thats a scientific finding that should leave you shaken and stirred.