metabolism

If you find it hard to lose weight with your busy schedule, the news keeps getting better. First, just 20 minutes of exercise was proven to help increase your metabolism. Now, a study has found that working out intensely for just 2.5 minutes can spur calorie burn throughout the day — an extra 200 calories' worth.

In the latest study, five healthy men performed sprint interval training on a stationary bicycle (five 30-second intense intervals with four minutes of easy cycling in between). Although the men were sedentary the rest of the day, they ended up burning 200 more calories during the days they did the short bout of exercise than the days they didn't exercise at all.

Even though this was a small study, the encouraging results are reason enough to add intense intervals into your workout routine. It's also good news for those of you who can never seem to fit a full workout into your day. Read on for ideas on intense exercises you can do anywhere for 2.5 minutes so you too can reap the afterburn benefits.

While the concept of burning fat might feel elusive, reaching your goals might be easier than you think. Boosting your metabolism plays an essential role in the process, and these techniques are all specifically linked to burning fat. Take these four tips to heart to see big results.

Go for the big burn: When it comes to the workout that truly blasts the most fat, Len Kravitz, Ph.D., puts it simply: "to burn more fat, burn more calories." Your lengthy leisurely walk or restorative yoga class is a great start, but they're not necessarily going to help you take off weight. If you're not sure where to start, then check out these exercises that burn the most calories in 15 minutes to have an idea of what you should be looking for when choosing a new workout.

Drink green tea: Green tea does more than calm you down and prevent sickness. According to a study from American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, drinking tea may have fat-fighting effects. The combination of green tea's high content of caffeine and catechins stops the body from absorbing carbohydrates and helps burn more fat. Drink it with meals, enjoy it before a workout, and basically do whatever you can to take teatime regularly.

Keep reading for two more ways you can burn more fat.

In the beginning of a weight-loss journey, pounds melt away like ice on a hot Summer's day. But as you get closer to your goal, it's not unusual to hit a plateau. Here's how to keep those pounds dropping and keep the weight off for good.

• Beef up your workouts: If you've been steadily working out and following the same routine, your body has probably grown accustomed to the routine. Rattle your body's chain a little and kick up the intensity of your workouts to further challenge your muscles. Work out longer or harder, increase the size weights you're lifting, do more reps of strength-training moves and vary the order, or try doing two workouts in one day.
• Go for fiber: Since your metabolism is already working pretty efficiently, eat fibrous foods that take longer to digest, so your body has to expend more energy to break them down. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, and legumes are where it's at, but focus on these foods with the highest amounts of fiber.
• Include these foods: Imbalances in your digestive tract have been linked to weight gain, so to restore the balance of bacteria in your gut, eat nonfat yogurt for the probiotics. Lack of calcium as well as vitamin D can also make it harder to lose weight, so be sure to eat dairy products and these calcium-rich fruits and veggies, as well as these foods high in vitamin D. Omega-3s are also vital for a healthy metabolism, so include fish, eggs, walnuts, chia seeds, and flaxseeds in your diet too.
• Get your z's: Not getting adequate sleep (at least six hours) can also decrease leptin, the hormone that makes you feel satiated, while it increases ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Research shows that feeling sluggish the following day causes you to eat an average of 549 extra calories without even realizing it. Lack of sleep also slows down your metabolism, making you burn 20 percent fewer calories a day.
• Cut out the cocktails: Boozy beverages not only offer your body empty calories, but since your body is working so hard to get rid of toxins, they also inhibit the production of glucose, which is needed for maintaining normal blood sugar levels and in turn slows down your metabolism. Not to mention, getting a little tipsy also clouds your judgment so you're more likely to say yes to another cosmo and a slice of cheesecake to go with it. Go for water or metabolism-boosting green tea instead.

Want to turn your body's fat-burning potential up a notch? Check out these five ways to wake up and up the calorie burn.

1. Exercise: That dawn workout doesn't just put a pep in your step; exercising in the morning also helps boost your metabolism, more than exercising at other times of the day. Studies have shown that people who exercised in the morning burn more calories than those who exercise at other times of the day, so lace up your sneaks and greet the sun for an added calorie burn.
2. Add intensity: Good news for the time-strapped: a recent study found that a simple intense 2.5-minute burst of exercise can lead to an increased afterburn all day — up to 200 calories worth, in fact. Need ideas on how to add intensity to your workouts? Here are five short exercises that will help you burn extra calories fast.

Three more ideas after the break!

There are things you can't help about your own metabolism, like aging and genetics, but these don't have the final say in how revved up it can be. If you feel like your metabolism could use a boost, check out what works (and what doesn't) below.

1. Start or amp up your strength training: If you're a cardio girl through and through, you've probably heard people telling you that you should add weight training to your routine. That's because muscles burn calories at a higher rate than fat, so your metabolism will be getting a bigger boost the more muscle mass you have. Already incorporating strength training without seeing any more results? Try amping up your routine, switching the type of workout, or adding a yoga or Pilates class to your routine.
2. Get working on those intervals: There are many benefits to interval training, like better endurance, stamina, and speed, not to mention increased fat burning, so if you haven't incorporated interval training into your routine, now's the time to start! Here are some interval workouts to get you started.
3. Eat the right foods: Slow-burning protein keeps you feeling full, and not only that, it increases your metabolic rate as well, since your body is working to digest all that nutritionally rich food. Whole grains and citrus fruits are other foods that rev up your body's fat-burning potential; check out more foods you should eat to increase your metabolism here.
4. Eat at the right time: It's not just what you eat, it's when. Eating breakfast shortly after you wake up, for example, is one of the most important dietary practices you can make when you want to up your metabolism. So make sure you eat breakfast as soon as possible, and eat at regular intervals so you keep your metabolism revved up.

Read on to learn the one thing you shouldn't be doing if you want to boost your metabolism.

Metabolic rate is affected by several factors including age, weight, and genetics. Although there's not a whole lot you can do about those things, there are still choices that can cause metabolism to fire up or fizzle. If losing weight is your goal, avoid these metabolism-slowing mistakes in the morning.

1. Eating too late: Skipping breakfast is one of the worst things you can do for weight loss since it causes your metabolism to slow down. When you don't eat, the brain sends a message to the rest of the body to conserve energy, signaling it to hold onto the stored fat that you're trying to get rid of. Eating within an hour of waking sparks the metabolic process called thermogenesis that turns the food you eat into energy. And no — a cup of coffee does not count as breakfast! Instead choose one of these high-protein breakfast ideas under 350 calories. Make sure to eat throughout the day to maintain blood sugar levels since any drops can cause the body to burn muscle for fuel.
2. Not exercising: Research shows you continue burning calories up to 24 hours after working out, and studies also show that morning exercises burn more calories than those who sweat it out during other times of the day. If you're planning on exercising anyway, for maximum calorie burn, your best bet is to get it done in the a.m. Include high intensity cardio intervals since challenging yourself is proven to activate fat-burning genes, which translates to an increased post-workout calorie burn — 100 to 200 more.
3. Not pumping iron: Lean muscle mass burns calories, and just adding five to 10 pounds of lean muscle to your frame will increase your daily calorie burn by 100 calories. Include strength training in your morning routine such as this 10-minute metabolism-boosting workout.

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Health here on FitSugar.

By Kate Ashford

Raise a hand if you have a fast metabolism. Anyone? Truth is, we all think our metabolic rate is slowww—and assume that speeding it up would require two-hour runs and boot camp till we're wrecked. Not so. In fact, all the little decisions you make about eating and moving make a big difference in your calorie-torching ability.

"Your metabolism isn't fixed," says exercise physiologist Gary Ditsch. "You can impact it significantly with your daily activity and diet." Adopt a few of these strategies to get the metabolism you crave—in the time you have.

1. Think: strong
We all know weight-lifting builds muscle, and the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. What you may not realize is that the calorie burn continues long after your last rep. In a study at Southern Illinois University, exercisers who did a 15-minute resistance routine burned 100 extra calories a day for three days afterward.

"Strength training causes micro trauma to the muscles," says Wayne Westcott, PhD, director of fitness research at Quincy College in Massachusetts. "Your body has to rebuild the muscle." It does that by torching additional protein and carbs. Boost your fat burning: Three days a week, do 1 to 3 sets each of five resistance exercises (think push-ups and squats).

2. Lift first, do cardio second
Exercisers who pumped iron 20 minutes before cycling melted more fat than those who didn't lift or those who waited longer between lifting and doing cardio. So move right from the hand weights to that bike or treadmill.

Health.com: 20 Ways to Burn 200 Calories

3. Spice things up
That beyond-hot mustard that comes with Asian takeout can rev your metabolism by 20 to 25 percent. "It boosts production of fat-burning hormones," says Lori Shemek, PhD, author of Fire-Up Your Fat Burn! Try adding one teaspoon to your usual vinaigrette.

Keep reading for three more ways to kickstart your metabolism.