Natural metabolism boosters? know any?

Hypothyroidism has affected my mother and my grandmother. I have mine checked every year or 2. It always within 'normal' range. However, I lose weight very slowly compared to other people I know. Over the winter I stopped walking and gained 20 lbs. I am not happy seeing as how I have weight to lose already. I am not eating very sensibly and my calories range between 1000 and 1600 a day and I go to the gym several times a week for an hour and a half (except this past week because I have a bronchial infection which is almost gone! yay!). I need something to kick my metabolism into shape. Any suggestions? Thanks much! 🙂

* I am NOW eating very sensibly1 LOL sorry typo!

TQ1 - You may want to read up on metabolic typing. You should be eating according to your blood type. Also look into Adrenal Fatigue your body may have an abundance of Cortisol a.k.a. Cushings Syndrome. Please see below:

I totally think Sean is on to something about Adrenal Fatigue:


Metabolic Typing:
http://www.womenfitness.net/metabolic_typing.htm<BR>
I just learned this year and I am fascinated by it ...eat by blood type:
http://www.dadamo.com/yourbloodtype.htm<BR>
More importantly with diet ....make sure it is high in protien and low in carbohydrates. Carbs tend to pack on around the belly area. Don't focus as much on calories but the quality of foods eating. i.e. don't eat processed meals, low-fat (often have aspartame and have proven non-effective), whole foods, cook at home, drop the soda if you drink immediately ...even diet soda which has been proven to be worse in the long run, skip fast food all together. Drink lots of water. Eggs have become my best friend in the morning ...egg whites with salsa ....are really good. Hope this info helps.

Best of luck!!

PD

Also ...what are you doing at the gym— If you are spending an hour on cardio equipment ....you are wasting your time. You need to incorporate weight resistance training. This is huge for fat loss. More muscle mass you have the more calories you burn.

Best of luck!!

PD

Like Feisty said, eat more... It sounds counter-intuitive but if you eat less, your body will slow down it's metabolism and store food as fat since it doesn't know when you'll be eating again.

Eat smaller meals, but eat like 5 of them throughout the day. Drink plenty of water. Green tea is supposed to speed up metabolism if you don't mind drinking tea (brew your own, don't drink the stuff you find at the store since it'll usually be packed with sugar and other stuff).

Pisces_Dream pretty much has it spot on with the soda, nutrition macros, and exercise stuff.

Definitely do stay away from soda (especially diet, the artificial sweeteners are "empty" calories so they don't give you a feeling of fullness when you drink them leading to you drinking more or eating other stuff).

Protein takes longer to digest so it sits in your stomach longer leaving you feeling full longer and not eating other stuff. Don't completely cut carbs though since that's your body's primary source of energy (some people eat carbs for breakfast and lunch but completely cut carbs after a certain time, ie. 6PM because they think it helps with reducing fat gain).

Just keep at it. It's life style and long-term thing. You can't lose the fat then go back to old habits. Belly fat is the first to form and the last to go so you gotta realize you can't spot reduce fat.

You may want to consider a fat burner (do look into possible health side effects though). Personally I think it's better to do it naturally, but my friend who is like 6'1" and was almost 250lbs (not a muscular 250lbs mind you) and he took fat burners. He also fixed his eating habits and goes to the gym at least every other day and does an hour or two of cardio and weight training twice a week and has seen good results and it keeps him motivated to continue.

Wow thanks for all of the great suggestions! All note-worthy! I have been revamping my habits. I eat more salad, healthy cereals, fiber rich foods, and mostly chicken (I love beef but try not to eat it more than once every week or two). I WAS going to the gym 3-4 days a week average for 90 minutes. The first 60 was treadmill and eliptical, the last 30 were the 'machines'. I am making some progress. I got off 13 of the 20 lbs I gained over the winter, but progress is slow. I will check out all of your suggestions. Thanks all!

OH and I WILL be going back to the gym... having trouble kicking a bronchial infection. It sux. I miss the gym.. 😢