The abilities of your metabolism are basically genetically set. However just because you may have a slow metabolism, don’t think that it is going to be impossible to lose a significant amount of weight. It will be more difficult compared to someone who has a faster metabolism but without any doubt it will be achievable.

If you feel that you have a slow metabolism, you need to stop following the crowd when it comes to weight loss. Crash diets, low calorie diets, fruitless exercise classes, and various other dubious weight loss methods are going to lead to failure, despondency and lack of confidence in carrying on.

You need to be clever and learn to manipulate your metabolism to the highest degree possible. You may ask how you can change something that has been naturally genetically engineered inside you. The answer is that it is indeed possible to increase the speed of your metabolism to a certain degree by using just two techniques.

The first part is exercise. I can hear you sighing already. Most people hate exercising because it can initially be difficult and time consuming. The problem is that when people want to lose weight and exercise is mentioned, they conjure up images in their minds about spending long hours on a weekly basis doing cardio workouts. Spending hours on a rowing machine, treadmill, or exercise bike is a common dread, and just thinking about it is enough to put anyone off before they even begin.

If on the other hand you actually enjoy exercise, the benefits can be immense not only for weight loss but for all round health. While doing cardio you will burn calories, but that will stop shortly after you stop doing cardio. There is a method of exercising that will continue to burn calories long after you have stopped. That method is weight training.

Training with weights will not only allow you to burn calories for longer, boost your metabolic rate, and on top of that you will build more muscle. A simple fact is that if you have more muscle, the more calories your body will burn just by having it. A pound of muscle has to use 15 times more calories to stay on your body than a pound of fat. Other benefits will include a stronger and more toned body, which in turn leads to a more attractive body.

I'm not talking about the amount of muscle a bodybuilder may have. If you think that you are going to look like a bodybuilder after 12 months of weight training then you are a long way from the truth. I'm just talking about a body that is going to get noticed for the right reasons, a body that you are going to feel a little proud of. So seriously consider weight training as a large part of your exercise program.

The second part is your diet. Do not and I repeat do not cut back on large amounts of calories, too many people rapidly drop their calories and although they may lose some weight in the first few weeks, the results will cease pretty abruptly.

The thing to do is cut out all the junk out of your diet. This may be hard for the first month, but your body can adapt pretty quickly to new behaviours, so stick with it. Once you have done this, replace the junk food with healthy options. Stop eating 2 or 3 times a day, and never miss breakfast. This is the perfect recipe for starvation mode. A situation that you want to avoid at all costs, because you will never lose weight in the long term.

Spread your calories over 5 or 6 meals a day. You may say that you don’t have the time to eat that often but they don’t have to be meals in the real sense. Have your 3 main meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner, but make them small meals, apart from breakfast, make this bigger than the others, but keep it healthy. In between your main meals have a healthy snack, i.e. sandwich or a couple of pieces of fruit. Have a fat free yoghurt last thing at night. This gives your body something to keep you going until breakfast.

The objective of the smaller meals is so that your metabolism continually gets a steady supply of calories throughout the day, thus preventing it from slowing itself down and hitting starvation mode.

Try these techniques for a few weeks and after that you can begin to decrease your daily calorie intake. A note of caution, do not cut more than 300 calories from your daily intake. You need to give your body time to adapt to any adjustments, and this is best done in small phases.

Metabolism is one factor of many when it comes to weight loss . Others include diet, exercise, positive attitude, lifestyle, and physical goals. So don’t feel that you are not capable of losing weight if you have a slow metabolism.

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