As we get older, our metabolism naturally slows down, making it difficult to maintain a healthy weight and general wellbeing. That’s why many people are searching for how to speed up metabolism after 40 to maintain good health and body shape.
This article will identify the reasons for this problem and provide tips and tricks to overcome it. There are certain useful strategies to support your body’s natural calorie-burning processes and boost your metabolic rate. Let’s scroll down for more!
What's Going on With Your Metabolism at 40?
When you're at the age of 40, your metabolism naturally decelerates by about 5% every decade. For example, if your metabolic rate now is 1,100 calories per day, it will decrease to 1,045 calories in the next 10 years.
People with slow metabolism may face various problems, such as weight gain, fatigue, difficulty losing weight, cold intolerance, hormonal imbalances, digestive issues, reduced energy levels, and increased risk of health conditions (including type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease). It is because the body's inefficient conversion of food into energy results in excess calories being stored as fat. Therefore, everybody, especially people after 40, should boost their metabolism for better health.
Causes of Slow Metabolism
Metabolism is the process in which the body converts food and drink into energy by combining calories with oxygen. It can be slowed down by the following reasons:
- Age: As you age, your cells and tissues change, and your metabolism also naturally gets slower. It explains why younger adults find it easier to lose weight and stay fit.
- Stress: In response to stress, your body will produce hormones that trigger your metabolism. Thus, try to keep a positive attitude when facing any problem in life so that you can live happily and maintain a high metabolic rate.
- Sleepless: A stable metabolism requires good sleep. Adults need to sleep 7-9 hours every day, and if you don't have enough time in bed, your body will have a tougher time utilizing energy. In turn, this can even lead to obesity and diabetes.
- Hormones: Hormonal changes can disrupt the body's energy use, leading to fatigue. Many factors affect hormones, such as stress and hormonal diseases (diabetes, thyroid, etc.). If you're facing these health issues, keeping up with your treatment and prioritizing stress management can help you sustain a healthy condition.
- Obesity: Obesity disrupts the process of converting energy, resulting in metabolic dysfunctions such as inflammation, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. Food diversity, increased exercise, and proper medical care are examples of lifestyle treatments that can enhance metabolic health and lower the risk of problems.
- Low calcium: Calcium is essential not only for your bones but also for your metabolism and overall health. Without this important nutrient, one can't have a swift metabolic rate.
- Loss of Muscle Mass: Muscle tissue burns more calories even while at rest because it has a higher metabolic activity than fat tissue. A slowed metabolism results from the body's ability to burn fewer calories overall when muscular mass is lost.
- Increasingly Inactive: Having a sedentary lifestyle will lead to a sluggish metabolism and other health issues. Thus, a 30-minute physical activity per day is recommended to maintain a good body condition.
- Metabolic Adaptations to Crash Diets: You turn on your body's starvation mode when reducing the calorie intake. In the case of crash diets, your body will think that food is scarce and start to store and burn calories slower to maintain energy. If you want to lose weight, ensure you support your metabolism by consuming enough calories daily.
Top 12 Tricks to Kick Your Metabolism into High Gear
Metabolism tends to slow down as you age. However, it does not mean you can not speed it up again. Let's see how to boost metabolism after 40 with these tips below!
1. Pump Up the Protein
Consuming protein at every meal can increase your metabolism due to the thermic effect of food (TEF). This effect is caused by the extra calories required to digest and process nutrients in your meal. Protein increases your metabolic rate the most (15–30%), while the percentage is only 5–10% for carbs and 0-3% for fats.
Consuming protein also keeps you from overindulging and makes you feel full. According to research, although protein accounts for 30% of a person's diet, people tend to consume around 441 fewer calories daily. Furthermore, since consuming more protein prevents muscle loss, it helps lessen the decline in metabolism that is frequently linked to fat loss.
Thus, protein is necessary for muscle growth and repair and for increased metabolism. Eating a diet rich in protein helps you gain muscle and boosts metabolism. One gram of protein per pound of body weight is a suggested daily amount to optimize your consumption. Protein can be found in meats, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, lentils, and beans.
2. Sip Some Green Tea Magic
It has been shown that drinking green and oolong tea can boost metabolism by 4–5%, release stored fat as free fatty acids, and enhance fat burning by 10–17%. Specifically, green tea, rich in EGCG, is known to boost metabolism and aid in weight loss. A 12-week study found that regular consumption of green tea significantly increased metabolic rate compared to a placebo.
These teas are low in calories and good for maintaining and losing weight. They may also help avoid the weight loss plateau that results from a slower metabolism. Therefore, when you don't know how to speed up metabolism after 40, have a sip of tea. You'd better drink 2–3 cups of green tea daily to maximize its benefits.
3. Get Well Sleep to Faster Metabolism
Lack of sleep is linked to increased obesity risk due to its negative effects on metabolism, blood sugar levels, insulin resistance, and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Sleep deprivation also boosts the hunger hormone ghrelin and decreases the fullness hormone leptin, leading to feelings of hunger and difficulty in weight loss.
Since sleep deprivation slows energy conversion and increases the chance of weight gain, you need to have a good night's sleep (7-8 hours per night) to increase metabolism. According to research, a 6-hour sleep each night significantly lowers metabolic rate compared to a 9-hour sleep. It's highly recommended to establish a regular bedtime routine, stay away from alcohol and caffeine before bed, and create a peaceful sleeping environment to enhance the quality of your sleep.
4. Stop Sitting Too Much
If you’re wondering how to speed up metabolism after 40, stop sitting too much. Oversitting can lead to negative health effects, such as decreased calorie burning and weight gain. It’s a bad habit for your health. Even some health professionals named it “the new smoking.”
When working, standing up during the day might burn an additional 174 calories in comparison to sitting down. If you work at a desk, try to stand up for a short period of time to break up your sitting time. You can also invest in a standing desk to increase your standing habit. Remember that standing more often can reduce calorie burn and enhance general health.
5. Lift, Push, Pull: Resistance Training
Since muscle has a higher metabolic activity than fat, increasing muscle mass can boost metabolism and enable daily calorie burning even while at rest. Lifting weights preserves muscle and prevents the decrease in metabolism that occurs with weight loss.
According to research, women who trained in resistance exercise after eating 800 calories a day maintained their strength, muscular mass, and metabolism. Meanwhile, other women who only followed the diet but little to no exercise dropped weight, lost muscle mass, and had decreased metabolism. Thus, weight training is essential for gaining and maintaining muscle mass because increased muscular mass increases metabolism.
Another study found that 24 weeks of resistance training, including weight lifting and bodyweight exercises, increased metabolic rate compared to non-exercise groups. These exercises grow muscle mass and, as a result, increase calorie burning even when your body is at rest. Resistance training should be included twice a week to maximize the benefits.
6. Quick and Fierce: HIIT Workouts (High-Intensity Training)
Resistance exercise with high-intensity training (HIT) boosts metabolism without overtraining. HIT means working out more intensely but less frequently, paying attention to form, and performing exercises at a moderate, steady pace.
It's one of the most effective tips on how to boost metabolism after 40 since it can help you burn more fat even when you've finished your workout. Research shows that overweight young men can lose fat mass by 2 kg and belly fat by 17% after 12 weeks of HIIT exercises.
Each exercise of HIIT is performed to "Muscle Success," where the muscle reaches a point where it cannot move the weight, ensuring maximum muscle fiber stimulation. By gradually increasing weight more often, even a little, HIT also encourages progressive overload and a steady rise in muscular demand throughout training. This method guarantees that muscles gain optimum benefit from a single set by gradually increasing their workload over time.
7. Stay Hydrated with Water
Water is the next tips on how to boost metabolism after 40. Drinking water instead of sugary drinks is effective in maintaining and losing weight. It's because sugary drinks contain more calories; thus, replacing them with water lowers calorie consumption. Water can also temporarily increase metabolic rate; it can raise resting metabolism by 10–30% for around an hour. Cold water can even increase this calorie burn since your body needs to spend energy to warm it to the body's temperature.
Studies have shown that people who drank half a liter of water before meals lost 44% more weight than those who didn't; thus, drinking water 30 minutes before meals can help you eat less. In addition, dehydration can hinder calorie burning. Therefore, to maintain a healthy metabolism, you need to consume 8–10 glasses of water daily, including herbal teas and infused water. Remember that staying hydrated is essential before, during, and after exercise.
8. Chill Out to Slim Down
Besides the negative effects on mental health, stress releases cortisol, a hormone that can promote weight gain and metabolic slowdown. Prolonged stress can interfere with sleep cycles, which can impact hunger hormones and metabolism. Stress may be managed by regulating cortisol, a hormone that affects weight gain. Therefore, you need to manage stress to keep your body shaped. Research has indicated that mindfulness-based stress reduction programs can elevate one's metabolic rate. Making self-care a priority and incorporating relaxation techniques into nighttime habits can enhance the quality of sleep, control hunger hormones, and aid with weight control. Plus, including stress-relieving activities in your daily routine, such as yoga, meditation, deep breathing, or hobbies, is a useful recommended method to burn calories, improve mood, and release tension.
9. Spice It Up to Your Diet
Spices, including turmeric, ginger, pepper, and cayenne, can increase your temporary calorie burn. For example, capsaicin, found in peppers, helps speed up metabolism. When consuming pepper in moderation, you can burn about 10 more calories every meal, which can lead to 0.5 kg of weight reduction over 6.5 years.
Although the results on their own might not be significant, including spices in your diet might have little benefit when combined with other methods of increasing metabolism. In short, eating spicy food might support weight management. Thus, adding them will spice up your diet with a burst of flavor and speed up your metabolism.
10. Replace With a More Reasonable Diet to Cut Calories Smartly
An intensive diet is not a good way to restore your metabolic capacity, and smartly cutting calories is the true answer to building a better metabolism.
- Maintain a balanced diet that includes carbs, healthy fats, proteins, and fibers to sustain satisfaction for a long period of time.
- Control your portion to avoid overeating. You should consider portion sizes, use smaller plates, measure portions, and monitor hunger and fullness cues.
- If your eating habits are inconsistent, don't skip a meal; instead, balance and maintain a consistent daily calorie intake.
- Download a food-tracking app and monitor your current intake to track your process of keeping your metabolism running effectively.
11. Minimize Alcohol For Boosting Your Metabolism
If you're struggling with how to speed up metabolism after 40, remember to avoid alcohol. It's one of your biggest enemies when it comes to losing weight. Alcohol can increase calorie intake and interfere with your body's capacity to burn fat effectively.
A study found that dramatically drinking alcohol lowered metabolic rate. Furthermore, drinking too much alcohol might interfere with your sleep cycles, which also can have a detrimental effect on your metabolism.
Thus, you need to restrict alcohol consumption since it can impair metabolism and slow down the fat-burning process. You can reduce alcohol intake by choosing lower-calorie, lower-alcohol choices like light beer or wine and only consuming on rare occasions.
12. Provide Nutrition and Supplements
The last tip on how to boost metabolism after 40 is to use nutrition and supplements. You should include protein-rich foods, high-fiber foods and healthy fats in your meal. Besides, taking supplements such as vitamin D, B (especially B12), magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids can help. They can give a push to your metabolic rate when combined with the above tips, such as a balanced diet and regular exercise.
You can enhance your metabolic process by consuming Natural Green Tea Extract or Natural Fat Burner Supplement (Ultra Burn) from STAAR LAB.
Green Tea Extract is taken from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, and it has valuable nutritional properties that boost metabolism effectively.
Meanwhile, ULTRABRN by STAAR LABS is a scientifically formulated blend of ingredients that are the best weight loss supplements for men and women and enhance exercise performance.
Daily Habits for a Lively Metabolism
The guidelines on how to boost metabolism after 40 may not be enough if you don’t do it with dedication and perseverance. The key is to implement these tips in your daily life to support an active metabolism and live healthily.
Consistency increases drive and momentum, promoting continued healthy behaviors. It can help you avoid falling back into old habits and skipping days. Even on days when one is overly busy or lacks enthusiasm, consistency promotes dedication and discipline. Consistent behaviors are the foundation of sustainable transformation since they result in long-lasting enhancements to metabolism and general health.
Acknowledge the situation that can affect your daily routine and try to avoid it or plan your day differently. It’s also a good idea to use a tracking app to ensure you do a list of daily activities to support your metabolism.
It may take some time for you to get used to a new routine, but consistency brings great results. Sticking with a healthy lifestyle can improve metabolic processes and provide energy to enjoy life to the fullest.
Be a Healthier You with STAAR LABS!
Although people’s metabolic rate tends to slow down as they age, knowing how to speed up metabolism after 40 and following tips to practice a healthy lifestyle can help them live happily. You can do it by having a balanced diet, doing regular exercise, sleeping properly, and managing stress effectively. Remember, consistency is key to achieving your goal of an energetic life after 40.
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