Boosting Your Metabolism for Real

Forget the gimmicks. These strategies actually work:

• Build muscle — each pound of muscle burns about 6 calories a day at rest, versus 2 for fat.
• Increase NEAT — walk more, stand more, take stairs, fidget on purpose.
• Sleep enough — too little sleep lowers metabolic rate and ramps up hunger hormones.
• Eat enough protein — its high thermic effect means you burn more calories digesting it.

Your metabolism is not broken. It is doing exactly what evolution designed it to do: conserve energy efficiently. Work with that system instead of against it.