How to Slow Down Your Metabolism Naturally

Each cell inside your body has its role in the process of metabolism. Faster metabolism is closely related to burning calories faster, thus lose weight.

However, there are instances in which in spite of doing regular exercise and eating right, still you’re gaining weight.

If that’s the case, maybe you’re doing things that slow down your metabolism. Keep in mind that the food you eat and the habits you do greatly impact your metabolic rate.

Here are some ways to slow down metabolism naturally:

1. Eat more calories

Consuming more calories will lead to gaining more weight. Eating more than you usually do can negatively impact your metabolism. You can also gain weight and make your metabolism slow by condensing three large meals instead of frequent meals.

Guzzle on complex carbohydrates as they are absorbed and digested at a slower pace. Examples of complex carbohydrates are dairy products, potatoes, pasta and whole grains.

The nitric acid present in nuts can also reduce the metabolic rate (1, 2) of your body. Foods having higher fat content can slow down your metabolism as they are not digested easily.

UCLA’s Student Nutrition Awareness Campaign says it takes an extra 3,500 calories to gain a pound. So if you eat 500 extra calories every day, you will gain one pound per week (3).

2. Perform low-intensity exercises

Vigorous exercises help a lot in losing weight. To slow your metabolism, you can stick to walking and add resistance weight training to gain some muscle. There are fitness training basics that can help to reduce your metabolic rate.

3. Keep warm

Keeping your body warm can make the metabolic rate low.  This can help aside from eating food that produces energy. Likewise, you should avoid drinking cold water, but rather lukewarm or room temperature water. By this, your body will lose the opportunity to burn calories.

4. Adequate sleep

Sleeping as long as you want is the simplest way to slow your metabolism. During sleep, your body may remain steady for some time and this means that your body doesn’t burn calories at all.

That’s why if you want to gain weight, you should sleep for long hours as opposed to the recommended amount of sleep.

5. Eating too little

Starving your body will lead to slow metabolic rate. Likewise, taking a low-calorie diet may also lead to reducing metabolic rate by 20-45%. However, you should be very careful in taking such diet because it also poses negative effects such as loss of muscle mass.

The weight that you lose may come from the muscle tissue and water weight. You can eat little or skimp on meals to slow down metabolism, but don’t overdo it.

6. Skipping meals

Another effective way to reduce your metabolic rate is by skipping meals (4). The normal routine of your metabolism slows down when you keep on skipping meals constantly. Starving your body will make it quit to function orderly.

7. Eating schedule

If your eating schedule is not consistent, there’s a great possibility that your metabolism will slow and gain weight. Eating sporadically will enable your body to conserve fat and burn fewer calories.

8. Sitting too long

Staying in any fixed position such as sitting for at least 30 minutes will slow down metabolism. It’s because your muscles are not active, thus they don’t work hard resulting to burning less fat. Prolonged sitting also increases the risk of developing diabetes due to poor insulin sensitivity.

9. Missing sleep

Sleeping plays a significant role in your metabolism. That’s why missing sleep (5) may reduce your metabolic rate. Likewise, lack of sleep will make you get tired easily and tends to become inactive.

In the same manner, the amount of energy that your body utilizes at rest reduces as a result of sleep deprivation.

10. Getting dehydrated

All the cellular process of your body are dependable on the water including metabolism. That’s why if your body is dehydrated, there’s a great chance that the metabolic rate also reduces. However, getting dehydrated may also cause illnesses.

11. Pesticides on your food

A study revealed that the pesticides present in the food that you’re eating have a negative effect on your metabolism and your health in general. It’s because the pollutants were deposited in fat tissue that may cause inflammation and block the pathways of metabolism. The effect of pesticides can also induce weight gain and thyroid problems (6).

Foods That Can Reduce the Metabolic Rate

Aside from knowing the ways to slow your metabolism, it also makes sense identifying the foods that can reduce metabolic rate and eventually gain weight.

1. Farmed produce

The antibiotic present in conventionally farmed beef deleteriously affects your health. Likewise, the antibiotics can also affect the good gut bacteria. This may lead to slowing down of your metabolism and increase weight gain.

2. White flour

White flour undergoes processing that stripped away fiber and antioxidants. That’s why when you eat white pasta or white bread, most likely you’re taking in something that has low nutrient. Since white flour has little fiber, it slows down digestion. With this, your body need not break the foods and skip burning calories. This may result in reducing the metabolic rate.

3. Omega-6 fatty acids

Foods like chicken thighs, pork products, butter, cookies and many others have a higher content of omega-6 fatty acids. This type of fatty acid is responsible for reducing the metabolic rate. Processed foods also use hydrogenated fats that have a higher source of omega-6 fatty acids that are pro-inflammatory. Omega-6 fatty acids are also insulin resistant, thus the consumed carbs are turned into fat.

4. Soda

Soda can cause metabolic syndrome that’s why it’s not recommended to use it. Soda is also known as high fructose corn syrup that is used as a sweetener in soft drinks and many processed foods. More intake of soda negatively impacts your metabolism and eventually lead to obesity.

Read: 30 Metabolism Boosting Foods That Will Help You Burn Fat

It is said that gaining weight is easier than losing weight. The key to gaining weight is to slow down your metabolism. This can be possible by following and implementing those ideas mentioned above. Those are easy-to-follow steps that will help you gain extra pounds with just minimal effort.

On the other hand, you should think first before doing those things and always prioritize your safety and health. There’s nothing wrong gaining weight, but make sure that it will not negatively affect your health.