What it boils down to is your metabolism.

Very simply, thinner people have a higher metabolism than heavier people. The reason...thin people have more fat-free mass OR lean muscle than their heavier counterparts. Since muscle burns roughly 50x times calories than fat it would make sense that having more lean muscle would be a predictor of long-term success in weight management.

Take Home Message #1:

Resistance training builds lean muscle and is therefore ESSENTIAL to boosting your metabolism and thus helping you lose weight and keeping it off for good.

Take Home Message #2 - Best Predictors for Keeping Weight Off...

A very interesting study out of the journal Obesity Research found that the best predictors for weight maintenance after weight loss were the following:

? an increase in dietary restraint during weight loss,

? a high baseline resting metabolic rate (as a result of resistance training),

? a rather stable body weight (ie. no excessive fluctuations in weight gain/loss), and

? a low frequency of dieting

Take Home Message #3 - It's All About Lifestyle

I don't know how many times I've said this in my life but it needs to said again...You can't maintain a healthy weight without a consistent effort towards improving your lifestyle. You need to make healthy eating and resistance training a regular part of your life, especially if you've been battling excess weight for most of your life.

Here's a simple reason why. A large meta-analysis on metabolism published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that formerly obese subjects had a 3-5% lower metabolic rate than control subjects.

Now many people would just say "Well, being fat is just in my jeans!" And that may be partially true BUT... the researchers in this study found that whether the cause of this lower metabolism was genetic or acquired, the existence of a low metabolism was likely to contribute to the high rate of "weight regain" in formerly obese persons.

These findings only further demonstrate the need for boosting your metabolic rate! And this doens't occur by spending endless hours doing cardio and following low carb diets!

5 Metabolism-Boosting Strategies:

Here are 5 ways that you can immediately start revving up your metabolism for the long run so that you can achieve and maintain your ideal for good!

1. Eat LIVING FOODS every day

High amounts of food enzymes found in living foods allow your body spend more energy on metabolism and less on digestion. Here's how you can start.

2. Spend more time RESISTANCE TRAINING instead of cardio

Lean muscle doesn't come about by doing cardio 7 days a week. You need to stress your muscles to develop them. Use your body weight, use resistance bands, use machines, use dumbbells, or any other form of resistance. The key is impose weight bearing resistance against your body! Use Fitter U if you haven't already.

3. Eat small meals throughout the day

We've all heard this before and for good reason. Keep your fire burning by adding small amounts of wood to it throughout the day - that's the analogy.

4. Spice up your meals

The following herbs and spices are well-known to speed up metabolism: cayenne pepper, jalapeno peppers, ginger, peppermint, and cinnamon - just to name a few.

5. Have a cup of GREEN TEA

Green tea has been shown to boost metabolism. Researchers believe that antioxidants in green tea can cause the body to waste calories as heat, which increases your caloric burn.

References:

Vogels, N. et al (2005). Predictors of long-term weight maintenance. Obesity Research, 13: 2162-68.

Astrup, A. et al (1999). Meta-analysis of resting metabolic rate in formerly obese subjects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 69 (6): 1117-1122.

Yuri Elkaim is the author of Eating for Energy,a guide to healthy eating that has awaken the world to the power of natural living foods. It includes 120 recipes, a 12-week meal plan, and more great nutritional tools for living the best life ever! For more information, visit http://www.eatingforenergy.ca