Have you ever heard someone say they can’t lose weight because they have a “slow” metabolism?

Your metabolism is the speed at which your body produces energy. The faster your metabolism, the faster your body does everything, from adjusting your body temperature to growing your fingernails. And more importantly for our purposes, the faster it will burn off any excess fat, regardless of whether that fat comes from a hearty roast beef platter or your hips, thighs, and stomach.

This 4-week online multimedia program will change the way you feel about food and your relationship to food. 

The rate at which your metabolism is currently running is called your basal metabolic rate, and it is the primary determinant in how many calories your body will burn off throughout the day.

One of the great myths of the weight-loss world is the myth of metabolism, which says: Certain people will find it more difficult to lose weight than others because of their genetically predetermined basal metabolic rate.

However, the latest scientific research shows that your metabolic rate is not fixed—it can and will change throughout your life in response to how you eat and use your body. Dr. Susan Jebb is one of Britain’s leading experts in the study of obesity. When discussing metabolism on one of my TV shows, she explained it like this:

When people go on a diet, their metabolism does change. Your body recognizes it’s not getting as much food, as much fuel as it needs. The reduction in metabolic rate you see when people are dieting is essentially a very sensible evolutionary response to times of famine. If food was scarce, it made good sense to conserve energy, and so your metabolic rate decreases.

In other words, someone may really have a slow metabolism—but the reason it’s so slow is because they’ve slowed it through endless dieting. In its effort to conserve energy when you’re dieting, your body will slow all your energy systems down to a minimum. You’ll feel sluggish and completely uninterested in exercise or any other physical activity.

To make matters worse, whatever lean muscle mass you do have will be consumed as your body literally eats itself to generate the extra energy it needs to function. So even if you are temporarily losing weight on the scale, you’re not losing the right kind of weight— you’re losing muscle.

Why is losing muscle bad? Because that lean muscle controls your basal metabolic rate—the number of calories your body can burn up for you while you’re sitting in the office or home in bed.

There are very few “sure things” in life, but I want to offer you one here:

If you continue to diet, you will gain weight and keep it on for life.

On the flip side, when you eat whenever you are hungry, your body learns it has plenty of fuel. It cranks up your metabolism so that energy can be used quickly and efficiently. Because it knows the energy will be replenished as needed, it doesn’t bother to store any additional fat reserves, and you not only look thin but are filled with energy as well.

I would like to show you not only how to speed up your metabolism but how to “supercharge” it too, enabling you to burn more fat and calories throughout the day and even while you sleep!

The Truth About Exercise

When I asked Dr. Jebb if there was a secret to super-charging your metabolism, she told me:

All you have to do is stop starving yourself and move your body more and your metabolism will increase. And the very best way to boost your metabolism is to become more active. Simply sitting in a chair uses up more energy than lying down. Standing up uses more energy than sitting down. Walking or climbing stairs all increase your metabolism and your energy needs. You can almost double your basic metabolic rate by being very physically active and burning off a lot of extra energy.

In other words, regular exercise will nearly double the speed of your metabolism. But before you throw your hands up in horror, realize that “exercise” is simply this:

Anything you do that causes you to breathe more deeply than you normally would and/or causes your heart rate to speed up.

Can you think of any enjoyable ways to get your heart pumping and breathe more deeply than you are breathing now?

If so, you are already on your way to making exercise an easy and enjoyable part of your life.

When I ask people about exercise they think about running on a track or pumping iron. It always makes me laugh when people at my weight-loss seminars tell me they never exercise. “Don’t you get out of bed in the morning?” I ask them. “How about walking around your home? Do you ever leave your apartment or house? Does somebody carry you or do you do it on your own two feet?”

The fact is, you already “exercise” all day every day, simply by moving your body. The key to supercharging your metabolism (and in so doing, increasing the rate at which your body burns up calories and fat) is simply to move more than you are currently. While the biggest exercise myth in the world is the idea of “no pain, no gain,” the reality of exercise is this: no effort, no gain; a little bit of effort, tremendous gain.

Now let’s take a look at some of the additional benefits of exercise. Studies have shown that regular exercisers not only lose weight, but they feel great. This is because exercise releases one of the best stress-reducing drugs available—your own natural endorphins. Here’s how it works . . .

Your body does not distinguish between an emotional threat and a physical one. So even when you’re just worrying about bad things happening, your body prepares to protect itself by fighting or running away— but often there is no one to fight and nowhere to run to. The body gets worked up but cannot find a way to release its tension.

Each time you exercise, you are helping your body release the tension of the stress response, making it feel calmer, safer, and healthier. In addition, regular exer-cise triggers the body’s natural impulse to rest, relax, and recuperate, also known as the parasympathetic response. The parasympathetic response is the sweet, soft feeling you get in your muscles when you have finished some heavy work or vigorous movement.

You also feel a natural high caused by the release of endorphins, the body’s natural opiates. That in turn positively affects your mood, making you emotionally clearer and more able to function well—to concentrate, to relax, and to sleep soundly.

So any time you’re feeling less than your best, you can give yourself an easy, positive boost by simply doing 10 to 15 minutes of brisk exercise—any movement (including walking) that speeds up your heart rate and gets you breathing more deeply than you are breathing right now.

Paul McKenna is offering his I Can Make You Thin Online Course at a special low price for a limited time.