Unlock Rapid Fat Loss with the Ultimate Restart Metabolism Diet Guide!

Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. It's essential for basic body functions like breathing, circulating blood, and repairing cells, even when you're resting or sleeping. A key reason someone may want to boost their metabolism is because of the role metabolism plays in weight loss. Weight loss occurs when the body burns more calories than it consumes. While genetics play a significant role, lifestyle changes can still make a difference. Many people diet or follow restrictive diets to lose weight. But restrictive diets can sometimes backfire by slowing down your metabolism. That's because your body slows down your BMR, burning fewer calories over time, when it interprets reduced calorie intake as a threat of starvation.

Understanding Metabolism

Metabolism is defined as the complex chemical reactions - occurring at the same time - that take place in the body to convert food into energy. We usually think of "metabolism" in terms of speed: the speed at which we transform food into energy.

Your metabolism relies on three factors:

Basal/Resting Metabolic Rate (BMR/RMR): About 60 percent of your overall metabolism is determined by your BMR/RMR, the rate at which you burn energy/calories to support essential bodily functions like breathing, circulation, and your brain and organ function. Genetics, age, body composition, diet, and conditions like hypothyroidism also affect your BMR/RMR.
Active Energy Expenditure (AEE): About 25 percent of your metabolism is determined by your AEE, which includes both planned exercise and Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, also known as NEAT. NEAT describes the reflexive, involuntary, and non-exercise movements you make throughout the day, i.e., fidgeting, jiggling your foot, standing, walking around, and maintaining good posture.
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF): About 15 percent of your metabolism is determined by the thermic effect of the food you eat. The thermic effect is the energy required to break down food and convert it into energy. Protein requires about 20 to 30 percent of its calories for conversion; carbohydrates and fats require around 5 to 15 percent.

The Metabolic Reset Diet

The metabolic reset diet promotes the idea that you can trick your metabolism into speeding up (a.k.a. burning more calories). There are several versions of the metabolic reset plan (so Steve's plan isn't the only one), but they all promote the idea that you can trick your metabolism into speeding up (a.k.a. burning more calories). The diet pattern will vary from plan to plan, but they all restrict your calorie intake-your whole grains, dairy, and fruit-and focus on increasing your protein intake,” explains Zeitlin. “The diet lasts for about one to two months, depending on the plan, and proclaims serious weight loss.” Steve's plan, for example, offers: a specific nutrition plan that focuses on carb cycling (boosting carbs somedays, limiting them others), a daily workout schedule of just 10 minutes of HIIT training a day, and a supplement regimen to follow.

The diet focuses on altering your metabolism, or the rate at which your body breaks down the food you eat and turns it into energy. Faster metabolisms, naturally, burn more calories than slower ones. But the speed of your metabolism has more to do with genetics and physical activity levels than anything else.

Can you lose weight on the metabolic reset diet?

Zeitlin admits that the plan may help you lose weight, though it won't be the kind of weight loss you’re looking for (i.e. long-lasting). The diet is only meant to last a month or two, so the dramatic lifestyle changes-and their results-are not sustainable. What typically happens with these overly restrictive fad diets is that you lose weight quickly, because you are drastically cutting out food groups and calories, only to regain the weight later on when you start to eat normally again,” she says. “And, typically, you regain more than you initially lost.” In other words, if you’re looking for a quick weight-loss fix, the metabolic reset diet may deliver-but only in the short-term; restrictive diets like this are rarely sustainable in the long run.

Safety Concerns To Consider

Though evidence doesn’t support the theory of a metabolic “resetting,” you may still be looking at those before-and-after photos of Steve (see 'em below) and thinking about giving his diet a try. As long as you’re consuming at least 1,200 calories per day from whole foods, Zeitlin says, the diet may not technically be unsafe-but it's still not your best option. “No one is a good candidate for a restrictive diet. The healthy part about weight loss is being able to maintain it for a long period of time,” says Zeitlin. “That is where the health benefits come from: a sustained healthy weight.”

Safe And Proven Alternatives To Speed Up Your Metabolism

Rather than suffer through the side effects of a deprivation diet-no one likes to be irritable and hungry all the time-there are easier and healthier ways to actually speed up your metabolism (without a total overhaul), says Zeitlin. “You can increase your physical activity, eat breakfast and not skip meals, get adequate sleep, and increase your water intake,” she recommends.

Focusing on those (totally easy, absolutely doable) tips to speed up metabolism will also help you set up long-term lifestyle habits for better, more sustainable results. “Filling [your] meals with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein (and cutting back on refined sugar and processed foods) will help boost your weight-loss game, no excessive restrictions required.

Foods That Can Affect Metabolism

So how can you choose foods that will boost, rather than slow, your metabolism? Research has found that certain foods can affect diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT), which may boost resting metabolic rate.

Read also: Weight Loss After Gastric Bypass

Protein: Protein requires about 20 to 30 percent of its calories for conversion; carbohydrates and fats require around 5 to 15 percent.
Unrefined carbohydrates:
Fiber-rich foods: Fiber-rich foods that aren't highly processed can increase energy expenditure because they take longer to digest. Aim for around 25 grams a day of fiber from foods and fiber supplements. Fiber supplements can help you reach the goal of 25 grams per day.
Caffeine:
Green tea: Green tea contains about 25 mg of caffeine per each 8-ounce cup.

DIT is higher in the morning and lower in the evening.

Metabolism-Boosting Foods

Fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, and mackerel): Rich in omega-3 fatty acids and protein. The American Heart Association recommends eating fatty fish at least two times per week.
Legumes (black beans, chickpeas, and kidney beans): High in protein. Add canned beans to your shopping list for an easy and affordable option. Look for low-sodium labels if you're watching your salt intake.
Hot peppers (chili peppers and jalapeños): Contain capsaicin, which increases your body’s internal temperature and temporarily helps you burn more calories.
Broccoli: A member of the cruciferous vegetable family. Eat it steamed or roasted.
Lentils: A type of legume packed with iron, magnesium, and potassium. They are a great plant protein and fiber source with 8 grams of each. Lentils come in a variety of colors including red, brown, green, and yellow. Adult women should get more than twice the amount of iron as men.
Berries (blueberries and strawberries): Low in calories and high in fiber.
Water: Can suppress your appetite and may boost your metabolism for a short amount of time. Try starting the day off with a glass of water or drink a glass before you eat your meals. To determine how much water to drink per day, divide your weight in half.

The Importance of Strength Training and HIIT

Strength training exercises can boost metabolism by building muscle tissue. Muscle burns more calories than fat. And unlike fat, muscle burns calories even at rest. This means that the more muscle mass you have, the higher your BMR will be. In addition, strength training has a post-exercise calorie-burning effect known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).

Research suggests that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) may also elevate metabolism for some time after a workout.

Building muscle will help you burn more calories even when you’re not moving - and the higher your muscle mass, the stronger your metabolic rate,” says Lohre.

If you want to strength train, you can definitely go old school and lift weights - but that’s not your only option! Doing body-weight exercises (like squats and planks) or hitting a TRX class is just as effective at building muscle as exercises like bicep curls.

If you want to jumpstart your metabolism, a great way to do it is strength training. “Muscle building speeds up your metabolic rate for up to 2 hours after every 20-minute session,” says Lohre.

Getting Past a Weight-Loss Plateau

Being stuck at a weight-loss plateau eventually happens to everyone who tries to lose weight. During the first few weeks of losing weight, a rapid drop is typical. In part, this is because when you initially cut calories, the body gets needed energy by releasing its stores of glycogen. Glycogen is partly made of water. So when glycogen is burned for energy, it releases water, resulting in weight loss that's mostly water.

As you lose weight, you lose some muscle along with fat. Muscle helps keep up the rate at which you burn calories (metabolism). Your slower metabolism will slow your weight loss, even if you eat the same number of calories that helped you lose weight.

Strategies to Overcome a Plateau

Reassess your habits: Look back at your food and activity records. Make sure you haven't loosened the rules. For example, look at whether you've been having larger portions, eating more processed foods, or getting less exercise.
Cut more calories: Further cut your daily calories, provided this doesn't put you below 1,200 calories.
Rev up your workout: Get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. Guidelines suggest that you spread out this exercise during the course of a week. For even greater health benefit and to assist with weight loss or maintaining weight loss, at least 300 minutes a week is recommended.
Pack more activity into your day: Think outside the gym. Increase your general physical activity throughout the day. For example, walk more and use your car less, do more yardwork, or do vigorous spring cleaning.

Crash Dieting and Yo-Yo Dieting: A Detriment to Metabolism

Many people look for a quick fix when it comes to losing weight. It may come as a surprise to learn, however, that “crash” diets and fad diets - like the “very-low-calorie diet” (VLCD) or the HCG 600-calorie-a-day diet - make weight loss even more difficult in the long run. The reason? Metabolism!

After a crash diet, you’re likely to regain the lost weight - and even weigh more than ever - as part of a cycle of yo-yo dieting. Ultimately, crash diets and yo-yo dieting can cause a long-term slowdown in metabolism.

Crash dieting triggers the body to go into starvation mode. Your body protects itself by becoming extremely efficient at absorbing more calories from food. At the same time, your body also deliberately conserves stored energy and burns less of it. It’s a double whammy that results in a slowed metabolism.

How to Fix a Broken Metabolism After Crash Diets and Yo-Yo Dieting

The tendency for the metabolism to stay low after a crash diet and trigger rebound weight gain often leads to weight cycling, or what is known as "yo-yo dieting." When you're yo-yo dieting, you create a calorie deficit and lose weight rapidly, followed by a drop in your metabolic rate. You’ll discover that it’s easier to regain weight, even after cutting daily calories. You regain the weight, and with a reduced metabolic rate, you'll need to reduce calorie intake even more to lose weight gain. It’s a vicious cycle!

To break the cycle, you need to focus on practical ways you can help increase the speed of your metabolism and restore it to a healthier state. Here are some of the best ways to get your metabolism back on track.

Optimize your thyroid function: Because crash and yo-yo dieting can trigger hypothyroidism, a thorough thyroid evaluation is essential to your metabolic health. This can pinpoint a previously undiagnosed case of hypothyroidism or identify the less-than-optimal treatment for your current hypothyroidism. It’s helpful to start with a thyroid blood test panel. Ensure the panel includes Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and Free T4, Free T3, and Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) Antibodies. The results will help you understand how your thyroid functions and if it may negatively affect your metabolism.
Eat a healthy, nutrient-dense, gut-friendly diet: After a crash diet or yo-yo diet cycle, you must focus on eating the healthiest, most nutrient-dense diet you can. This means choosing organic, pesticide-free, whole foods as much as possible and avoiding processed foods. Your emphasis should be on fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, good proteins (like fish and grass-fed meats), and anti-inflammatory fermented foods. You should also pay attention to your gut health. A healthy gut can more efficiently digest and store food, burn energy when needed, and eliminate waste. You may also want to incorporate more spicy foods into your daily diet. Capsaicin, a key ingredient found in some spicy foods like peppers, has been shown to boost metabolism.
Increase your protein intake: Many experts agree that increasing your protein can help your metabolism. You burn more calories when you eat protein compared to carbohydrates or fat. One study found that increasing dietary protein to 30 percent of your total food intake, without any increase in carbohydrates, resulted in eating around 400 fewer calories per day. The study participants did not experience increased hunger and lost weight! Protein also helps you build muscle, which helps raise your metabolic level. Various experts recommend eating at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight daily to support your metabolism.
Increase your fiber intake: Increasing your fiber intake can help boost metabolism because fiber requires more energy to digest, process, and eliminate. Aim for around 25 grams a day of fiber from foods and fiber supplements. Fiber supplements can help you reach the goal of 25 grams per day.
Eat the majority of your food earlier in the day: When you eat also has an impact on your metabolism. Most experts agree that eating a protein-rich breakfast helps stoke and maintain metabolism and promote fat-burning throughout the day. You may also consider making dinner your lightest meal of the day. You can also fast from dinner until breakfast. This helps you maintain healthier leptin levels and gives your body time to access stored energy for your nighttime energy needs.
Stay well hydrated: You'll want to ensure you regularly drink water throughout the day. Studies have shown that drinking around half of a liter (16 ounces) of water boosts metabolism by up to 30 percent for around 90 minutes. Drinking 2 liters of water daily increases energy expenditure by nearly 100 calories daily. For an extra boost, make it cold water; it raises metabolism a bit more than water at room temperature.
Drink coffee and tea: Caffeine can help boost metabolism. One study showed that around 100 milligrams of caffeine - what you'd typically get in a small cup of coffee - could increase your BMR/RMR by about 3 to 4 percent. Several servings of caffeine at intervals throughout the day can boost metabolism by as much as 11 percent. Moderation is needed, however. Going overboard on caffeine can increase insulin resistance and blood glucose levels. There’s also scientific evidence that various teas - including black, green, oolong, and goji - can slightly increase your metabolism and fat burning. Tea also provides additional hydration, which can help aid in weight loss.
Use exercise and strength training to increase muscle mass: The best activity you can do to help boost your metabolism is building muscle. Increasing your muscle mass with exercise like lifting weights, resistance machines, or Pilates can increase your Basal/Resting Metabolic Rate. Strength training can also help protect your metabolism following a low-calorie diet. One study found that when following a low-calorie diet, women who did resistance training could lose weight without a decrease in metabolism compared to women who did either aerobic or no exercise at all.
Increase your activity level…carefully: Many metabolism experts recommend avoiding extended periods of intense aerobic exercise because it raises cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol wreaks havoc on your metabolism, increasing insulin and glucose levels and slowing your metabolism. If you want to do aerobic exercise, shorter periods of intensity - i.e., high-intensity interval training (HIIT) - offer many benefits of aerobic exercise with less risk of raising cortisol. You can also increase your metabolism by increasing your NEAT. As a starting point, it can be helpful to build regular periods of standing and walking throughout the day.
Get enough sleep: Getting enough sleep is essential for your metabolism. Experts say that 7 to 9 hours per night should be your objective. "Short sleep" of less than 7 hours contributes to a long list of hormonal changes, including blood sugar and cortisol increases. Short sleep reduces the satiety hormone leptin levels, increases the hunger hormone ghrelin, and increases your risk of insulin resistance. One study found that just five days of short sleep caused an increase in food intake, leading to weight gain. Short sleep also reduces your ability to lose fat. Researchers found that dieters who got only 5.5 hours of sleep over two weeks reduced their fat loss by 55 percent!
Manage your stress: Active stress management is an integral part of transforming a slow metabolism. Unmanaged stress raises cortisol levels, negatively affecting glucose, insulin, and metabolism. Specifically, chronically high cortisol levels promote abdominal fat storage, contributing to insulin resistance and weight gain. The key to stress management is devoting at least 10 minutes daily to your stress-reducing activity. What you do to manage stress depends on what methods work best for you. Meditation, breathwork, gentle yoga, tai chi, playing a musical instrument, or needlework are all valid stress-reducing activities.
Breathe mindfully: The practice of mindful breathwork has two key metabolic benefits. First, diaphragmatic breathing is a natural stress reducer; a few slow, deep belly breaths can reduce cortisol levels. Specific breathing techniques have also been studied and shown to help raise metabolism. Yoga practices such as left, right, or alternating nostril breathing can increase oxygen intake and raise metabolism by as much as 37 percent.

A 3-Day Metabolism Fix

Day 1: Focus on Sleep, Breakfast, and Strength Training
- Get a solid 8 hours of sleep.
- Eat breakfast to fast track metabolism and keep energy high all day.
- Have a Greek yogurt with breakfast to balance gut bacteria and help increase metabolism.
- Work in a 20-minute strength-training circuit to speed up your metabolic rate.
Day 2: Prioritize Cardio, Hydration, and Meal Prep
- Get to sleep before midnight to ensure enough shut-eye for a healthy metabolism.
- Start your day with a cup of coffee to boost your metabolism.
- Drink plenty of H20 throughout the day.
- Prep meals for the week and include chili peppers to boost your metabolism.
- Increase your NEAT by looking for more opportunities to move throughout the day.
Day 3: Maintain Sleep, Support Muscle, and Meditate
- Wake up after you’ve had 8 hours of sleep.
- Consume foods that help support muscle building and retention.
- Meditate to keep stress at bay and prevent a slowed metabolism.

Intermittent Fasting (IF) and Metabolism

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a term used to describe a variety of eating patterns in which no or few calories are consumed for time periods that can range from 12 hours to several days, on a recurring basis. Emerging findings suggest the metabolic switch from glucose to fatty acid-derived ketones represents an evolutionarily conserved trigger point that shifts metabolism from lipid/cholesterol synthesis and fat storage to mobilization of fat through fatty acid oxidation and fatty-acid derived ketones, which serve to preserve muscle mass and function. Thus, IF regimens that induce the metabolic switch have the potential to improve body composition in overweight individuals. Moreover, IF regimens also induce the coordinated activation of signaling pathways that optimize physiological function, enhance performance, and slow aging and disease processes.

The Metabolic Switch

Here, we define the metabolic switch as the body’s preferential shift from utilization of glucose from glycogenolysis to fatty acids and fatty acid-derived ketones. The reason we use the word ‘preferential’ is because there is now a growing body of research to indicate ketones are the preferred fuel for both the brain and body during periods of fasting and extended exercise. Of relevance to weight management, this switch represents a shift from lipid synthesis and fat storage to mobilization of fat in the form of free fatty acids (FFAs) and fatty-acid derived ketones.

The metabolic switch typically occurs between 12 to 36 hours after cessation of food consumption depending on the liver glycogen content at the beginning of the fast, and on the amount of the individual’s energy expenditure/exercise during the fast.

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