Fitness expert Jeff Nippard’s unbiased analysis of health and fitness practices is the sole reason for his ever-growing follower base, and rightfully so. Recently, he took to his YouTube channel and talked at length about his findings on popular methods of boosting metabolism.
Nippard is a Canadian natural bodybuilder, powerlifter and fitness expert. He is a well-respected figure in the YouTube fitness community. The Canadian often delves into scientific data related to bodybuilding, health and fitness to enrich the knowledge of his followers.
Nippard was the 2012 Mr. Junior Canada titleholder and also held the Canadian national record for the bench press. Over the years, he has trained several natural bodybuilders and powerlifters to achieve their professional goals.
Nippard has addressed several critical issues such as common dietary mistakes, workout methods best suited for busy people who can’t spend hours and hours at the gym through its content. He continues to impart knowledge and enrich his 3.79 million YouTube subscribers through insightful content.
Maintaining a healthy metabolic rate is a prerequisite for burning fat and staying fit. While it’s no complicated job to boost your metabolism by any stretch of the imagination, the internet and fitness world is full of contradictory information. Exaggerated claims of certain dietary practices, training methods, and lifestyle changes bombard us from all directions.
It’s difficult but equally important to separate the wheat from the chaff and find things free of personal motives or marketing gimmicks. Nippard recently shared his findings related to some of the most common ways to increase your metabolic rate. So let’s look at what he concluded by studying all the scientific data.
Is hydration the key to metabolic boost?
Drinking more water has always been linked to a metabolic boost. But does it really have the same effect that is often claimed? Consuming a glass of water burns eight calories.
“Cold water gives a bigger boost than room temperature water because your body has to burn calories to heat cold water up to body temperature.
However, Nippard is skeptical of the prospects for substantial fat loss from water loading. The reason? Burning those extra calories by drinking more water can eventually be offset.
For example, you might drink more water but then subconsciously move a little less so that the net (metabolic) drive is canceled out, at least in part.
I’m also not a fan of forced drinking water. If you go overboard with a very high water intake in a short amount of time, you can develop water intoxication or hyponatremia which can be dangerous.
In general, Nippard recommends drinking eight to twelve glasses or about two to three liters a day is plenty. More importantly, most people can use their internal thirst cues to drive their water intake.
Some of the more publicized methods that do not produce expected returns in terms of metabolic boost
There is no miracle solution to good health, no matter what the bandwagon riders tell you. Things like, for example, green tea have been the manifesto of metabolism boosters. Most of us have heard someone talk about the potential benefits of drinking green tea for this purpose or have tried it ourselves. However, most studies show no correlation between green tea and increased metabolism. There’s no denying that you can get a little metabolic boost from consuming green tea. But it certainly doesn’t produce the miraculous benefits that thousands of articles on the internet claim.
Sitting in saunas and cold baths can have some metabolic boost benefits. For example, sitting in a sauna for ten minutes can burn up to 19 calories. That is, but only a slight increase over sitting on the couch which burns about 14 calories in that amount of time.
Likewise, cold baths improve the body’s oxygen uptake. But that doesn’t translate into a significant metabolic boost by any stretch of the imagination. Immersing yourself in cold water up to your neck burns 28 calories in 10 minutes and doesn’t promise any drastic changes.
Dietary practices like eating spicy foods and reverse dieting help, but how exactly?
A compound called capsaicin found in chili peppers has a thermogenic effect. It makes them more metabolically promising than other spices like ginger and garlic. While studies show that capsaicin-containing foods can cause a metabolic increase of about 20 calories, it’s nowhere near the levels people want.
However, spicy foods are still effective in boosting your metabolism. Nippard explained the reasons for this and said:
I think the main reason spicy food may be beneficial for weight loss isn’t because it can give a 20-calorie metabolic boost, but rather because it can increase satiety and fullness. I find that I eat slower and drink more water when I eat a spicy meal, and if that helps you eat fewer total calories for the day, that could help drive fat loss.
Other methods like reverse dieting and meal frequency claim to have great benefits in terms of boosting metabolism. However, Jeff Nippard admitted that he didn’t research the reverse diet extensively to make a foolproof claim about its effectiveness. On the other hand, meal frequency has been shown not to change metabolism rate in several studies.
Is there a powerful method to boost metabolism?
YES. Building muscle through a strength training program is probably one of the best ways to burn calories throughout the day. As you start gaining more muscle and losing fat along the way, your metabolism rate also starts heading in the right direction. Scientific reason for this? Nippard explained:
At rest, a pound of fat burns about two calories a day while a pound of muscle burns about six calories a day.
The cumulative effect of these numbers could change the entire ball game when applied to the physique of an adult male. For example, when the calculation is applied to a person with Jeff Nippards’ body composition, body fat would burn 24 calories while muscle mass would burn a whopping 480 calories.
Effect of cardio on metabolism
If strength training and muscle building are that effective, how would cardio fare on this test? After all, calorie burn and metabolic boost are two of the most impressive benefits of cardio exercises, aren’t they?
Well, it turns out that’s not quite the case. Cardio is definitely a great way to improve circulation and build cardiovascular strength. It also burns a lot of calories but tends to offset the metabolism by compensating by other means.
When you burn more calories through cardio, your body unconsciously burns fewer calories through NEAT – exercise thermogenesis. This is the component of metabolism that includes activities other than exercise. So things like fidgeting and bobbing to the beat of the music, Nippard added.
He further explained that the body perceives cardio and activity subconsciously. It then reduces NEAT so that total energy expenditure is relatively less on that particular day. While there’s a noticeable difference in how this phenomenon works on each individual, Nippard explained:
On average, for every 100 calories you burn doing cardio, you’ll actually increase your daily energy expenditure by only 72 calories.
However, cardio is still an effective way to boost your metabolism. While it’s not as effective as strength training and muscle building, it may be second best.
Using the weighted vest
Wearing a weighted vest has also been shown to help with this. It has some pretty interesting science behind it. The way Jeff Nippard explained it:
The general idea is that if I weigh 160 pounds right now and start wearing a 20-pound weight vest, my body starts thinking I weigh 180 pounds and burns calories like a 180-pound person would. Recent evidence has suggested that there is a sensor system in the body called a gravitastat that detects changes in the load on bones. If these sensors get the idea that you are now a heavier person, it will increase your calorie expenditure and decrease your hunger levels.
Weighted vests probably work effectively, but it’s a relatively new phenomenon. As a result, there needs to be more research to conclusively prove that they do, in fact, work.
Jeff Nippard has simplified an important aspect of fitness through the results in this video. So, now that you know what works for sure to boost your metabolism, it should be easy to make the necessary changes to your lifestyle.
You can watch the full video here, courtesy of Jeff Nippards’ personal YouTube channel:
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