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1. Understand what metabolism is.
In the simplest terms, metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. The rate differs significantly from person to person. You and your friend can have the same activity level, diet, and weight but still gain or lose weight at different rates based on differences in metabolism.

2. Determine what is influencing your metabolism. There are some factors that you can change, and some factors that you can't.

* Age - metabolism slows 5% per decade after age 40
* Sex - men generally burn calories faster than women
* Heredity - you can inherit your metabolic rate from previous generations
* Thyroid disorder - problems in the thyroid gland can slow or quicken metabolism but this is rare
* Proportion of lean body mass - metabolism increases with muscle mass

3. Calculate your resting metabolic rate (RMR). RMR is often used interchangeably with basal metabolic rate (BMR); although they are slightly different, estimating either is sufficient for the purpose of losing weight. To calculate your RMR, use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (which is more reliable than the Harris-Benedict equation[2]). There are also calculators online that can do this for you:

* RMR = 9.99w + 6.25s - 4.92a + 166g-161
* w = weight in kilograms; if you know your weight in pounds, divide by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms
* s = height in centimeters; if you know your height in inches, multiply by 2.54 to get your height in centimeters
* a = age in years
* g = gender = 1 for males, 0 for females

4. Adjust your diet accordingly. Your RMR will tell you how many calories you need to maintain your body at rest. Your daily consumption to maintain your weight should be:

* RMR x 1.15
* E.g. RMR = 2000, so the maintenance intake is 2000 x 1.15 = 2300
* To lose weight safely, consume no more than your maintenance intake but no less than your RMR.
* Count calories by recording what you eat and looking up how many calories each food item contains (either on the food packaging or in tables provided in books or online).

5. Eat small, frequent meals. Extending the time between meals makes your body go into "starvation mode", which means it'll hold onto as many calories as possible and store them as fat. This is why fasting and skipping meals will only make things worse. In addition to having four to six small meals per day. Eating healthy snacks will also increase metabolism.

6. Drink water. As with food, depriving your body of water can encourage it to "hoard" rather than "burn". In order to encourage your liver to focus on metabolism rather than water retention, make sure you drink an appropriate amount of water.

7. Boost metabolism temporarily with aerobic exercise. Different activities burn different quantities of calories, but the important thing is to raise your heart rate and sustain the activity for approximately 30 minutes.

8. Boost metabolism in the long run with weight training. Muscle burns more calories than fat (73 more calories per kilogram per day, to be exact) so the more muscle you build, the higher your resting metabolic rate (RMR). Every bit of muscle that you gain is like a little factory that burns calories for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is the only way to increase RMR, which accounts for 60 to 70 percent of the calories you burn daily.

NOTE:
Expect your metabolism to slow down as you lose weight. The more weight your body is carrying, the more calories your body has to burn in order to sustain itself, even at rest. When you begin restricting your calorie intake, you'll lose weight relatively easily because your body's high caloric needs are not being met. But after you begin to shed the weight, the body has less mass to carry and thus needs fewer calories. In order to continue losing weight, you will have to restrict your caloric intake even further in order to maintain a difference between what your body needs and what you are providing.