Lim Kairen
If you’ve ever asked or been asked, “How can you eat so much and stay so lean?”, you’ll know the usual reply is, “I have high metabolism.”
But how much do we actually know about metabolism and how are we able to use the science behind it to our own advantage? Check out this extremely effective diet plan proposed by Haylie Pomroy and Eve Adamson[1] to get that high metabolism rate you’ve always envied in others.
Connection Between Metabolism And Weight Loss
Metabolism is the rate of your body converting your food intake into fuel, bone, blood, fat or muscle. The faster your metabolism, the faster the chemicals in your body can transform all of the nutrients into energy to develop your body. A slow metabolism however, tends to store nutrients in your body instead of burning them leading to a higher rate of fatty tissue buildup.
How The Fast Metabolism Diet Works
What the diet does is increase your metabolism by making changes to your daily diet. By eating the right foods approved by the diet every day, it can help your body achieve the optimal rate of metabolism to lose weight fast.
Think of your metabolism as a car engine. Unlike an engine, our body has to be constantly fed with fuel, hence our metabolism is slowed down when we sleep because our body senses that there is no fuel intake. That is why we always hear the saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Our engine revs up again when we eat breakfast after a night of fasting.
The idea behind the fast metabolism diet is to constantly feed your body with the right fuel so that your engine can burn the fuel fast and keep on going.
How To Include High Metabolism Diet Into Your Weight Loss Plan:
Phase One (Monday – Tuesday)
The weight loss process of the fast metabolism diet takes place in three detailed phases. Starting on Monday and lasting till Tuesday, the first phase of the diet involves having a lot of carbs and fruits. Fruits that are high in sugar are recommended, such as cantaloupe, pineapple and watermelons. Good carbohydrates are also essential such as brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato and brown rice pasta. Most health authorities recommend these foods filled with complex carbohydrates to people with the need of weight loss as they are effective appetite suppressants.[2]
DO not neglect the proteins that are very important for every diet. We recommend egg whites, chicken, white fish, turkey and lean ground beef. And of course, vegetables are a must too.
Recommended dishes for Phase One:
- Breakfast – brown rice hot cereal with a big bowl of mixed fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe or kiwi)
- Snack – fruit
- Lunch – grilled chicken salad with all the veggies I had on hand, tomato, red pepper, carrots, with a little spike seasoning and Balsamic dressing only (non-fat)
- Snack – fruit
- Dinner – grilled filet mignon, sweet potatoes and boiled asparagus or broccoli
Phase Two (Wednesday – Thursday)
Phase Two strictly disallows any fruit or carbohydrate and this is the phase where weight loss is noticeable. This phase would only consist of lean proteins and vegetables. The beauty of this phase is that your body starts to unlock the fat stores due to the strict diet that absolutely consists of no fats. Also, lean protein foods help you feel full longer so you will eat less these two days.[3]
The foods that you should be taking during this phase are egg whites, chicken, turkey, beef and a lot of vegetables. This might seem like a gruelling two days but hang in there because it is very important for the diet to work.
Recommended dishes for Phase Two:
- Breakfast – egg white omelet with onions and red peppers
- Snack – beef jerky with celery sticks
- Lunch –sliced turkey, and a big serving of steamed broccoli or asparagus.
- Snack – 2 boiled egg whites
- Dinner – steamed white fish with red pepper toppings and all you can eat serving of salads
Phase Three (Friday – Sunday)
Phase Three is the part where most participants of this diet rejoice because for this phase, you can reincorporate healthy fats with good carbohydrates and fruits again. Good fats here means unsatured fats. In 2009, a study done by the British Journal Nutrition showed that subjects who consumed more unsaturated fats got less belly fat.[4] When eating fruits, please take note that you are not allowed to eat fruits that you took in phase one that are high in sugar.
Salads can now be doused with a good serving of virgin olive oil and with healthy fats, these would include avocados, whole eggs and nuts. Being in Phase Three is like unleashing all the power that your metabolism can release to burn fat and this is where participants burn the most.
Recommended dishes for Phase Three:
Breakfast – slice of sprouted grain toast with almond butter and blueberries on top, 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg omelet with veggies
Snack – half an avocado or hummus and carrots
Lunch – tuna salad wrap made with celery, carrots, cilantro and safflower mayonnaise with side of strawberries
Snack – 12 almonds
Dinner – salmon with sweet potatoes and salads