You hear people speak of it all the time, they blame it for them being fat and also for being too thin; metabolism What is it? It's the process of converting food to energy (movement and heat). Metabolism happens within your muscles and organs and its result is the burning of calories. Metabolism is essentially the speed at which your body's engine is running.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the metabolic rate or caloric expenditure needed to maintain essential bodily functions such as your heart beating, breathing, muscle contraction, etc. It's how fast your "motor" is running when you're still in a reclined position or sleeping. Basal metabolism accounts for about 75% of the calories you burn on a daily basis.

Fortunately we are about to tell you of 11 ways you can boost your metabolism The more of these you are able to incorporate into your life, the higher metabolic rate will be, that means you'll be burning more calories 24 hours a day, while doing nothing!

1. Always eat breakfast Skipping breakfast sends the message to your body that you're starving because you haven't had food in 8 hours or more An automatic reaction to prevent your body going into a state known as atrophy (breaking down), your metabolism slows down. Food, mainly protein and complex carbohydrates, are best to fuel your metabolism.

2. Eat earlier in the day Research has demonstrated that you can lose weight simply by eating a substantial breakfast and lunch, and a light dinner. Dinner should be eaten as early as possible, preferably at least four hours before bedtime, and supper should be a high protein if not protein only.

3. Never eat less than 1200 calories per day! Less than 1200 is usually not enough to support your basal metabolism and thus will slow your metabolism.

4. Eat frequently! Complex carbohydrates and protein fuel your metabolism. Also a regular food intake prevents you from becoming too hungry and bingeing. The hungrier you are the less control you have over what and how much you eat.

5. Eat more fibrous carbohydrates (food from leafy green plants), and less fat (food from many animals and other food with added fat)! Fibrous carbohydrates keep your digestive system working, thus sending a message to the brain saying you don’t need any more food, many fibrous carbs contain less calories per 100gr than your body will burn off trying to digest them, in a way giving you NEGATIVE CALORIES.

6. Do some type of aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, etc) on a daily basis (preferably in the morning)! Forget this twice-a-week stuff. Our bodies were designed to be active on a daily basis! When we are, our metabolism soars!

7. In addition to your regular aerobic exercise, try and do 20 minutes of aerobic/cardio work in the evening, even something as simple as a bri Exercise your muscles with weight training three or more days per week. Toned muscles send your metabolism through the roof. The muscles are the furnaces which burn the fuel, the bigger they are the more they burn, the more they are used the higher your BMR becomes.

9. Avoid alcohol! Alcohol suppresses your metabolism and stimulates your appetite, not only does it do this but alcohol lowers inhibitions and your will power to refuse wrong foodstuffs may be severely diminished Alcohol is really a fourth food group which the body converts to fat for storage, so straight onto the waistline.

10. Drink 3 litres of water a day Your metabolism needs plenty water to function properly. Carry a bottle of water with you and drink frequently throughout the day, water carries away the broken down lipids in the urine not leaving them in the system for potential re-absorption.

11. Drink coffee or green tea. Both can also boost the metabolic rate and may also assist in breaking down fat cells.

The sooner you incorporate our turbo charging tips the sooner you’ll see your waistline shrink and those elusive abs start to appear.