How to reset your metabolism: 10 tips

Wondering how to reset your metabolism? While that’s not a scientific term, here are 10 things that can influence how your body uses energy, and some of them have been linked to burning more calories: 

1. Eating regularly

2. Following a schedule

3. Practicing strength training

4. Getting your cardio in

5. Moving around throughout the day

6. Drinking coffee or tea

7. Staying hydrated

8. Eating plenty of protein

9. Adding spice to your diet

10. Reducing stress levels 

Keep reading for a closer look at each of these strategies.

While you can’t control all the factors that influence your metabolism, some things are within your control. Try these tips to reset your metabolism.

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1. Eat regularly

One way to support a healthy metabolism is to make sure you're eating enough to fuel your body, rather than relying on extreme diets. While eating more frequently isn't necessarily going to speed up your metabolism, severely restricting calories can have the opposite effect. When you drastically cut calories, your body may start burning fewer calories at rest to conserve energy, which can make continued weight loss more challenging.

If you're a morning exerciser, eating breakfast before your workout may offer some benefits, too. Research suggests that eating beforehand can improve performance during longer workouts, such as running or cycling for more than an hour. However, eating breakfast itself hasn't been shown to increase the number of calories your body burns at rest.

2. Follow a schedule

Following an eating schedule can help ensure you get enough food and quality sleep while reinforcing your natural circadian rhythm. Intermittent fasting, which involves restricting your food intake to a set period (usually 8–12 hours), may improve sleep and prevent weight gain, but research has yet to consistently prove that.

3. Practice strength training

Strength and resistance training can help increase muscle mass and your resting metabolic rate. You’re not limited to weightlifting, either. Resistance training that uses your body weight can also work.

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Basal metabolic rate is an estimate of how many calories you'd burn if you were to do nothing but rest for a day.

4. Get your cardio in 

Aerobic cardiovascular exercise can also boost your metabolism while you're active and may temporarily increase calorie burning afterward. It also decreases your risk of heart disease and diabetes. So, go for a run, try a HIIT workout, or dance the night away.

5. Move around

Non-exercise activities like cleaning your house or simply standing up from your desk also burn calories. Scientists call this non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT for short. Consider this your excuse to take more breaks during your work day!

6. Drink coffee or tea 

Caffeine, found in coffee and some teas,  can speed up your metabolism temporarily and has also been associated with fat loss.

7. Stay hydrated

Staying hydrated is important for your body to function properly, and that includes your metabolism. Some small studies have suggested that drinking water may briefly increase calorie burning, while other studies have not found the same effect.

8. Eat plenty of protein

Protein helps you build and maintain muscle, which can help with weight loss. People with more muscle mass naturally burn more calories because muscle mass is more metabolically active than fat.

9. Throw a little spice into your diet 

Chili peppers contain a chemical called capsaicin, which may decrease your appetite and belly fat. They may also raise metabolism, potentially resulting in up to 50 extra calories burned daily. However, these effects appear to be small, and there’s limited evidence that eating spicy foods meaningfully boosts your metabolism.

10. Chill out

When you’re stressed, it can affect your appetite, sleep, and hormones, which may make it harder to manage your weight. People who are chronically stressed may notice an increase in appetite and a decrease in metabolism.  Getting more sleep can lower stress cortisol levels, as can mindfulness meditation.

Your metabolism includes all the processes your body uses to turn food into energy. Your metabolic rate describes how many calories your body uses over a certain period. 

Your metabolism is responsible for breaking down the protein, fats, and carbohydrates you eat and converting them into energy, body tissue, and fat. Lots of things impact your metabolism, including:

• Your sex: Biological females tend to have lower muscle mass and slower metabolisms than biological males.

• Your genetics: Your genes can influence how many calories your body burns at rest and how it uses energy. This helps explain why metabolism can vary from person to person, even among people of similar age, size, and activity level.

• Your level of physical activity: Higher levels of physical activity can increase your metabolism.

• Your diet: The types of food you eat can also impact your metabolism. For example, protein can help you build more muscle mass and may positively affect metabolism.

• Your sleep quality: Not getting enough sleep can affect how your body regulates blood sugar, hunger, and appetite. Research suggests that insufficient sleep may make you feel hungrier and eat more, even though it doesn't consistently lower the number of calories your body burns at rest.

• Your overall health: Certain medical conditions, such as hypothyroidism, can lower your metabolic rate. Other conditions can affect how your body uses energy in different ways.

Some of these factors are within your control, while others are less so. For example, as much as you might want to, you can’t reverse the aging process. But you do have some control over your body composition and muscle mass, two factors that affect your metabolism . 

There's no set timeline for how long it takes to “reset” your metabolism. Instead, focus on the bigger picture and build sustainable, healthy habits that can improve your metabolism over time. 

Healthy, sustainable habits like a healthy diet and regular exercise can make a difference in your metabolism and health in the long term. It’s more important to focus on this rather than on quick metabolism resets that lack scientific evidence. 

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While you can't reset your metabolism, certain healthy lifestyle strategies can support the way your body uses energy:

• A balanced diet with enough protein can help muscle and overall metabolic health. Staying hydrated is also important. 

• Certain foods (namely, caffeine and spicy foods) may temporarily increase calorie burning in small amounts. 

• Exercise can also improve metabolism. Practice strength training to build muscle mass, get your cardio in, and increase regular movement throughout the day outside of exercise. 

• Many factors affect your metabolism, some of which are out of your control. Contributing factors include your genes, sex, age, diet, physical activity levels, sleep quality, and overall health.