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Can you really increase your metabolism?

Can you boost your metabolism? Photo: Getty Images.

Drink green tea. Build more muscle. Eat chili peppers. The list of ways you can increase your metabolic rate are endless. But when it comes to reaching your weight-loss goals, how much of a difference do those tactics really make?

Not as much as any weight-loss warrior would like, says Tim Church, professor of preventative medicine at Louisiana State University. That's because your metabolism largely comes down to two factors: your genetics and your size.

If your parents had slow metabolisms, you probably will, too. There's not much you can do to change that, says Church.

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Meanwhile, the larger you are, the faster your metabolism actually is. "Someone who is morbidly obese burns an enormous amount of kilojoules every day," says Church.

On the flip side, the smaller you are, the slower your metabolism is. After all, it takes less fuel to run a tiny person than it does to run a large person. It's a cruel twist for any woman trying to lose weight and get in shape.

Still, while you can't exchange your metabolism for that of a much luckier woman, a few kilojoules here and there do add up. For instance, research shows that drinking two to four cups of green tea per day may raise your metabolism by 160 kilojoules per day. That's a lot of tea and not a ton of calories, but, hey, that equals a good five pounds lost in a single year.

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Meanwhile, in a study published in The American Journal of Clinical, people who consumed capsinoids (compounds in chili peppers) every day for 12 weeks didn't enjoy a significant increase in resting metabolism, but their rates of fat oxidation and their levels of belly fat did decrease.

And according to research from the University of Utah, for every three per cent of your body weight in water you lose, your resting metabolism drops by two per cent. Again, not huge, but it makes a difference over the long term.

What's more, exercise, or more specifically, strength training, can help support a healthy metabolism. After all, muscle burns more kilojoules than fat. However, the difference might not be as big as you think: seventeen kJs, to be precise. Half a kilo of fat burns eight kilojoules per day, and a half a kilo of muscle burns twenty five.

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However, the biggest kilojoule-burning benefit of exercise isn't muscle—it's getting moving. "The key to burning more kilojoules is always going to be more active," says Church. "In the end, weight loss comes down to pure hard work. People don't like to hear it, but it's true."