1. You Don’t do Any Form of Strength Training

Strength training helps you build lean muscle mass, which speeds metabolism and increases your rate of calorie burn. Lifting weights is the obvious choice and most experts suggest adding two or three strength training sessions to your weekly exercise routine. However, yoga, resistance bands and bodyweight moves are additional choices that can help you see results.

2. You Let Stress Get to You

It’s impossible to totally avoid stress, but letting it ruin your day can actually cause your body to slow your metabolism. Experts say to counteract your stress with laughter and good times. If you are stuck in a traffic jam, turn on the comedy radio station. If work is threatening to do you in, watch a couple of cat videos on YouTube. Problem solved.

3. You Have a Job That Requires Sitting All Day

Even if you work out regularly and lift weights a couple of times each week, sitting down all day allows your body to start breaking those muscles down. Obviously, you can’t quit your job, but you can fight a slower metabolism by getting up and moving around for a few minutes every hour or so. This can be as simple as walking around the office or do a few light stretches in your office.

4. Your Diet is Low in Protein

Protein has several purposes inside your body and one of them is preserving lean muscle mass. If you skimp on protein, you could be hindering the process. You should be eating protein at every meal. Good sources include lean beef, chicken breasts, fish, beans, nuts, eggs and low-fat dairy foods. Adding them to your meal plan shouldn’t be too hard and can really rev your metabolism.

5. You Have Too Many Cocktails

When you drink alcohol, your body naturally wants to break it down before any food that might be in your stomach. This slows your metabolism. Research shows that having a drink can keep you trim, but you have to stop at one. Going to happy hour on a regular basis could be the culprit behind your slow metabolism. Have seltzer or a virgin cocktail instead.

6. You Are Starving Yourself

You might be under the impression that skipping meals can help you save calories, but when you do this your body goes into starvation mode, which slows your metabolism. One of the best things you can do for your metabolism is to eat every couple of hours. This will keep things humming along normally and prevent your metabolism from getting too sluggish.

7. You Choose Coffee over Green Tea

Research shows that people who drink a few cups of green tea every day have a faster metabolism than those who opt for coffee most of the time. You don’t have to give up your latte, but swap it out for green tea a few times per day and you may notice that your weight starts to go down just a bit without much extra work.

Why do you think your metabolism is so slow? What will you do to speed it up?