How To Increase Your Metabolism 

As dieting at low body fat levels can be very tricky, you may want to know how to increase your metabolism for squeezing more progress. At this stage, your body does everything to reduce calorie expenditure, so any little help could make a difference.

First and foremost, make sure that your program includes some days when calories are increased to maintenance or slightly above. Bear in mind that applying the strategy exposed in this article won't make any damn difference if you fail to organize properly your diet.

Your body acts like an paranoid wife who is too anxious about the future. Especially when the savings are scarce, she has the bad habit to hide your money, which is a complete turn off because you just want to have a few drinks with your friends.

So what do you do? Simple. Once in a while, give her what she really needs, or otherwise she would make your life impossible. Now you may wonder what does satisfying your wife to do with how to increase your metabolism. 

Well, in a similar vein, you should give your body the impression that life is sweet in order to reset the hormonal response, and avoid the adaptive decrease in metabolic rate.

(It's not so much about hormones as the systems that they control such as nervous system output, thyroid and a few others.)

However, when you get to single digit body fat, life is not that sweet, and you may need more than cheat days to strip away more adipose tissue.

And the leaner you are, the smaller your calorie deficit should be, which means that the metabolic adaptations can sabotage your dieting efforts.

So here you are, wondering how to increase your metabolism to maintain a calorie deficit.

Now, you have two options. Whether you have the patience to stick with my stubborn fat solution, or take a shortcut in a form of a cheap compound called ECA stack. (There are other supplements that might work such as yohimbine.)

I don't really recommend the second option, but, well, it's up to you. However, keep in mind that this supplement won't do shit if you don't  keep an eye on your calorie intake. 

Some evidence confirmed that when ephedrine is combined with caffeine and aspirin (ECA stack), the results may outweigh the risks. This mixture has been shown to increase metabolic rate, suppress appetite, increase lipolysis, and decrease muscle loss on a diet.

While the exact mechanism of action is not fully understood, the researchers believe that when the three compounds are taken together, they cause the body to raise its sympathetic nervous system (SNS) output through an increased production of noradrenaline.

Also, further analysis showed that ephedrine increases the output of T3 and T4 by the thyroid gland.

For those of you who don't know or care, the sympathetic system is involved in the “fight or flight” response to urgent/stressful situations (or what you think are emergencies) where the body prepares itself for immediate survival threats.

For this reason, additional nutrients and oxygen are being delivered to the muscles, and the body is flooded with stimulant hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline.

Therefore, your performance at the gym may improve, which could explain the ephedrine's ability to preserve muscle mass.

To top things off, it seems that the thermogenic effects of ECA increase over time, as opposed to most drugs whose effects normally diminish with regular use.

Although this compound is safe for most people, you should be aware that it's a potent stimulant with potential negative side effects.

Those of you with a history of strokes or cardiac attacks in your families should refrain from using any ephedra products. The same goes if you decide to train outdoors on a hot day. (You don't want to have the fate of Steve Bechler.)

It's very important to begin with a low dose in order to assess your tolerance. A good start would be half of the normal dose, which is usually around 20 mg of ephedrine / 200 mg of caffeine / 300 mg of aspirin.

As a final caveat, taking that much aspirin could be a great way to burn a hole in your stomach and get an ulcer, so you may want to break it into pieces before swallowing it.

In conclusion, ECA stack may prove useful when you are already in a good shape, and want to put the final touches on your body. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, when you get at this level of leanness, any trivial detail could make a difference.

Personally, I believe that this detail is irrelevant, and may cause complications when combined with bouts of very intense training such as 20 rep squats.

I've achieved outstanding results without taking any ephedra supplements, and so can you.

Wondering how to increase your metabolism, doesn't have to turn into an obsession, and you need to be very cautious about this product.

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