5 Tips to Manage Calories

Below I've listed some tips that you can incorporate into your day that can help maximize your metabolism in a seamless, non-invasive way.

1. Shake, Don't Stir Your Salad. How many times have you bitten into a salad and the first bite tastes like pure ranch and the next bite is like you're eating dry grass? That's probably because the dressing just isn't distributed evenly. The majority of calories contained in salads are found within the dressing. A handy tip here is to pack a salad in a sealed container, add around 1/4-1/2 of the dressing you normally might, reseal it, and shake. You'll be surprised at how much further a little will go!

2. Drink Ice Cold Water. One of the primary functions of your metabolic system is to keep your core body temperature at steady levels. By consuming very cold water throughout your day, it forces your body to work slightly higher at maintaining your own body heat and therefore burn a little bit more calories without any increased activity. Plus the elevated water consumption is an added boost to your health!

3. Dip, Don't Drench. This is the same basic principle as tip #1 but applies to other varieties of food. Think about how many times you've poured ketchup over fries and ended up dipping them in even more right after? That's because our minds mislead us sometimes into thinking we require more of something than we actually need. Dipping food in sauce, as opposed to covering it, insures you control the amount better and don't consume excess calories.

4 Eat Foods with High Thermic Effect. So first off, what is thermic effect? Thermic effect is the amount of energy (calories) required to digest the food you eat. Protein rich foods (lean chicken breast, fish, eggs, etc.) are harder to digest and burn more calories being processed by the body. Around 25%-40% of the calories contained in protein rich food are burned just in the digestion process.

5. Moderate caffeine intake. Caffeine is known to elevate heart rate and blood flow which elevates metabolism. Common sources are black coffee and tea. Now, this isn't to say you should chug coffee in the hopes of "getting skinny fast." Excess caffeine intake can cause a variety of negative, and potentially dangerous, side effects. Consult your doctor before consuming anything that can affect blood pressure or heart rate.

After reading this, consider what steps you can easily integrate into your daily routine and make sure it fits in with your lifestyle. If you don't like coffee, don't drink it. Or maybe tea's more of your, well, cup of tea! Remember, the greatest tip in the world isn't effective unless you can actually put it into action!