The human body's metabolic rate is as constant as your heart - it never stops. Even if you are resting, your metabolism chugs along processing calories. While the actual chain of events during the metabolic process are quite complicated, your metabolism can be simply described as the system the body uses to process and use the energy from the calories you intake. One of the biggest problems with all the fad diets today is they do not promote change to your metabolic rate. People who struggle to increase muscle while losing body fat are most likely slowing down their metabolic rate through not feeding it properly.

Protein and carbohydrates are vital ingredients to increased metabolic activity. Most fad diets are actually anti- protein and anti- carb, thus your metabolism is robbed of the fuel it needs to speed up. Your body reads this as a signal of starvation, and your metabolic rate actually slows down.

The result is increased fat storage as your body does wants to store as much fat as possible "in case of emergency." You can raise your body's metabolic rate by eating a diet rich in protein and carbohydrates. One key, though, is eating the right kind of carbohydrates and proteins to foster weight loss. Two things to avoid at all costs are processed and refined foods, for example breads that are made with processed flours and sugars. These unnatural ingredients are disastrous to your metabolism.

Some great foods rich in healthy protein are fish, nuts, and natural beef. Fatty cuts of steak, hamburger, and other such protein items are not the best options. Whole grains and unprocessed, natural sources of fiber in natural breads and vegetables are another great option to help fuel your metabolism. Finally, another benefit of natural grains is they are rich in fiber, which is another helpful ingredient in processing calories.

Additionally, there is another way to give yourself a great chance at a successful diet. Lean muscle development through light weight lifting will allow for another rise in your metabolic rate. It is well known that lean muscle works harder to burn more calories, meaning your metabolism will be running faster. Having lean muscle development work together with your simple diet changes will put you on the right track to sustained weight loss. Most people go by the standard three meals a day approach, and simply cut back on the caloric intake at each meal.

However, large numbers of calories are introduced at each meal, thus increasing the chances that the body will have to store some as fat as it can not burn off all the calories at one time. Instead, eat as many as six times per day, only smaller portions each time. This reduces the number of calories introduced at any one time, and your body eventually is trained to understand it can burn off many of those calories immediately, as they will be replaced again very soon.

Couple this with the increased muscle mass, which burns more calories, and your body will start to turn into a calorie burning machine. At the beginning of any diet plan, it is normal to see a nice drop in weight almost instantly because of the high metabolic rate and suddenly reduced calories. The negative calorie balance will allow for some weight loss quite quickly. But, your body will adjust to the new levels and that initial pace will rapidly decline without other changes. Most dieters experience this plateau effect and will give up on their diets at this point. Sustained weight loss can be achieved through a nice combination of healthy eating of proteins and carbohydrates, lean muscle development, and an exercise plan.

For more practical tips on diet, weight loss, lean muscle gain and even food that increases metabolism, check out e-dietnews.com.