If you are serious about weight loss and staying fit & trim, you need to increase your metabolism. The BMR or basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories you burn at rest. By increasing metabolism, you will burn more calories, and melt more body fat, and it's that simple.

But first, there are thing you should also avoid that will lead to decrease in metabolism, and these are :

1. skipping meals
2. snacking on foods with high sugar content
3. fasting
4. low-calorie diet
5. lack of exercise or physical activity.

Now below are some tips to increase your metabolism :

1. Eat as early as possible in the morning, start the day with a good breakfast. When your body goes to starvation, the body will conserve it's energy, and metabolism decreases.

2. Don't allow your diet to be below 1200 calories in a day. If you do eat below that amount, metabolism will decrease.

3. Have a constant regular exercise, about 4-5 days per week which will increase metabolism. Biking, jogging, elliptical training, and walking are all great forms of exercise.

4. Low glycemic carbohydrates will increase your metabolism, and they have less calories per unit volume of fat. Eat fruits, legumes, whole grains, and vegetables.

5. Do Weight training about 3 times a week or more which will build more muscles and increase metabolism and burn more fat.

6. Moderate your alcoholic beverages intake per day.

7. Drink lots of water per day. When you have a higher metabolism, your body will need more water so drink at least 64 ounces of water or more every day.

Be sure to keep in mind that BMR is the calories you burn when at rest. By increasing metabolism, you will increase BMR, and this will lead to more fat burnt.