When you wake up, your metabolism is a bit slow. The best thing you can do to rev up your metabolism is to eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking.

For those of you that are afraid to eat because you are trying to lose weight,you need to consider a couple of things.

POINT #1 - If you don't have breakfast soon after waking, your metabolism slows even further and goes into what is commonly referred to as "starvation mode." When this alarm signal has been triggered, your body decides that it may not be fed well today and shifts from a calorie-burning mode to a calorie-storing mode. Put simply, skipping breakfast is the perfect way to set your body up to "store" calories all day long as opposed to burning them. This is hardly the goal if you are interested in losing weight.

POINT #2 - After a night's slumber, your blood-sugar is low. In order to have the energy and focus to tackle the day, you need to raise your blood-sugar levels or you risk getting hypoglycemic. When your blood-glucose levels drop too low, your body will seek out simple sugars to get it back up quickly (the human body is a terrific survivor.) Unfortunately, your body knows that the best way to raise those levels is to grab the nearest snickers bar or can of soda. I have personally experienced this, and it is very hard to stop eating when you get to this point. Skipping breakfast not only causes you to make bad food choices, but almost guarantees that you will overeat at some point.

POINT #3 - Your muscles are vitally important in keeping your metabolism high. After 6, 7, or 8 hours of rest, you need to feed your muscles or your body will feed on them. Really? Yes. Without giving your body energy from food, it will seek to get it from somewhere else. It will literally break down your muscle tissue (catabolism), and use the amino acids for energy. This is wonderful for survival purposes, but terrible for your metabolism and your appearance. Maintaining muscle is not only super important to your metabolism, it gives your body the shape and firmness we desire.

POINT #4 - Research confirms that breakfast eaters are more likely to not only lose weight, but keep it off forever! Recent research also clearly concludes that people who eat breakfast, actually eat fewer calories during the day.

One final point for those that are truly not hungry in the morning. First of all, this is a sign that your metabolism is slow from years of unhealthy habits. I hate to use the word "force", but I urge you to have something soon after you get up. It could be as simple as a yogurt, or a banana with some all-natural peanut butter. Get your body to believe that it won't be starved and it will be more willing to give up or "burn" energy all day long. Also, have your cup of "joe" with your breakfast or after, but not before. Caffeine is an appetite suppressant, and will temporarily take away your desire to eat.