Here’s good news to kick off your day — you have an internal thermostat that’s working tirelessly to help you burn calories and torch fat….your metabolism! Even if you feel you have slow metabolism, you have the ability to speed it up to maximize the calories you burn each day, even when you’re resting. How your body burns fat and releases calories depends on several factors, and today I’ll show you the 5 BEST ways to boost your fat-burning potential.

Build Muscle

Your body is constantly burning calories, even when you sleep. However, muscle burns more calories than fat. So, women who have more lean muscle mass have a much higher resting metabolic rate and burn more calories, even when their bodies aren’t moving. Here are the facts: one pound of muscle burns six calories a day, while one pound of fat burns only two calories a day…and those calories add up overtime!

More importantly, muscle makes you stronger so you’re naturally  more physical throughout the day. And, your other activities…from walking, to hiking to climbing up the stairs can be performed at a higher intensity, which means you’re burning even more calories in your daily life.

(Read more: 6 Shocking Reasons To Strength Train)

Integrate, Don’t Isolate

Using the “Integrate Don’t Isolate” method trains your body to perform functionally…the way nature intended. Whether it’s playing tag with the grandkids or hoisting a bag into the overhead compartment on a flight, real life is about twisting, bending, lifting, and pulling. This functional integration recruits multiple muscle groups and trains them to work as a team, improving your metabolism, efficiency, balance and reducing your risk of injury.

So next time you work out, try using this functional approach to focus on integration. For example, instead of doing a basic bicep curl and isolating the muscle, perform a bicep curl combined with a lunge, so that you’re incorporating both upper and lower body muscles as well as the core. Integrating multiple muscle groups in an exercise boosts metabolism and burns more calories in less time, making it a terrific timesaver.

(Read more: 6 Functional Integration Moves to Tone Your Entire Body)

HIIT It

We all want to raise our metabolic rate, even after we untie our running shoes. The key to igniting your calorie-burning engines for several hours after your workout is HIIT training (also called “interval” or “burst” training). HIIT training uses short bursts of higher intensity when you work out. For example, if you’re on a brisk walk, try amping up your intensity for 60-second bursts, then continue at a steady-state pace for 60-seconds, and continue this cycle for 10 minutes.

One of the key reasons HIIT training is so effective in helping your body shed calories is because it raises your Lactate Threshold. When you reach your lactate threshold, you’re starting to “feel the burn.” That’s the feeling of your body producing more of the waste product lactic acid than it can clear away. The more the lactic acid builds up, the more you feel the burn. The lactate threshold is what keeps you from pushing harder and breaking through your workout barriers.If you only work out at a steady state pace and don’t push yourself during your workouts, you never reach that limit. But when you push yourself to that grimace range a few times a week by doing some burst training, you raise the calorie count of your workouts and speed up your body’s natural calorie-burning engines.

(Read more: Lose Weight In Less Time With Interval Training)

Eat Every 3-4 Hours

When you eat is as important as what you eat. In order to rev up your metabolism, it’s important to stay on schedule, eating a small 400-calorie meal or 200-calorie snack every 3 to 4 hours. I prefer to have my meals scheduled between 8 am and 7 pm, including four meals and one snack. Do this consistently, and you’ll experience fewer hunger pangs, steadier energy levels, and you’ll be less tempted to “cheat,” thus improving your chances of weight loss success.

(Read more: 22 Simple and Healthy Snack Ideas)

Take Turmeric

In the spice game, turmeric is a true all-star. This powerful anti-inflammatory is usually associated with spicy Indian dishes – but there’s so much more to it than that. The key ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, which may just work wonders for the body. Studies suggest that curcumin can not only help speed up your metabolism but also improve your insulin production, aids in proper carbohydrate absorption, and helps clear the plaque in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s.