"How much conflicting information or unclear definitions have you read about metabolism and the idea of metabolic change? It's not surprising that there is confusion around these subjects. We need to get clear on what these terms actually mean. We need to define metabolism and define metabolic change. When we lose weight or gain weight in a way that is significant to us, we may misguidedly attribute this weight change to metabolic changes. Metabolism can be increased, this is scientifically proven. When we do this, our bodies end up burning more calories because the body is functioning physiologically in a way that uses ore calories. What happens for example when we eat foods that are proven to increase our metabolism on a regular basis or we sit in a sauna or steam room for many hours? the answer is visible weight loss. But why? Whereas the eating the right foods is a real, proven weight loss method through increased metabolic change, the the steam room method is just temporary because the lost weight is merely water, and will return as swiftly as it ""melted away"". The point to remember here is that some people mistake their own weight loss attempts as being related to metabolic change; and, as you can see with the steam room example, that isn't always the case. A Major Mistaken Association About Boosting Your Metabolism - Low Lipid Foods Another reason for the misconception is the because of food and supplement companies on the market who don't want you to know fact from fiction. They want you to believe that constantly buying ""low fat"" foods is going to somehow speed up your metabolism. Yes, some low fat foods can play a role in an overall eating program that is designed to speed up metabolism, merely eating foods that come from packaging that screams ""LOW FAT!"" won't do anything. In fact, but many people actually gain weight when they eat too many ""low fat"" products. Many of these products are laden with calories from carbohydrates or proteins still must be burned off or they turn into body fat. Working out the truth of metabolism is a process which when we think about it is quite depressing. Thousands upon millions of people try to lose weight each year by speeding up their metabolism, but fail and think they've failed I trying to reclim control over their health and wellbeing. However, it is the nutritional and health services who should bear the weight of responsibility in telling us how we can safely and properly speed up our metabolism and which foods will help us to do so. And given the size of the nutritional field and the fact that so much of it is influenced by money-making enterprises there's really no sense in playing a ""wait and see"" game for when clear, consistent, and helpful information starts to flow out to people like us."