Maybe this sounds like you: You run three or four times a week, and you watch what you eat. But lately you've noticed that you have a little less energy and a little more, uh, meat around the waistline.

You've tried running more (good) and eating less (not so good), but the result is you have even less energy, plus you're hungry. Worse, you see no change around the middle, much less in your thighs. At this point, you throw in the towel and stuff yourself, because you're dying of hunger.

What's going on here? We're willing to bet that your metabolism, your body's calorie-burning furnace, is stuck on low. Especially if you're older than 30, at which point your metabolism begins to drop by about one percent a year. But here's the thing: You can fight back. You can boost your metabolism in several ways, as you're about to see.

But first, a quick physiology lesson: Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. It's broken down into three parts—the three burners in your metabolic stove top. The largest burner is your basal metabolism (sometimes called your resting metabolism), which accounts for about 60 percent of the calories you expend each day. You burn these calories simply to exist, including at night when you're sleeping. The second burner is your activity metabolism, which makes up about 30 percent of the daily calories that you use. These are calories you burn during running, as well as while sweeping the floor or walking upstairs. The final burner is your thermic metabolism—calories you expend digesting food. And certain foods take more energy (i.e., calories) to digest, so you'll want to emphasize them whenever possible. Now, if you work it right, a good metabolism-boosting program will turn up the heat on all three burners. And when this happens, you'll start getting leaner and faster. You need to make some simple changes to (1) your exercise routine, (2) your eating habits, and (3) the supplements you take.

Exercise
You're already in the driver's seat, becauserunning—especially quicker-paced running—is one of the best ways to fire up your metabolism (and keep it fired up). To get maximal metabolic boost, you need to add weight training. Tweak your running workouts as well, and try twice-a-day workouts on occasion. Here's the plan.

Lift heavy Weight
Lifting is an excellent four-in-one attack on your laz y metabolism. It not only burns gobs of calories, elevating your activity metabolism while you're lifting, but also can cause an "afterburn" (the period of time your basal metabolism remains stoked by the weight session) that can last for 48 hours. Plus, weight training builds muscle, which increases your basal metabolism permanently (by 50 calories per day for each pound of muscle you gain). Finally, it stimulates your body to produce more Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which helps increase muscle mass and burn fat.

But these metabolism increases don't come easy. You need to stress the muscle with heavy weights and fewer repetitions, which is the opposite of how most runners have been told to lift. "Start with a weight that you can lift only 10 times, and increase that weight once you can lift it 15 times," says Wayne Westcott, a YMCA national strength-training consultant. This will ensure that you are continuously taxing the muscle, not just looking good in the weight-room mirror. Westcott recommends a simple four-lift session for boosting metabolism: (1) squat or leg press, (2) chest press, (3) lat pulldown, (4) shoulder press. Try for two sets (10 to 15 reps) two times a week. Three times for a maximum boost.

Run fast
If you seriously want to crank your metabolism through running, you'll have to add some speed to your program. Fast running burns lots of calories (activity metabolism), and comes with an hour or more of afterburn (basal metabolism). But it has to be fast. "It is becoming fairly clear that metabolism does remain elevated for at least a couple of hours after the workout—assuming the workout was somewhat taxing," says the University of Washington's Greg Crowther, Ph.D. Plus, fast running stimulates your body to produce more HGH. Try one of these fast-burn workouts at least once a week, preferably twice a week: 6 to 8 x 400 meters at 1-mile race pace; 4 or 5 x 800 meters at 5-K race pace; 3 or 4 x 1 mile at 10-K race pace. Each of these workouts will incinerate calories and jack up your metabolism in the process. Note: Proof of the fat- and calorie-burning power of fast running comes from a study done several years ago at Laval University in Quebec, which showed that runners who add speed training to their programs burn several times more fat than do runners engaged in slower, steady-state running.

Try two-a-days
They've received a bad rap from psychotic football coaches, but twice-a-day workouts aren't the drudgery they may sound like. Plus, they'll keep your metabolism higher for an extended amount of time with the two afterburn periods during the day. And your body will manufacture more HGH, which will boost muscle mass. Not to mention you'll simply burn more calories because of the extra exercise. Try this: On the days you lift weights, run for 20 to 30 minutes in the morning or at lunch time, then lift in the evening. You'll feel energized by the first workout thanks to your increased metabolism. Then make sure you eat and drink steadily so you stay energized going into your strength workout.

Food
To boost metabolism by way of the foods you eat, think protein, calcium, fiber, and spices. In other words, every meal should be a chicken burrito topped with hot peppers and a glass of milk to wash it all down. Not really, but almost. Be protein-active Protein generally takes longer to digest, meaning you are burning more calories while your body is breaking it down. Try to eat some protein at every meal (it doesn't have to be a steak or chicken breast; it could be something like peanut butter on toast for breakfast) and at snack time (cottage cheese instead of pretzels), and you will crank up your thermic metabolism by as much as one-third during the day.

Drink your milk
Studies have shown that calcium boosts basal metabolism, and it can aid in fat-burning by making your body prefer fat as fuel. Calcium in foods is preferable to calcium from supplements, but don't go overboard and drink gallons of milk. "There is no added benefit from getting more than the recommended daily allowance," says Linda Houtkooper, Ph.D., R.D., a nutrition professor at the University of Arizona. "The problem is, many adult runners don't even do that." The RDA for calcium is 1,200 milligrams a day, or four 1-cup servings of milk.

Go for fiber
Just like protein, high-fiber foods increase the thermic effect because they take longer to digest, which means you burn more calories in the process. Healthy, high-fiber foods to eat throughout the day include beans, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole-grain breads. To help her get more fiber, Houtkooper eats whole tomatoes the way you would eat an apple (not recommended while you're on the phone or during a business lunch). Spice it up Spicy foods do more than make you sweat. "Research has shown that capsaicin, the spicy ingredient in hot peppers, can temporarily speed up your metabolism," says nutritionist Scott Fisher, R.D., of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey.

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