Metabolism is the chemical reaction in the body that breaks down and uses the nutrients in the foods we eat.
This requires energy to get this done.
Knowledge of your own body and how it reacts to different foods is vital to your success in losing fat and inches.
You need to know what foods speed metabolism for you specifically.
First, let's look at what foods speed metabolism up for most people.

• Broccoli.
  Along with the whole family of cruciferous vegetables, broccoli packs a good punch in boosting your metabolism.
  Cabbage, cauliflower, radish, brussel sprouts, turnips, watercress, parsnips, and mustard to name a few.
  Yes, I know odds are you hate some or all of these foods.
  If you can learn to love 2 or 3 of these, and eat them often, you will be more healthy on the inside and out.
  
• Apples.
  There is just something about apples, they really do keep the doctor away and they do wonders for burning the fat.
  A few other top notch fruits are lemons, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, oranges, and pears.
  Everyone likes at least 2 or 3 of these.
  
• Cucumber.
  Cucumber and all vegetables with high fiber and water content are great because the body actually burns more calories to absorb it than the number of calories in the food.
  Is this possible? Negative calories? Celery, lettuce and spinach are all in this group.
  Of course skip the cream cheese on the celery or the full fat Ranch dressing on the lettuce and you are good to go.
  
• Natural (caught in the wild) fish.
  Salmon is the king in this category.
  Very high in Omega-3 fatty acids which is very good for you in many ways including helping your body metabolize.
  Tuna, trout, walleye, white fish.
  Shell fish not as much since they are high in other fats.
  
• Tea.
  The green kind.
  Drink green tea a couple times per day and this will be a great catalyst for burning the fat.
  Green tea of course has many other health benefits like cancer prevention so give it a shot or two.
  

Those are the no brainer ones, but in the thousands of foods we like or dislike there will be a few dozen or more that really work great for you and might not work so great for someone else.
How do you figure this out? I had that question too, and thought this might not be worth all the effort.
Calorie counting, diet and exercise diary, careful choices of food and time of day to eat, meal planning.
Too much work.
Then a friend recommended something special that did it for me.