I hear you wondering… “Michelle, what does my morning routine even have to do with fat loss?”
But, you know by now that I take a big picture approach to healthy fat loss – just cutting out all your favourite foods isn’t a sustainable strategy and it doesn’t address WHY you’re having trouble losing weight or keeping it off in the first place.
Like excessive hunger or food noise thanks to nervous system dysregulation and insulin resistance making fat extra hard to lose thanks to an overflow of stress and busy-ness in my client’s daily lives. The 30’s and 40’s are NO joke when it comes to challenges to these essential body systems.
First, Choose Targeted and Healthy Fat Loss & Nutrition Goals:
- Balanced blood sugar and lower insulin to slow fat storage and make it easier to burn fat for energy
- Decreasing our stress response and cortisol to boost happy hormones and improve insulin sensitivity
- Eating all the micronutrients to help the anti-inflammatory response which supports both blood sugar and healthy cortisol
- Boosting dopamine without food to offset cravings and emotional eating before they hit
Then, Choose How To Tweak Your Morning Routine:
#1. If you struggle with lots of cravings or emotional eating later on: Take 1-2 minutes to do something relaxing/stress relieving or happy hormone inducing. This regulates your nervous system to dial impulse control around food up, and cravings down.
- Journal (I love my 5-minute journal – a super quick gratitude practice am and pm)
- 10 deep belly breaths
- 2-3 yoga poses or feel-good stretches
- Cuddle up to your pet, partner or kiddo for a few minutes
- Listen to a song you love while you get ready
- Have coffee outside or at the window
- Start with a soothing tea, water with mint or berries, or fancy feeling bubbly water instead of coffee (you can still have coffee – just save it for a little later)
#2. If you have a lot of stress on your plate: Get moving or get outside
- Have breakfast on your patio or balcony
- Go for a 10 minute walk first thing every morning
- Put your workout clothes by the bed and pop on a video or hop on the peloton for 20 minutes
- Roll your yoga mat out on the patio while it’s still warm enough
- Find a nearby park bench and sit breathing in the fresh air for 5-10 minutes
- Find a workout buddy and meet 2 or 3 mornings a week at the gym to stay accountable
- Have an upbeat playlist lined up, pop your headphones on and dance for 5-10 minutes
- Pick 2 or 3 exercises and commit to 5 minutes every morning – squats, wall push ups, lunges – whatever works for your body
#3. If you’re hungry often between meals, have strong cravings at night or your weight loss is sluggish: Get 20+ g protein and 1+ cups of plant food at your first meal
- Prep a frittata or egg bites so you can grab and go in the morning
- Try adding protein powder or collagen powder to your oats or morning coffee
- Switch from cereal and milk to Greek yogurt, berries and a few spoonfuls of cereal or granola for crunch
- Prep breakfast on Sundays to take with you to work if you’re not hungry first thing in the am
- Add some greens, sundried tomatoes or leftover roasted veggies to scrambled eggs or egg bites
- Toss frozen cauliflower rice or frozen zucchini in to your fruit smoothie
- Add berries to your cereal or oats
- Swap butter or margarine on your toast for avocado
- Swap normal high sugar jam for some mashed raspberries or homemade berry chia jam with your PB toast
(Pssst…if you’re female and 35+, perimenopause hormone changes are probably making things harder – here are 10 perimenopause & fat-loss friendly meal ideas to get you feeling better and seeing results!)
And, if you, like me, struggle with getting up early because you’re not a morning person – try setting a stable bedtime during the week. It really helps your circadian rhythm AND your habits adjust. Doing what works for your metabolism and happy hormones in the morning is a hell of a lot easier if you’ve had enough sleep for your body to regulate hunger and impulse control properly.
Need some help getting your meals for the week balanced and prepared? If you’d like to receive our free Meal Planning Getting Started Guide AND get in on our weekly emails about all things nutrition so you can get clarity and confidence on what you’re eating, join us here!
