If there is one thing that I learned during my fitness journey was that your morning routine can set you up for success or possible failure. I have read up on countless successful entrepreneurs and they all have similar morning routines in common. Whether it is a morning workout, personal development, meditation or writing out tasks for the day. Not once did I hear they lounge in bed checking Facebook or emails – which is what my morning routine basically consisted of LOL!

So it is time to ditch those smartphones in the morning (unless you are listening to an educational audio or meditation app-more on this later!) and check out these 6 healthy morning habits that can help contribute to your weight loss goals! Now, you don’t have to jump into all 6 at once – actually I suggest starting off slowly with a few and see how it goes. These will help create that new morning mindset to set you up for long term success. Remember, a great morning starts the night before so let’s get started!

1. Drink Water

The first thing when you wake up in the morning should be to drink a glass of water. I personally keep a glass of water on my nightstand so that in the morning it is right there and I have no excuses. At night your body is literally fasting so drinking water first thing wakes up your organs and lets your body know its time to start the day! The more water you drink throughout the day the more fat you will burn throughout the day too! Yup, drinking water increases your metabolic calories. Room temperature water is the way to go as your body will heat it up and burn calories in the process!  Aim to drink half your weight in ounces every day. Want to know if you are drinking enough…check the color of your pee!  Yes! If it is a faint color yellow to clear you are good! Darker in color, drink up! 

2. Feed Your Mind

This is where checking social media and emails takes a backseat in the morning. Think about it, when you hop on to check Facebook or whatever social media app you like your agenda becomes their agenda. Now you are looking at what they are doing instead of focusing on you and what your agenda should be for the day. Put down the phone and start your day with positive affirmations.

There are great podcasts that you can listen to like Tony Robbins or Darren Hardy to get you started. You can even write down at night a few things that you are grateful for and then revisit them in the morning. This also sets you up for a peaceful night’s rest too – remember a great morning starts the night before! 

3. Practice Gratitude

As mentioned above, practicing gratitude keeps you in a positive state. Even just a simple sentence can disrupt the negative patterns in your brain! You can also practice writing down your daily gratitudes in a journal.  I have one called 31 Days of Gratitude: Create the Life you Desire by my own sorority sister Shilamida from Shilamida Inspires. It helps you to get into the practice of writing what you are grateful for and creating a desired lifestyle.  

Meditation is another great tool!  If you are new to meditation or just don’t think it is your thing, (as I thought too at one time!) try the app Headspace. It starts with a free trial of simple guided meditation for beginners. 

4. Morning Workout

Working out first thing in the morning may not be your thing.  I wasn’t either! It took some time and discipline to create this practice but with determination and goals in mind, I have become that morning workout person! But seriously, working out in the morning gives you more energy throughout the day, your brain is more alert, and when your workout consists of HIIT (high-intensity interval training) your EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) kicks in and you burn calories throughout your day!  Score!!  

Also, exercise creates more muscle mass which means you will age longer and you bounce back faster from injuries. So set that alarm and get your booty up!  Even if you just start with 2-3 days a week. 

5. Quality Nutrition First

OK we spoke about how your body is fasting overnight and water is the great first thing when you wake up, but your nutrition is also a huge factor here too. Your body is clean in the morning from fasting overnight so it should start a day with quality food. Think about when you take a shower, you are clean right? Would you then jump into a pool of mud?! NO!  The same goes with your body.  Try to go for greens and good fats with your breakfast. Sautéed spinach and other veggies in an omelet or smoothie along with avocado are perfect!  Good fats are good fats! Our brains are made up of mostly fats so if you eat less of the good fats your brain in a way starves and that we don’t want!! 

6. What is Your Mission for the Day

When you wake up, think about what your mission is for the day. Whether it is in your personal life from planning a date night with your significant other or maybe helping your kids with a project. In your business maybe it is meetings for the day or are you starting to build your own? Whichever it is, tackle that big annoying one first. You know, the one you really don’t want to do but know that once it is done you will feel relief!  

A great book that I once read teaches you just that. Eat That Frog by Brain Tracy teaches you 21 great ways to stop procrastinating. You can also start a journal of what your goals are and steps on how to achieve them with The Smart Push Journal by Chalene Johnson. Either way, find your mission for the day and crush it! 

Remember, habits make you either healthy or unhealthy. Overall stress in your life is not all bad, but your reactions to it and how you handle stress are. These 6 healthy habits will help you retrain your brain in a way to deal with stress and outside factors in a more positive and peaceful way. 

Yes, we will have stressful situations where these 6 habits may not help at first. But the more you implement them and create healthy habits your overall quality of life should improve.  I know that it has for me. I used to suffer from anxiety and always struggled with my weight growing up. I started with exercising in the morning, then drinking water, cleaning up my nutrition and now onto gratitude and meditation.

It is a work in progress and it never ends. It is really true that fitness is a journey, not a destination. We always want to put our bodies on a diet to lose weight, get tone, run faster but what about our lives?  Sometimes your life needs a diet and these 6 healthy morning habits will get you started! 

Do you currently have a healthy morning habit not listed above? I would love to hear what it is – so please share below or find me on Instagram or Facebook and let me know! 

xo-cherise mazur