One of my favorite quotes from the Atomic Habits by James Clear is “Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become.” James’ Atomic Habit evolves around the idea which is our habits play a critical role in shaping who we are professionally, mentally and physically. Applying the same ideas into body weight management, your morning ritual or routine can greatly affect your body weight.
What is morning ritual?
Morning ritual is commonly known as a group of activities that help you get started with a new day. Your morning ritual should contain positive vibe only, which means the activities will bring you the required energy to start the day fresh and help you accomplish the goal you set out for the day.
Everyone has a morning ritual. Morning ritual could be as simple as brushing your teeth, going for a run, making toast etc. However, when you incorporate some healthy habits into your morning ritual, you then have a powerful recipe for managing body weight, not to mention the benefits of having a good morning ritual go far beyond weight loss.
Whether you are trying to reduce weight or adopting a healthier lifestyle, the easiest way to kickstart your journey is by modifying your morning ritual.
Lesser-known causes of weight gain
Before diving into how morning ritual can help with weight loss, let’s have a quick look at some lesser known causes of weight gain. Without a doubt, overeating is the most common cause for gaining weight; however, weight gain may be due to many other factors:
Skipping breakfast
We all have heard of the importance of breakfast. However; it's more important to understand why breakfast can cause overweight. The key concept is calorie utilization and distribution. A study by Nutrients shows that individuals who have bigger breakfast (in term of calorie) and smaller dinner are more likely to lose weight than those who do the exact opposite. People who skip breakfast are likely to suffer from lower ability to concentrate during the earlier part of the day and more likely to have larger meals toward the end of the day. The flaw comes with skipping breakfast is your body needs higher calorie intake during daytime than toward the end the day.
Late dinners
Studies show that something as simple as eating too late at night can cause weight gain. Late eating alters the hormones that regulate appetite and makes you stay up late after the meal. Additionally, the person who has late dinner tends to have less caloric breakfast or skip breakfast altogether in the following day, which further increases the risk of overweight (i.e., the vicious cycle of misallocating calories).
Sleeping deprivation
Getting just the right amount of sleep is more important than you think. Again, similar to the importance of breakfast, this seems to be a beating-a-dead-horse concept; however, both sleeping too much and not getting enough sleep contribute to weight gain. A study by BMC Public Health concludes that consistently having less than 7 hours of sleep will double the rate of overweight and obesity. Similarly, on the other end of the spectrum, individuals who sleep more than the recommended sleep duration of 8 hours will also have higher rate of being overweighted.
Overconsumption of sugar and creamer in morning coffee
While coffee gives you the boost you need to start the day, adding too much sugar and creamer in your morning brew may cause more harm than benefit.
5 Simple Effective Morning Rituals to Weight Loss
Stay hydrated
A study by Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research indicates that drinking water early in the morning can help you lose weight. Water is critical facilitator of the metabolic process by which organisms burn calories in order to generate heat (aka. thermogenesis). Drinking a full glass of room temperature or lukewarm water is a simple yet weight-loss-friendly ritual that you should add to your morning routine.
Exercise
Whether it is yoga, running or cardio, a study by American Diabetes Journal have shown exercise in combination with a healthy diet is a sure-shot to shed pounds. The research also points out that both high- and low-exercise individuals were able to maintain weight loss for 3 years. That means, as long as you put in the time and effort making exercise a habit, the result will come. On top of that, early morning exercise ignites your metabolism and sets a positive mindset throughout the day.
High protein breakfast
As we discussed in the lesser-known-cause section, skipping breakfast contributes weight gain; therefore, having a high protein, high fiber breakfast is a crucial part of the weight loss process.
Morning coffee & tea
Apart from drinking water, if you are a coffee drinker, the good news is your morning coffee boosts your metabolism by 11%, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Another study published by the American Journal of Physiology has shown that caffeine found in coffee can help your body burn fat 29% faster. For tea drinkers, green tea leaves are also proven to help with weight loss. A study by Canadian Pharmacist Journal concluded that the control group of individuals who consumed green tea lost more weight (by an average of 0.4 to 7 lbs) than those who didn't. Multiple researches came to the same conclusion that coffee and green tea increase the speed of metabolism which, in turn, burns excessive fat more efficiently.
Java Burn is a notable recent breakthrough in weight loss supplement. Java Burn combines natural coffee and green tea ingredients to boost the speed and efficiency of your metabolism. Enhanced metabolism helps you burn more calories during the day including resting, inactive time. Java Burn 100% natural ingredients include green coffee bean extract, green tea extract, L-theanine, and Chromium. These natural ingredients will supercharge your morning coffee, boost your metabolism and speed up the weight loss process. Boosted metabolism will enable weight loss even without exercising according to Java Burn.
Weight yourself
Losing weight is not only a physical process but also a mental one. Stepping on weight scale daily is a simple mental reinforcement reminding you of your ultimate goal: achieve your ideal body weight. As the demand for healthy lifestyle grows over the year, so does the demand for smart weight scales with advanced feature beyond the traditional weight scaling function. Wyze smart weight scale comes with tested, reliable features and is seamlessly integrated with Apple Health, Google Fit and Fitbit. Wyze smart weight scale tracks BMI, body fat percentage, heart rate and provides you with the informative trends supporting your weight loss progress.
Wyze Smart Weight Scale
Final Thoughts
All the weight loss tips provided in this blog are proven to be effective by numerous researches. Integrating these 5 simple habits into your morning ritual will increase the success rate of your weight loss journey. We want to conclude this blog with a quote from the Atomic Habits: “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement”. Losing weight is a grind, but it can be made simple as we demonstrated in this blog. Every little step you take counts and will pay dividend in the long run.
Supporting Sources:
1) Li, Q. The association between sleep duration and excess body weight of the American adult population: a cross-sectional study of the national health and nutrition examination survey 2015–2016. BMC Public Health 21, 335 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10369-9
2) Cox C. E. (2017). Role of Physical Activity for Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance. Diabetes spectrum : a publication of the American Diabetes Association, 30(3), 157–160. https://doi.org/10.2337/ds17-0013
3) Vij, V. A., & Joshi, A. S. (2013). Effect of ‘water induced thermogenesis’ on body weight, body mass index and body composition of overweight subjects. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research : JCDR, 7(9), 1894–1896. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2013/5862.3344
4) Bracco, D., Ferrarra, J. M., Arnaud, M. J., Jéquier, E., & Schutz, Y. (1995). Effects of caffeine on energy metabolism, heart rate, and methylxanthine metabolism in lean and obese women. The American journal of physiology, 269(4 Pt 1), E671–E678. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.1995.269.4.E671
5) Lopez-Minguez, J.; Gómez-Abellán, P.; Garaulet, M. Timing of Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Effects on Obesity and Metabolic Risk. Nutrients 2019, 11, 2624. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11112624
6) Carla E. Cox; Role of Physical Activity for Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance. Diabetes Spectr 1 August 2017; 30 (3): 157–160. https://doi.org/10.2337/ds17-0013
7) A G Dulloo, C A Geissler, T Horton, A Collins, D S Miller, Normal caffeine consumption: influence on thermogenesis and daily energy expenditure in lean and postobese human volunteers, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 49, Issue 1, January 1989, Pages 44–50, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/49.1.44
8) Jurgens, T., & Whelan, A. M. (2014). Can green tea preparations help with weight loss?. Canadian pharmacists journal : CPJ = Revue des pharmaciens du Canada : RPC, 147(3), 159–160. https://doi.org/10.1177/1715163514528668
This article does not provide medical advice. It is intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never ignore professional medical advice in seeking treatment because of something you have read on the healthysolutions.fit Site. If you think you may have a medical emergency, immediately call your doctor or dial 911.
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