Copy This Science Based Morning Routine To Change Your Life

Most morning routines are way too complicated between taking ice baths, 47-step checklist, and hours of rituals, whereas mine is simple, science-based, and will take you less than 5 minutes to do it. I used to wake up groggy, unmotivated, and not sure how I would win my day until I created this simple 5-step morning routine that is science-based so it can help me feel more energized, reduce my hunger and cravings, and be much more focused and productive throughout the day. In fact, it helped me drop 20 pounds, continue to grow my online fitness coaching business, and have less day-to-day stress. So if that's what you want, let's dive into the first part of the science-based routine. Step number 1, the most important health marker. Step 1 is something most people don't think about, which is why it's called the silent killer of your health. You can feel totally fine, but underneath the surface, Your heart could be working overtime, and this just isn't about long-term health. Because if this one health marker is elevated in the morning, you'll feel more sluggish, more stressed, and less focused throughout the day. And that one health marker is going to be your blood pressure. Researchers have shown that taking your blood pressure routinely during the morning can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke by catching problems early on. And even if you feel like you're relatively relatively healthy like I did, taking your blood pressure in the morning routinely can give you feedback on your routine. Things like sleep, things like your nutrition, your recovery, what your stress levels are like. It almost gives you a dashboard for your health. And for me personally, this was a game changer because I'm somebody who works out routinely. I have good nutrition. I like to think I get pretty good sleep. But when I first started taking my blood pressure, it was a little bit higher than I would have liked, and that was mainly due to the amount of stress I was having in my life. So just seeing the number in the morning made me more aware of it, and that helped me create more change around it. So what I do, and I recommend you do as well, is 3 times a week I take 30 to 60 seconds to slap on the blood pressure monitor, cuff it around my arm, and I take my reading. I try to do it the same time every single day, so this is about 10 to 20 minutes after I wake up. I do this before I eat anything Or before I drink anything, I make sure I'm sitting down, my feet are flat. I wrap the cuff around right above my elbow, palm is facing up. I press the button and it takes my blood pressure for 30 seconds. And I got this blood pressure monitor off Amazon, so you could also get that there as well. And if you want some normal readings, first, please talk with your doctor with what might be healthy for you. But some general guidelines would be normal is usually under 120, over 80. Elevated would be between 120 and 129 over anything over 80. And then from there, the numbers start to get to into prehypertension, hypertension levels. So again, I am not a medical professional. This is not medical advice. So check with your doctor. I'm just trying to get you ahead of the game. And once I've checked my blood pressure, the next thing I do is one of the most simplest yet most underrated performance hacks. that most people don't start their day with. Step number 2, drink this first thing in the morning. The next thing I do is ridiculously simple, but most people get it wrong when they first get out of bed because what most people do is go straight for the coffee or the caffeine. And this issue is twofold. Number one, after 6 to 9 hours of you sleeping overnight, your body is mildly dehydrated. And number 2, your cortisol, the hormone that naturally wakes you up and gets you alert, is already peaking when you wake up. So by immediately throwing caffeine on top of that, it could disrupt your body's natural cortisol levels and make you have an energy high, but then have a big crash later on. So what I like to do instead is start my day with at least 20 ounces of water. And I like to sprinkle a little bit of salt, maybe 1/4 teaspoon into the water because this will kickstart your hydration for the day. And research shows that dehydration, even mild, can decrease your mental clarity, your focus, and it can increase your cravings and your hunger. So starting off your day with water and a little bit of salt can kickstart the hydration to make sure those negative side effects don't happen. And increase your energy, fullness, and overall mood and performance for that day. Plus, if you drink this first to kickstart your hydration and you wait to drink your caffeine, your body's natural cortisol levels will peak. And then after you do the hydration, you may stack some caffeine on top of that. You'll get a better response to it because you're more hydrated and you'll allow yourself to get that energy longer throughout the day without having the crashes. And later in the video, I'll tell you exactly when I think you should be having caffeine. I'm not going to lie, when I first started adopting this habit, I was a bit skeptical because I like going for the caffeine first thing. But I'm telling you, within a week, my energy levels felt different. I was much more focused and energized, and I was no longer having those crashes. And it wasn't just myself. One of our online coaching clients, John, had the same effect. when he started this step in the morning routine as well. And it helped him be more full and less hungry throughout the day, especially at nighttime. That helped him stick to his calorie deficit more, which allowed him to lose body fat. And by the way, if you need to know how many calories you should be eating per day to lose weight, click the link in the description of this video. I have a free calorie calculator. And one final note on 20 ounces of water in the morning. This is also going to help you hit Your daily water goal. Most people should be trying to drink around half of their body weight in ounces of water. So I weigh 250 pounds. I'm trying to get 125 ounces of water per day. Starting my day with 20 ounces makes hitting that goal the rest of the day much easier, and I'm not having to drink a lot of water close to bedtime, which can disrupt sleep and make you pee all night long. So this will also help you hit your overall water goal, which can help with your hydration, which will help with mental clarity, focus, fat loss, all the good things that we already talked about. And like I said, right before I have my caffeine, I actually do something else that improves energy, reduces cravings, and boosts mental performance. Step 3, eat this for breakfast. The next step in my morning routine is where I see a lot of people set themselves up for failure and energy crashes throughout the day. Most people either skip breakfast altogether or they load their breakfast with a ton of quick and simple carbohydrates, things like toast, cereal, bagels. And the problem is when you only have that for breakfast, this spikes your blood sugar fast, so you get some quick energy, but then it also crashes fast and your energy crashes along with it. And when your blood sugar tanks, so does your willpower, your mood, your focus, And you get hangry AF. That's why so many people are starving the rest of the day, or by nighttime you're starving and you think it's because you have nighttime cravings or a sweet tooth. It's not. It's because you're not eating the right amount of food and the right macronutrients for breakfast, which is causing you to have the sweet tooth and the cravings at night. So what I like to do is build my breakfast around 3 major things. I want to get some sort of protein. I want to get some sort of healthy dietary fat, and I want to get some source of healthy fiber. This combination slows down digestion, it keeps your blood sugar stable and steady, and it keeps you full for hours. Protein also triggers muscle protein synthesis, which is the process in your body that actually helps you build muscle. And so if you trigger that earlier in the day, You're going to get more muscle building throughout the day as well. And not to mention, the fiber helps with your gut health and the dietary fat helps with your brain health and your performance mentally. So this combination is just absolutely killer if you're trying to start off your day the right way. And now this isn't to say you can't have some carbohydrates like oatmeal or toast, but I would try to keep it on the lower side and prioritize these 3 things instead. And for a lot of our online coaching clients, when they switch from having either no breakfast or a very carb-heavy breakfast to protein, fiber, and fat, they automatically notice a difference in their energy, their mood, their mental clarity. And the rest of the day, they also notice it's easier to stick to their calorie deficit and lose body fat because they're not all over the place with their energy, hunger, cravings anymore. Everything is much more stable. And a great example of that is our online coaching client Jen, who lost roughly 30 pounds in the last 6 months, and she changed her breakfast to starting off like this. It made the biggest difference for her. It could for you as well. And my rule of thumb is try to get at least 20 grams of protein, and this could be through a protein shake, this could be through Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, and egg whites. Try to get at least 5 to 10 grams of fiber per day, and the best way I like to do this is through fruits like raspberries, blackberries, or bananas, or something like an avocado, which is high in fiber, or chia seeds or flaxseeds. And then for your healthy dietary fat, whole eggs with the fat, avocados, chia seed, flaxseed, maybe even cooking your eggs with some olive oil will give you some healthy fat as well. And again, if you need to know how much calories, protein, carbs, and fats you should be eating per day, Click the link in the description of the video to use my free calorie calculator. And once I've fueled up, there's one simple thing I do that multiplies the benefits of everything I just mentioned. Step number 4, do this after breakfast. This next step takes less than 15 minutes and it improves your digestion, your energy, your mood, your mental clarity, and will set up the rest of your day for success. Most of us eat and then go sit right back down, or you're sitting down eating and then you just stay there. The problem is staying sedentary after a meal can slow down and hinder digestion, make those blood sugar spikes that we talk about go higher up, and leaves you feeling sluggish. And over time, those blood sugar spikes can lead to bigger things like more cravings, energy crashes, and even going into insulin resistance for some people. So instead, what I like to do is get up and go take a 10 to 15 minute walk after I eat breakfast. And now I can already hear it. Eric, I don't have time to walk after I eat. I'm so busy. Just stick with me. Research has shown that taking a walk after you eat a meal improves digestion and it lowers your blood sugar spike because your body will use the food that you just ate and absorb it better than if you were sedentary. It also speeds up and helps digestion so you don't feel so bloated and heavy after a meal as well. And that bloated and heavy feeling can make your mind feel heavy, groggy, not focused. And it can even improve circulation, which helps bring oxygen and nutrients to your brain, which is what can help you feel more focused and have more energy. And that's also why people who take walks after their meals typically feel better mood-wise as well. Not to mention, if you're taking a 10 to 15 minute walk after your meals, that is roughly 500 to 1,000 steps depending on how quickly you walk. If you do that 3, 4 times a day, you're adding up to 3,000, 4,000, maybe 5,000 steps just from little 10 minute walks after your meals. And that extra steps will also help you get into a calorie deficit and help you lose more body fat. And I learned this firsthand because when I ate breakfast and went straight back to my desk, I often just felt heavy, bloated, and sluggish. And when I started to take just a 5, 10, 15-minute walk, I automatically noticed my mind was more clear, I had more energy, and I was more motivated to do my work. And not to mention as well, because we already did all 3 of the steps prior, I was very full, I was very satisfied. I did not have any energy crashes 1, 2, 3 hours later in the day as well, which helped me stick to my calories and helped me lose body fat. And it's also exactly what our client Meredith started doing as well. It helped her lose roughly 25 pounds in a 6-month period of time just from only walking 10 minutes after a meal. And like I said earlier, I know you might be busy, but this doesn't have to be going outside and walking very fast. This could be getting up from your desk at work and just walking to the upstairs bathroom and back down. This could be walking one quick lap around your building. It could even just be standing up at your desk for 5 or 10 minutes if you can't actually go get a walk. Please, I know you're busy, but don't think about, I can't do this. Think about, how could I make this work? And that leads us into step number 5 in the science-based morning routine, Which is what most people do, but they get it wrong, and that's their caffeine intake. Step 5, final step, take this. The next step is no doubt the most popular part of most people's routines, but you're probably doing it wrong, so let me fix it. We talked about when you wake up, your body's natural cortisol already peaks, so you typically want to let that ride a little bit. That's what she said. Before you take on some more caffeine that would spike your cortisol, and you might feel good for a short period of time, but most people will have a hard crash after. So what I like to do instead is do all 4 steps first. Take the blood pressure, drink the water, eat the breakfast, take the 10 to 15 minute walk, and then you can start dabbling into some coffee or caffeine. And again, trust me, I was skeptical on this, but when I actually implemented it, I did see a big difference in my energy. And not just the energy, but the not energy crashes later in the day, because that's what we want. I want you to feel good all day long. The recommended dosage of daily caffeine per day is dependent per person. So again, this is not medical advice. You can check with your doctor if you'd like, but generally around 200 to 400 milligrams per day. I wouldn't recommend going much above 400 milligrams. You might start to have a problem after that. But now when you take it, you won't be dehydrated. You won't be messing up your body's natural cortisol. You'll take it, Get the benefits without the negative side effect. I hope this simple 5-step morning routine helped. And if you want more personalized help with your workouts and nutrition and to be held accountable so you actually stick with it, you can click the link in the description below to check out our one-on-one online coaching program where we help people lose fat, build muscle, and finally stay consistent with your weight loss. And after you do that, you can click this video here to watch 9 years of honest fat loss advice in 17 minutes.