Common Morning Habits Causing Weight Gain

Morning rituals are not to be taken lightly. They set the tone for your day, determine your mindset, space out your activities (work/errands/exercise), dictate your food choices, etc. They should be positive and promote productivity in every way! Everyone has a morning ritual or some sort. Or at least everyone should.

What if your morning ritual is actually having the opposite effect?

Your morning routine can make or break your diet and fitness goals.

For example, working out first thing in the morning will boost your energy and mental focus, lift your mood by releasing endorphins, kick-start your metabolism, and increase your chances of eating healthy throughout your day. Keep in mind, inactivity and poor food choices aren’t the only things that can be causing you to gain weight.

Sounds awesome right?

Sounds like an easy “yes” to me.

While it sounds great and totally do-able, it is definitely not always easy to accomplish – especially if you are not a morning person. Not to worry, you have to start somewhere!

Our team has researched and compiled a list of some common morning habits that can really be hurting your diet/fitness goals….aka making you fat.

Here is what you can start kicking out of your ritual ASAP:

The Most Common Morning Habits Causing Weight Gain

Oversleeping

Yes, studies show that sleeping too much causes many negative side effects, one being weight gain.

Everyone loves a goodnights sleep but could you be over doing it?

it’s been shown that sleeping in excess of 9+ hours per night can be just as damaging to your sleep cycles and your waistline as not getting enough sleep. People who oversleep experience a disruption in the body’s natural 24 hour biological cycle (the circadian rhythm) and because of this, oversleepers can experience a number of side effects as their bodies struggle to “sync up” with the correct time. It is important to train your body to get a healthy sleep cycle – not too much, not too little.

They say no less than 6 hours and no more than 9 hours is ideal to keep your body healthy and functioning properly without gaining any excess weight.

Hitting The Snooze Button

Whether or not you are on a healthy sleep cycle, hitting the snooze button over and over each day can promote negative effects.

First of all, it is extremely counterproductive, it is ruining the quality of your sleep, and tricking your body into being MORE tired, which in return will make you less productive throughout your day.

How many times have you carelessly hit the snooze button and missed a workout?

Ya, NO FUN!

And if you are a perpetual snooze hitter, I bet this has happened countless time and each time is equally sucks. Not to mention, all of the other things you have probably missed by hitting snooze and oversleeping.

Time to ditch that habit once and for all!

Consuming Too Much Sugar

Most of us are aware that sweets in the morning is a bad idea for multiple reasons. Avoiding things like pancakes, pastries, donuts, sugary breakfast bars, pop tarts and whipped cream mocha frappuccino things should be an obvious no-no.

While they are tempting and tasty – beware! Those sweet treats can linger on your belly and thighs longer than you’d like. All of that sugar will spike your blood sugar levels, resulting in a crash and burn later. Your body will also become hungrier a lot sooner since you ate like crap.

But what if you are consuming too much sugar without knowing it?

What if that protein bar/shake you grab as your meal every morning is actually causing you to gain weight?

SAY WHAT?!

Happens ALL THE TIME.

Thanks to marketing labels such as “natural”, “healthy”, “low-fat”, or “sugar-free”. Ya those bad boys are what you need to be looking out for.

Always do your homework. Check the labels yourself and stick to REAL foods – the less processed the better. Read the back of your protein shake, meal replacement bar, “fresh juice” beverage or whatever it is you enjoy in the morning and make sure you are not consuming a snickers bar worth of sugar and TON of toxic chemicals from ingredients you can’t even pronounce.

You are much better off consuming a piece of toast and raw nut butter or making your own smoothie than eating those sugary packed items. Especially that early in the day!

Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of your day.

Skipping Breakfast

BIG (common) MISTAKE! S

kipping meals period is not good for you as it slows down your metabolism – who wants that?

Breakfast sets your diet for the day so make it a healthy one! Protein is the best choice for breakfast. This nutrient increases fat oxidation, suppresses hunger, and boosts your metabolism.

Research shows that eating protein for breakfast helps reduce reward-driven eating habits and regulates the hormones influencing appetite.

Furthermore, it accelerates fat loss and stimulates thermogenesis, causing your body to burn more calories. WINNING! Do not skip breakfast.

Not Making Your Bed

Yep. it is most certainly a thing.

Not a fan of making the bed?

Don’t have time?

Same here my friend but it is one habit that has been shown to lead to weight gain. It is lazy not to and only promotes negativity throughout your day such as eating poorly or slacking off on another simple task. Not convinced yet? Author of The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg states that reconstructing your bed each day can lead to other constructive habits like making a healthy lunch, getting exercise or planning a healthy dinner.

Oh, and did I mention it burns calories?

Hey, anything AND everything counts!

Getting Ready In The Dark

Sounds strange huh?

However, if you keep your bedroom dark 247, you could be missing out on the weight-loss benefits from sunlight.

Research shows that people who got some sun rays in the early morning had significantly lower BMIs than those who did not, regardless of how much they ate.

According a study, 20 to 30 minutes of daylight is enough to affect BMI, even when it’s cloudy out. That is because your body syncs up your internal clock, including your calorie-torching metabolism—using the blue light waves from the early morning sun as a guide. Time to start keeping your blinds/curtains open!

At least during the work week.

Not Drinking Enough Water

When you wake up, your body is lacking water. Not only will consuming water first thing in the AM help kickstart your metabolism, etc. but it will help you control your appetite.

Drinking water boosts your caloric burn – every time you drink water, your body begins working on burning off whatever is coming in. That process is “diet-induced thermogenesis”.

In one study found in The Journal of Endocrinology & Metabolism, drinking about 16 ounces of water caused the participants metabolic rate to spike about 30%.

The researchers came to the conclusion that increasing water intake by six eight-ounce glasses per day would increase daily caloric burn by about 200 calories!

So, start guzzling some H20!

-Terry Asher