My Morning Routine for Improving Productivity, Weight Management, and My Walk with God
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Having a healthy and productive morning routine that you actually enjoy is a great way to get you out of bed and start your day on the right note.
I’ve refined mine to one that has helped me do all these things:
Lose weight.
Keep it off.
Get closer to God.
Cut back on drinking effortlessly.
Improve productivity.
Sleep better.
Feel overall much better.
If you are a night owl and can’t understand how anyone could possibly enjoy the mornings, first read my post about how waking up at 5:30 changed my life (as a reformed night owl).
I have three things I must do in the morning before I can actually start my day:
1. Spend time with God.
2. Work out.
3. Organize my day.
If I don’t do these things, I am thrown off for the whole day, and I hate it.
Now, this is my routine because I enjoy these things, I love how they make me feel, and I enter the day energized and calm rather than tired and frazzled.
And that is the point of a good morning routine!
While this may be too much for you, my goal here is to give you some ideas for things to add into your morning routine. Pick one or two and adapt them to fit your life.
I will also start off by mentioning two important things to underscore that I some built-in benefits in my morning schedule:
I work from home.
This means I don’t have a commute, so I have extra time in the AM. So take that into account into your own scheduling, of course. You may just be able to do one or two things before work, but that’s potentially one or two healthy habits that you didn’t have prior!
By the way, if you work from home and have a hard time keeping a schedule, this will help you! I always wondered if it would be too difficult to maintain a routine when I didn’t have an office to go to at a set time every day, but it isn’t at all. If you just start doing the same thing every day, it becomes a habit.
It takes 3 weeks to develop a habit and 3 months to develop a lifestyle.
2. I shower and do my full skin care at night.
(I can’t into bed dirty.) That means there’s no hair care routine or skin care here (although here I break down the ten step Korean skin care routine and why I love it).
Now wait! Before you think I’m disgusting - unless I’m doing Spinning or hard cardio in the morning, I don’t sweat that much so don’t need shower afterward.
Now onto what I do every single day!
5:30 – Wake Up, Pray, and Read the Bible.
I’m often already awake before my alarm goes off by this point.
The first thing I do when I wake up is pray then read a morning devotional (I subscribe to Our Daily Bread and In Touch’s devotionals sent to your inbox every morning).
I can’t think of a more perfect way to start the day than with God. And the absolute quiet and calm of the early morning is a great environment for it. Don’t know where to start? Reading through the Bible in a year is a great place!
If that sounds overwhelming - I understand. I thought so the first time I did it, but it was easy with a good plan and made me look at it in a totally different way. If you want to give it a shot, try my Bible in 365 Days plan!
It’s a simple and doable breakdown of what to read every day, with the benefit of not having to start on January 1 or lagging behind if you miss a day or two (it’s easy to jump right back in). Get it here!
I also make my bed always. You always feel more organized and put together with a made bed!
6:00 – Cardio.
I brush my teeth, slap on sunscreen, and head out for cardio.
I love working out in the morning now, but I was not always like this!
A reformed night owl, I got hooked on morning workouts after I started taking Spin classes before work 10 years ago. I got hooked on feeling like I conquered the world before I even went to work.
These days I take a cycling class 1-2 mornings per week, but more often than not I’ll head out for a walk (particularly when it’s nice out).
The important part of learning to enjoy mornings? Add in something you look forward to.
For me, one of those things is listening to a podcast while I walk. (I love recaps of Bravo TV, true crime, and political podcasts.)
And the important part of sticking to morning (or any) workouts? Do something you like.
If you hate running, don’t go running. Walking is perfect because it’s not too difficult, it’s free, and it’s rare that someone hates walking.
I like walking because I don’t start the day sweating, it’s easy on my joints, and it doesn’t feel too difficult. When you walk outside (versus the treadmill), you get distracted by nature instead of getting bored looking at the same wall, and I find the my heart rate goes a lot higher than I thought.
Honestly, outdoor walks get my heart rate up higher than an elliptical workout, and it feels much more effortless and less of a slug!
6:45 – Barre or Pilates.
I was a barre instructor, so I usually do routines I have put together, or I find a good one on Pinterest.
This is perfect to add to your morning because you won’t really sweat, and you’ll feel both strong and graceful when you’re done.
These two workouts are similar/overlapping in moves. It’s a lot of low weight and high repetition while focusing on form. For more on the benefits of barre for women over 40, read my post here.
My barre must-haves are:
A light set of dumbbells ($15).
A cute pineapple yoga mat ($31)
Booty bands ($17)
Ankle weights ($20).
These fit neatly into a closet, corner, or under your bed for your own home gym.
Working out from home means you’re more likely to stick with it, and the little amount of equipment needed for barre or Pilates makes it cheap and space efficient!
I know that if you’re not a morning exerciser, this can be overwhelming. Start with a 10 minute morning walk and a couple of minutes of planks.
7:15 – Pre-Work Prep.
After I’m done with my Bible reading and workout, there are a couple of important things to do before I start my full-time job.
Caffeine and food.
Make coffee, lemon water, and breakfast. Usually I prep breakfast the night before. If I don’t and am in a rush though, there are two options I lean on that are effortless and take no time.
Proffee.
This is just combining a protein shake with coffee. It’s a two-for-one caffeine and protein hit that takes 60 seconds max to mix together, with the added bonus that you don’t need to add sweetener to your coffee.
This is my hands-down favorite protein powder (that you can also use to make any of the sweet treats using protein powder on TikTok). It actually tastes good and is clean protein!
Smoothies.
This is a ridiculously easy way to get produce into your system. However if you’re like me and simply CANNOT master a good smoothie recipe, go with Evive. They’re little frozen cubes of pre-made smoothies that DON’T EVEN INVOLVE A BLENDER. So no mixing, no cleaning.
Check out the flavors for your easiest (laziest) healthy breakfast here.
Primping.
I only wear mascara and self-tanner, so this doesn’t take long. In terms of getting dressed, since I work from home, I usually just throw a cardigan or sweater over what I’m already wearing.
Since self-tanner is the only “makeup” I wear on my skin, I’ve tried them all and swear by this one that’s only $10.
You can be somewhat sloppy with your application without it getting all streaky and awful. Also, I’m fair-ish skinned and still use the deep dark color.
Since I work from home, I can assure you that on any calls where I’m wearing a blouse or blazer, there are shorts or yoga pants on the bottom. I call this look the business mullet, and I imagine this is what anchorpeople do on the news. I LOVE IT.
To Do List.
I’m a chronic list-maker. It makes me feel more in control when there’s utter chaos around me. I like to spend 5-10 minutes going over what I need to do that day professionally and personally, then prioritize.
And there’s nothing more satisfying than checking something off a list.
Blog or Read.
With whatever time I have left, I’ll work on a blog post or read a bit. (The problem with reading is that I prefer page-turning mysteries, and it’s hard to tear myself away).
8:00-8:15 – Start Work.
I like to log into work earlier than my team. That allows me to do actual work in peace before people start interrupting me with questions and meetings.
And there you have it, my morning routine (FYI, it’s pretty consistent on the weekends as well). Why not try picking a couple of these and making them habits? You’ll feel much better for the entire day if you start it healthily and productively rather than frazzled.
