If you are trying to lose weight or get yourself in better shape, you may be sabotaging your efforts before your day has even begun. If your mornings start with Starbucks and stress, you could be making it harder to lose weight, and particularly lose your stubborn belly fat or love handles.
Here are some of the most common morning mistakes people make and how to use your morning routine to jump start your weight loss goals.
Does your morning routine involve grabbing a cup of coffee? Coffee itself is not a problem. Coffee actually can help speed up your metabolism. But what kind of coffee you drink makes all the difference. Are you having your coffee black or with a little milk? That's OK. But many people go to Starbucks and get a delicious coffee drink. A frappacino has over 500 calories! Drink one of these then sit in an office all day, and watch it turn right into unattractive belly fat.
A much better choice would be to get in the habit of having green tea, a healthy metabolism boosting drink. It is loaded with antioxidants and has a fraction of the caffeine of coffee. It now comes in delicious flavors such as mango and berry.
What do you sweeten your morning beverage with? Instead of using sugar or artificial sweeteners, try using a healthy, non-caloric natural sweetener called stevia. It comes in little packets like sugar and tastes great.
And please, don't start your day with a soda! Soda, either diet or regular, is one of the worst things you could start your day with. Either will cause you to gain fat.
You've probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It's not just an old wives' tail. It actually turns out to be sound advice. Eating breakfast has been shown to increase your metabolism all day long. But not if you have a donut or pastry. The perfect breakfast includes low fat protein. That will keep your blood sugar balanced and keep you from starving by noon. Try scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, a leftover turkey burger, or a protein shake.
Eating a breakfast of donuts or pastries will have your blood sugar dropping by mid morning making you even hungrier by lunch. Eating sugar sets up cravings for more sweets, too.
Stress can make you fat. Stress releases a hormone called cortisol that will make you accumulate fat, particularly around the belly. This is the kind of fat that makes people shaped like apples instead of pears. Not only is fat around your middle unattractive, it is very hard to lose belly fat or love handles, and actually puts you at risk for certain illnesses.
So try to keep your morning routine as calm as possible. Don't read the paper or watch the news. No need to take on everything bad that happened in the entire world before you start your day.
Should you exercise in the morning? If you are a morning person and have the time, yes. But morning exercise being by far the best is largely a myth. There are minor advantages in exercising early in the day. But the most important thing is to exercise whenever you can do it regularly and do it with intensity. Better to exercise 5 evenings a week, than 2 mornings. The great thing about doing your routine in the morning, is it's done. You don't have to wonder if you'll have time to fit it in or whether life will get in the way.
Try eating a protein-rich breakfast, replacing the bad morning drinks, and reducing morning stress and see what happens. You may find you start lose weight and start to get rid of belly fat or love handles by just making these changes to your routine.
Author Resource:
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