The Morning Routine That Fixes Fat Loss After 35: Atomic Habits for Women

0:09 Hey, welcome back to the body recomposition revolution. This is Robin and today we are talking all things morning routine because I kid you not and research proves this to be true. Your morning routine is what is going to determine if you are successful or not when it comes to your goals. And for the sake of this podcast, this podcast being one that focuses on Women's Health and training and nutrition protocols, especially for women over the age of 35. So for the sake of this podcast, we are going to be talking all about goals that involve maybe our bodies aesthetically, physically, functionally, and all the struggles that coincide with that.

0:52 So today we are talking morning routines. We're talking morning routines and the four components that go into your morning routine that will determine if it is helpful, helpful in helping you get to your goal. Your morning routine is going to be the pathway of getting there if you tuned in. Last week I started talking about one of my favorite, most life changing COVID reads, which was Atomic Habits. And we went through just the beginning basics of your habits and your systems and motivation. And to summarize last week we talked about how motivation goes in six phases, 6 steps.

1:28 Spoiler alert, your motivation fades, It fails you, it is moot. We don't care about it. Motivation out the window. We are all about systems and today's system, one of the most, if not the most impactful system you can have to get towards your goal is your morning routine. So we are going to break down exactly how you build your own morning routine and I'm going to share my morning routine and I'm also going to share with the permission of my clients their morning routines. Now I will say some of them are struggling with that because it's a new thing for them, some of them pros.

2:04 And in true teacher form, I am including a principle that you can just handy dandy print on your own printer or screenshot it, put it in your phone, fill it in with what you are going to implement for your own morning routine. I am also going to touch on a few of the foundational principles from chaters one through 3 of Atomic Habits. Briefly, briefly, I promise. So let's get into it because I'm sure if you tune into other podcasts, you are inundated with habit info. And that's because all your health, fitness, life coaches are out there trying to get you to understand your systems are what's going to help you reach your goals.

2:45 Your systems are the only way you can reach your goal. And today's system of choice, my favorite, the most impactful 1 is your morning routine. Now, when I say morning routine, this might make some of you anxious, it might make some of you excited who already have a an incredible morning routine like my clients, or it could very well be the wake up call a lot of you need now that you have goals you want to achieve and you've never achieved them before. You've never achieved them before because you didn't have the systems in place.

3:17 You didn't have an easy way to understand how to effectively implement those systems. And that's my job. That's my job as an educator of women. That was my job for many years as a public school teacher. And I am here to do that for you today. So let's get into it. Your morning routine is one of the, if not the most impactful portions of your entire day. Your morning routine, whether you have one or not, dictates every decision you make afterwards. And that is research proven. It does. It sets the tone of your entire day.

3:49 It shapes your mood, your cravings, your energy, your discipline, and ultimately whether you succeed with your health and fat loss goals or not. It does. And here's the part that most most women don't realize. They don't realize that a morning routine isn't just about waking up earlier or being more motivated. Because remember, we are throwing motivation out the window. It does not matter. It's just a feeling. Who cares? Moot. OK? Motivation does not matter for women, especially women over 35. Your morning routine needs needs to support your mind, your body, and your hormones.

4:26 So in my opinion, that means it should include four simple pillars #1A mental or spiritual component #2A nutritional component #3A movement component, and #4 an organizational component. Now don't get turned off by that last one. Don't get turned off by that last one because the the organizational component is underrated and it's tiny. It's the simplest thing like making your bed, which if you're me, that's not such a simple task because I have 86 pillows. Just clearing off your kitchen counter, doing a 3 minute pickup.

5:03 This little task of being doing something that organizes your physical space, that gives your brain the visual calm and a sense of control it needs to reduce the stress and decision fatigue for the rest of the day. No, I have a lot of friends, a lot of clients, family members who are women above the age of 35. And I have heard more often than not, and myself included, that mornings are chaotic. Mornings are chaotic. And you know the mornings, the mornings where someone might be in tears, you are silently chastising yourself after you drop your kids or see your kids off to the bus, or you realize you didn't get something done and you're headed into work and it's just a state of disarray, discombobulation.

5:52 And it determines the trajectory of your day. You know it does because it kind of acts like a self fulfilling prophecy, right? When your morning is chaos, your brain is chaos, your thoughts are chaos, your actions reflect all of those things. And that is then spewed on to the world around you. I'm sure all of you have heard about the law of energy and it it really stands true when you talk about the state, you enter a room. So if you enter a job in the morning, that energy you bring with that chaotic flustered behind that energy is trailing right along with you.

6:28 If you if you are in the home during the day, that energy you are exuding to every single person you interact with. Is it nobody? Is it your kids? Is it your husband? Is it your neighbor? Is it the unfortunate interaction you have with the Amazon delivery guy? Yes. And it dictates the trajectory, as I said, of your entire day. And, and I think when women talk about the the chaos that ensues in their morning, they carry a lot of shame with that because they know maybe from childhood how how much of an impact those tough mornings have.

7:02 And they happen. There's no avoiding it. Or maybe there is a sense of shame surrounding the fact that you might feel like you are perceived as as lazy or unmotivated, right? And it's because you don't have a system that supports you. And this is exactly, it is exactly what James Clear talks about in chapters one through 3 of Atomic Habits. Every habit you have, good or bad, come from one loop. Remember this loop? There's 4 words cue craving response reward CCRRQ craving response reward. So today we're going to apply that loop to your morning routine.

7:47 So it becomes the anchor that stabilizes your hormones, boosts your fat loss, reduces your stress and builds the identity which is the most important factor in. Change your own identity of the woman who's grounded, structured and consistent. The woman who doesn't need motivation because she operates like a machine. OK, so let's get into exactly what the problem looks like for you Now, if you are a woman, most women wake up directly they are thrown into chaos. You're rushed. You grab your phone. You scroll.

8:19 Your kids need you. You're. You're stepping over toys and clothes. The sink is full. Your bathroom's a mess. The kitchen's a mess. There's dishes out. Coffee hits on your empty stomach. Your cortisol spiked. You're already overstimulated. Someone starts touching you. Someone spills on your your robe, someone steps on your foot, your blood sugar and your cortisol roller coaster. No mental grounding, no protein. Dear God, nobody eats in the morning. This is so important. If you take away one thing from this entire episode besides you need a morning routine, it is to eat protein when you wake up.

8:55 It is so important for women above the age of 35, and I say that on repeat because I want you to know your body is different after 35. It's not in your head. You need protein. OK? Need a morning routine and need to throw protein in it. If that's all you take away from today, do that. But you have no protein. You haven't moved your body outside of what's necessary. There's no sense of order, there's no system. And by 9:00 AM you are mentally cluttered. You are physically dysregulated. You are as a whole buzzing because you're overstimulated.

9:28 And you feel if you, if you're like me, this is not OK. This is not a good place to be. I mean, my energy right now is me post post nap. Can you imagine? Can you imagine what my family has to go through when I am feeling, feeling dysregulated? I'm like, I don't even know the Energizer Bunny on speed with a temper. It just doesn't. It doesn't work. And I want to briefly touch on these symptoms that women above 35 have in common. You may or may not, depending on what level your hormones are AT. And this is a real thing.

10:01 I say that from somebody who has had many hormone panels done in the last few years to try to figure out why I'm having a lot of these symptoms I'm about to list off. But I think it is so imperative for me to shine a light on these symptoms so that you understand that you are not alone. We are all going through parts of this, if not all of it. And in the future, if you're not going through it now, you will. I promise you, it's biology. I had to really swallow that hard pill myself. So women, if you are low energy, brain fog, you have cravings, emotionally overwhelmed, you feel behind, you have a difficult time focusing, you are just Moody, you're Moody, you're Moody and it's nobody's problem but your own because it's different.

10:46 It's a different kind of Moody. And if you are, you know what I mean, You have a night an issue with eating at night. I don't we all, but it's it's different. It's almost like those cravings are overwhelming at night. You have an inconsistent workout schedule and I use that term lately. You are exhausted, especially exhausted from making decisions because it's it's mentally taxing. You have no confidence. You have a lot of clutter, mental, physical, emotional. It's a cluttered state. And for someone like me, who I think in a previous life I might have been a drill Sergeant of sort, for someone like me to experience a lot of those symptoms among others and keep passing them off as I'm not getting enough sleep or what have you, I didn't need enough where I'm doing this or that.

11:32 After my panel showed that it is definitely not in my head. It was a real, real issue I needed to figure out. It was so validating. It really put me at peace. And once I had that peace, I found it so much easier to grapple with the tools that I need to put in place to see real change. And we're going to go through that today. And I, I know that you have heard of Doctor Stacey Sims. And if you haven't, she is an exercise physiologist. I'm just kind of trying to recite her background. She's a exercise physiologist, I believe.

12:01 But she is all over the place, everywhere all at once because everyone's obsessed with her research. She is a specialist in women's hormones and their health and training after age 35. Because we are the unseen population. We are the, the unwanted brushed in the back of the closet. That's us. But now we're getting the attention and it's fantastic. She's actually who inspired me to start my business, but a lot of her research shines a light on the true changes that we as women go through at 35. And again, it is not in your head.

12:30 It's really not. Your cortisol rises faster, your blood sugar way more sensitive, your dopamine dips. OK. And this makes habit formation even harder. See, you're not lazy. It's actually you. It's actually your biology uncontrollable. Your recovery slows way down. Oh my gosh, does it ever. Estrogen fluctuations that amplifies your stress responses and the clutter, the clutter that that ensues from all of this dysregulation that increases your cortisol and reduces your executive functioning ability, which is kind of from a teaching background, so it might not be a common term, but basically just your ability to function.

13:08 That's what that is. So I compiled a lot of research from Doctor Stacey Sims and also from Atomic Habits and then another man who specializes in key habit formation and I came up with these 4 pillars, these 4 pillars that I believe are a non option. They are a necessity in your morning routine. And that is number 1. You need a mental or spiritual anchor that can look however you want it to look. For me, that looks like me walking downstairs, turning on my little Scentsy lamp, putting my Omnilux red light mask on my naked face, snuggling up in a blanket and listening to a podcast.

13:52 And a lot of times my podcast is about the Bible. It's one of an app I use called Through the Words, Through the Word. Other times it's just, you know, something that's enlightening, something that is setting my mental pace for the day. It has to be, it can't be, it can't be anything besides that. It has to be something that's going to anchor you mentally. So whatever that is for you, be it prayer or journaling or meditation, writing down something you're grateful for, I can't even express that enough.

14:22 Write down something you're grateful for. If you don't have a podcast or really want to do anything for your pillar #1 the mental, spiritual thing, just write down one thing you're grateful for and Stew on it a bit. I have a journal that I took out haphazardly one day during COVID, and I scribbled on the front. Mama's happy and because I just had these little moments with my kids that made me happy and I would write down 1 moment when we had all the time in the world, right? And I like that journal.

14:52 I like that journal. I like to look back on that journal when I'm feeling some kind of way. It has it has a big impact on me, has a big impact on my mental state. It was a great way to start my day or breath work. Breath work. I know that a lot of people feel really strongly about the impacts of that breath work has on anxiety or what have you. So the first of the four pillars that you need in your morning routine is the mental or spiritual anchor. We just went through that pillar #2 nutritional anchor.

15:21 This one I want to scream about nutritional anchor. This is an anchor because you need it or you're going to float away into the abyss of stress and chaos. You need this. And Doctor Stacey Sims proves that she has so much research surrounding women's cortisol spikes in the morning, which every human being has a cortisol spike within maybe like 20 minutes to however long it is upon waking is the is what the research states. Your body naturally spikes cortisol. But for women above the age of 35, that spike is really intense.

15:53 How do we dampen it? We want to dampen that cortisol spike. We dampen that by getting 25 to 40 grams of protein within 45 minutes of waking. Write this down. Upon waking, you need 25 to 40 grams of protein within the 1st 45 minutes. Non negotiable. My sister's rolling her eyes because we were just arguing about this last week. I'm like Oh my gosh, woman eat something. Why? Why do you need 25 to 45 grams of 40 grams of protein? Why? Well, it stabilizes your blood sugar, which remember we said that's really sensitive after age 35.

16:28 We don't want that because that you store fat. OK, blunts the cortisol spike again involving your body fat. You don't want that reduces your cravings later. Bingo. That hit the nail on the head. Your cravings drop way down if you are starting your breakfast strong with 25 to 40 grams of protein. I know I'm being redundant. It improves your energy, supports your muscle which is your #1 fat loss asset, and lowers inflammation. This is not me making this up, this is actual sighted research. How do I do that?

17:00 I take a scoop of chocolate whey protein, toss it in a cup and then I fill the cup with cold brew so I have my caffeine spike. Boom, need that along with my cortisol blunting protein powder. Is it the healthiest option? I don't know. Do I care? Absolutely not. But I did it. I got that 20 gram, 25 grams of protein in right off the bat. Now when I have ladies who are just signing on, I just, if it's an overwhelming task to eat that much protein, which I don't, I think I eat as much as your average man.

17:35 But if it's, it's daunting to you because you experience morning nausea and you're just not hungry, start at 15. That's OK. Start at 15. That's still going to have a dampening effect. But you do need to work your way up to 25. Now I do 25 because that's pretty much what's in my scoop of way. I'm not about to sit down and inhale, you know, my big thick morning pancake in a bowl. It's, it's 5:00 AM where I am when I wake up. So to me, I'm going on the minimum and I am, I get the 25 grams of protein in my coffee.

18:04 I start my day. So we have now gone through two of the anchors that you're going to need in your morning routine. And that is #1 mental or spiritual anchor #2 nutritional anchor, eat your protein #3 movement anchor. Now don't get overwhelmed with this one. This one has a lot of space to make with it what you will make with it what you will. But I found that I am usually not in a place to really throw down and have a good leg day at 5 AMI am, however, in a place to do a leisurely bout of zone 2. So my mornings, most mornings, I would say probably 4 to 5 days out of the week, I start them with 40 minutes of zone 2 and my goal is to get it done by 6:30.

18:52 So around 5:40 I am down on my treadmill leisurely completing my It's the most relaxing part of my day. I'm not kidding you. It is so nice. It's so great. I do, I catch up with my clients. Some of them are even awake talking to me. It's it's awesome. But you need your pillar #3 which is your movement anchor. 5 to 10 minutes minimum. Minimum. What does that look like? Take your dog outside real quick. Do some stretching, do some yoga poses, do some walking on your walking pad. If you don't have one, you should get one.

19:26 It's winter, a lot of you live in Minnesota. You're not really going to be walking outside a lot. So having a treadmill or a walking pad the best. And that movement that you have my doggy, that movement that you're experiencing that signals to your body wake up, regulate move. You've already done the mental part. You've given your body the fuel it needs, and now we're going to put a little bit of movement into it. And I'd say beginners again, do your 5 to 10 minutes minimum, do your yoga, do your stretching, whatever you want.

19:57 If you if this doesn't sound great, then think of your own people who don't mind moving that much. Do your zone too. Do your zone too. All ladies need it. I'm not. You need it. You do. You can go as far as to have your intense workout. Back when I was teaching, that's when I worked out. I would workout at 5:00 AM and really, really have an intense pre workout fueled sweat session and it was great. I mean, it was, it was better than the alternative, which would be working out at 4:00 PM after I was with lots and lots of very energetic children all day.

20:30 So pillar #3 your movement, we are moving into the final pillar of your morning routine. And remember, I made a printable. I made a printable because I love making printables. And it has all the information you're going to need to fill in what you're going to do for these 4 pillars. But the last number four pillar of your morning routine is the organizational anchor. Now this one is, is debatable. I, I think it's really, really important. I think it's really important. It's impactful. Women in midlife, we are deeply affected by the environmental stress, the clutter, the chaos.

21:04 So just something simple you can do. Make your bed clean off your bathroom counter, go downstairs and pick up the toys off the ground. Go in the kitchen and make sure your sinks wipes down. Lay out your kids backpacks, fold the blankets and put them that that's underrated. Fold your blankets and put them in a nice little rectangle hanging. It's just nice. It looks great. Karate chop your pillows. Make your space just a little bit nicer, a little bit tidier. It goes a long way. Think about how you feel when you get into a made bed.

21:36 It really it goes a long way and the reason those little things go a long way is because those micro acts, they actually do reduce your cortisol. They increase perceived cortisol and it lowers your decision fatigue, which women our age is, is very prevalent in our lives. It makes it easier to eat, eat well, move and stay consistent later in the day. Now science shows a cluttered environment increases stress hormones, reduces focus and triggers emotional eating. Your brain biologically craves order in the morning.

22:13 It really does. Think about how you feel when your morning is ordered and run smoothly. That is what your body needs and that is what you need in order to achieve your goals. That's the system you need to put in place today. Now, I mentioned the habit loop. I mentioned the habit loop just briefly, but I want to go into it a little bit more because when I read the book, I kept rereading that portion. I was like, what? What's a queue? What's a craving? When it comes to running? I don't ever crave to run.

22:45 So I wanted to just clear that up because it was a little, it was a little murky to me. So in the book Atomic Habits by James Cleary, I believe my last name is Creary, sounds very similar. Anyway, in the book Atomic Habits, chapters one through 3 applied to mornings if we apply those concepts to our mornings. And the concepts were the ones I went over in the beginning, which are cue, craving, response, and reward. So we're going to go through that and how it applies to putting our new morning routine into action.

23:20 So let's start with Q. And when I'm, when I'm listing these cues, that's in regards to the four pillars we just went through When I said that you need these 4 pillars in your morning routine. And that was you have to have that mental spiritual component and then you have the nutritional component, and then you have the movement component and then the organizational component. So here's a cue for each one of those pillars. And actually I'm just going to name my own personal cues that I use because I do follow those pillars I have for a while.

23:49 So I have my shoes out. I have my shoes out with my workout clothes sitting on top of them because it's easy. I see it, I don't have to think, I know it matches, I know it's going to be a little bit cozy because it's in the morning and that's how I want to feel. So have your shoes out, have your workout clothes out. When I go downstairs I have my protein powder pre poured into my little plastic cup and I usually drink from the same clear cup every morning. I don't have OCD but I do like things to be systemized.

24:20 So I have my scoop of chocolate whey protein powder more or less so that the bag crinkling doesn't wake anybody up. It's already in my cup. All I have to do is open the fridge, take out my big jug of cold brew and toss it in there so I have my shoes and workout clothes out visible by my bed. I have my protein powder pre poured into the cup and then I have my treadmill in the basement. That's that's easy. That's nice, especially in the winters. If you don't have a treadmill or walking pad, you should invest in one.

24:48 It's really, really important to keep your steps going, especially in these cold months. So I have my treadmill easily accessible if I choose not to do the treadmill. If I'm having some sort of weird foot pain, which is actually pretty common for me, I might go to a nearby gym. I have two gym memberships at this point. Both of them I like for different reasons and that where I might have a class from, you know, biking to some type of GTX class or more often than not I'm just climbing the stair climber.

25:19 Climbing away doesn't hurt my foot or the elliptical, that's really easy on my joints as well. So I just need some place that's open and easy for me to get to. Whether it's a 2 minute car ride or a two-minute walk down to the basement, 2 seconds, I don't know. And then I like my space that where I'm going to have my mental health portion of the day and my walking portion of the day. I like it to be tidy. I like it to be neat and orderly. I don't like a bunch of clutter on the ground. This morning I spent half my zone two time cleaning up clutter in the workout room of the basement because I just I couldn't stop staring at it.

25:52 OK, that's that's what is that garbage? Who's in here? So a tidy space. Those are your cues. Shoes out, protein visible walking pad or a treadmill within, you know, a close distance. Keep your Bible or journal or whatever you're going to use an app accessible to you, whatever that means. I really like the idea of having a gratitude journal it, it does wonders. And then your tidy space. OK, now we're moving on to a craving. The craving. So we need to make these 4 pillars attractive. We need to make them something we look forward to doing.

26:24 Something that I do to make the listening to a podcast more appealing and more relaxing is I have my red light mask on during it. I'm snuggled up. I have my coffee protein next to me. I'm getting a buzz while I'm listening to this really nice tone setting podcast for the day or whatever it is. And I have this nice warm red light mask on my face. And I have a rule for myself. I can't click the red light mask on and feel that nice beautiful heat until I have my whatever it is playing. The craving component can even be as simple as like I said, I drink out of the same plastic cup.

27:01 I drink out of it because it makes me happy. I don't even know why it makes me happy, it's just this grungy plastic cup with flowers engraved to it. But something about it's feminine mystique amongst all the football plastic cups that are littering my cupboard that floured 1 is mine and I like it. And it's just something that makes the whole chugging caffeinated protein in the morning a little bit better. And As for my space down in the basement where I have my treadmill, I turn the heat on. I'm freeze baby.

27:31 I like to have the heat on and in the in the summer, don't tell my husband this, I turn the air conditioning on down there because I want to be cool. So I make sure that the temperature where I'm doing my Zone 2 is suited for my very sensitive, temperature sensitive self. So we just went through the queue. We just went through the craving. Now we have the response, the first R of the two remaining Rs. And the response is make it easy. OK, make it easy. If that movement feels like, Oh my gosh, how does she work out in the morning?

28:04 I don't even want to move. Make it 5 minutes. Make it 5 minutes because then you still did it. Or if that organizational component of like, Oh my gosh, she's doing dishes at five. Yeah, I told you I'm like the Energizer Bunny it but around 3 I'm dead. Don't even talk to me. But that organizational component, you can simplify that. Pick up a couple cups, pick up your shoes, put them in the closet. That little task, I promise you it does something to you. So the response, you just want to make it easy.

28:32 You want to make it easy. And if it's easy, you know you can do it. And I will say this, when I first started being more of a I've always been a morning person, but during COVID when I was like Oh my gosh, I cannot get my life together, I started getting up at 5:00 AM not because I wanted to, but because I knew I needed to. After reading this book, I knew that was the only time that I could have to myself unbothered. I have 3 kids, I have a dog that is incessantly barking. I just wanted time and I couldn't have it.

29:05 There wasn't any because I have a lot going on. So I knew the earlier that I got up the more alone time I would have. And that in itself was the biggest motivator to me, to me actually getting up and being consistent about it. And I remember the winter I started, I remember thinking to myself, when my alarm went off, Oh my gosh, I'm freezing. This is horrible. But the second I went downstairs and put on my new Christmas gift I purchased for myself, which was the Omnilux red light mask, I just felt nice.

29:37 I was like, I'm awake. My skin's looking better by the second. This is OK. And then I kept repeating it and the more that I forced myself out of bed, looking forward to that red light mask, the more the habit just became that a habit. It was easy. It was. I didn't have any feelings about it. I wasn't feeling sorry for myself myself. I wasn't saying I'm so tired. I get out of bed. I am an early riser. I am a morning person. I don't know if I was born that way, but I certainly am now. That's my identity.

30:05 I do identify as a morning person. Now, the reward part, my favorite. You make these activities satisfying. Make it satisfying. Now, I have lots of interesting little tools that I use to make that reward satisfying to me. I don't know if they would be appealing to other adults. It's kind of infantile but I have sheets hanging in my bathroom and and I will check off. If I did my step goal for the day, I will write my weight into it. Right now I'm doing a little science experiment, hence why I'm writing it, not putting it in an app.

30:43 I give myself a star at the end of each day if I hit my steps, if I remember to weigh myself, and if I stayed within my macro target by 100 calories. Something about putting that star next to the day is incredibly rewarding to me. It makes me feel accomplished. It makes me feel like I am taking all these little actions to get where I want to be. An I know that because I can see it. I wrote the star and then downstairs we have a big calendar. I do the same thing. I have a little checklist. When I finish my workout, I walk into the house after the gym, take out the dry erase marker that is right next to it.

31:22 It's a magnet on it, and I just do a little check and something about that check mark makes me feel good. I like that Macros First, the app I use to track my macros. I don't even use my own app, but I like the fact that Macros First gives me a Gold Star. That's a reward to me. Does it mean anything? Absolutely not to me, yeah, it kind of does. I need my Gold Star. I was just at a client, one-on-one last night telling her I just, I need the Gold Star. What does? No, I I don't, but I do. And, and there's other little reward systems simultaneously happening throughout your day.

31:55 Like, you know, during the organizational component when I make my bed, which I don't really get to because my husband's always sleeping in the morning, when I do make my bed, I turn around and I look at it and like, Yep, I pick up the kids clothes and I or not their clothes, their shoes, their jackets, their whatever is and I put a cute little note and not every day, I promise. But when I do that and I see their things stacked nicely, that's a reward. When I spray Windex on my counters because I like the Sheen that it gives after I'm done spilling part of my protein coffee, which I do almost every morning, I like that.

32:30 That's a reward for me, the caffeine in my coffee that makes me ACT even more wound up than this. That's a reward when I get done with my Zone 2 in the morning. By this point it is 630 and I am getting the kids ready, fed in my car and it's peaceful and it's nice most of the time. Most of the time, if it's not, it ain't my fault because I started at 4:30. This is true And then in the car, we have a nice time, we have a nice chat. It's a great peaceful as peaceful as it can be with three little kids in the car before 7:00 AM.

33:10 It's peaceful, as peaceful as it can be. But I can't even imagine how horrific it would be if I entered that car in the state that I have before when I sleep in by accident. Then my disarray, my chaos, my bad energy, my vibes of whatever I'm giving out, I make it everybody else's issue and I do. I don't want to, but it happens because because I don't like when I miss my morning routine. It's sacred. And if you can have your own, it is incredibly sacred. You will feel that way. My family knows you don't don't talk to mom during during her zone too.

33:48 And if you do, I I'll speak to you and I'll be nice. But I ain't happy about it, which is why I just keep winding the clock back having to make it 430. AMI dare you to get out of bed as early as I'm up? Lastly, I have these cute little behavior trackers, and I will. Or client habit trackers that I give my clients and it has the same concept. They check off when they finish their gallon or whatever it is. You know, not all of them are drinking a gallon or they hit their protein goal or they hit their however many workouts.

34:19 It's a week long habit tracker and it shows what you're doing each day for a week. And every time you do what you need to be doing, you give yourself a little check mark and you have a goal of how many check marks you're going to get at the end of the week. It's kind of like the behavior charts I used to make when I was teaching. Actually, it is a behavior chart and that's how we encourage wanted behavior. Yours. OK, so I wanted to share some of my clients morning routines and these just make me smile.

34:46 I love them. These just make me smile. They make me smile because they are so unabashedly like I do this and I don't and it sucks but and some people like, oh, I do this and I'm over here feeling insecure because I'm like, wow, you're awesome. OK, this one morning routine I'm reading directly from their text messages. Morning routine. Weekdays she wakes up at 4:40 AM, she weighs herself. Good job. Because we are not afraid of a number on the scale. That's just data. And that is actually one of the highest ranking habits for people who sustain weight loss are people who weigh themselves every day or at least like 3 * a week.

35:25 Remember that weighing yourself isn't scary, it's just data, keeps you informed, keeps you in the know, and it's one of the most impactful habits. I think it's habit number one or two breakfast or that. Anyway, back to my girl. She's up at 4:40 AM. She weighs herself, she showers, she eats 15 to 20 grams of protein. She gets ready for work, she packs her pre made and pre tracked lunch. Bingo. Her food is pre tracked. Do that please. That I know it sucks but you get in your app and you pre track your day and if something changes which it will go in and change that something that changed because it's way easier than putting in your whole day as you go and playing macro Tetris.

36:05 So I use this as her talking. I use Sunday as meal prep day for all week lunches and breakfast if it's something that needs to be made. Sometimes just yogurt or Costco Turkey sausage breakfast sandwich. I track three days in advance. Me too girl. Then she goes to work, pre workout, protein around 15 grams, workout. She works out, dinner, shower, relax, bed at 8:00 PM, repeat. Weekends ups and downs, workout, protein, whatever the day brings. But she has that five days of super consistent consistency.

36:39 Love this one. My morning routine is about as far from strict as it gets. I'm only half human in the AM and it is a problem. Weekdays I'd begrudgingly AM up at 6:45 AM. That's pretty early. Pack school lunches, get the boys ready, make and pack breakfast. My latest hyper fixation is just Greek yogurt with CSE Strawberry Shortcake protein. Oh my gosh, so good. A banana and 15 grams of vanilla granola. You're early and you're eating your protein. The two things pack pre workout and BCA as drop kids off slash eat on the way gym work.

37:15 That is a stellar routine. What's she talking about? OK another one right there with her. My morning routine. This is another client client #3 now my morning is go with the flow. I get up when the kids get up, normally around 7:00. Then it's packing lunches, packs snow gear all to school. Then it's picking up my niece heading to school. Then it's off to the gym, some ECFE classes, running errands, and then a lot of family stuff. Then she works on Fridays. Then her evenings are also go with the flow.

37:44 She tries to get in her zone 2 or at least a 10 minute walk after dinner a few times a week, but not always doable. And I will tell you this, she makes that sound really convoluted. She is incredibly systemized, more than me. You look in her fridge, everything is clean, pre pat, like pre weighed ready to go. And she grabs and goes about her day because she watches not only her kids, but probably 18 other nieces and nephews and friends kids as well somehow. And then she's got jobs, you know, she owns a restaurant.

38:14 She she does it all. So she's, she's diminishing her incredible work ethic and preparedness. Yeah, she does all the things and she does it perfectly. She hits her lifts literally every day. This is me speaking about her. From what I know of her, from what I know of her routine, she gifts every single day, she gets her zone 2IN when she can, and she hits her macros every day because she is prepared ahead of time with her food client #4 her routine wakes up at 4:30 to 5:30. AMI know that because we were texting this morning.

38:45 She gets dressed for the gym, eats a yogurt with a cut up banana and then heads to the gym when she gets home. She has the same breakfast every single day, which is two eggs, half a cup egg whites scrambled with English muffin and peanut butter. Then she showers, gets dressed, gets her kids ready for school and daycare, and then starts her work day at 8:15 AM Boom, textbook perfect. Another lady of mine wakes up at 4:30. AMI love this. I love this because I know they do it because sometimes we're texting.

39:13 I'm like why are we so? But we are. Wakes up at 4:30 AM, has the bathroom routine. Coffee 8 to 12 ounces of water with body bio E Lite drinks. Lift, strength lifting program, workout in home gym. Most of the time she does cardio in the afternoons after work while kids are at sport. So she has her lift in the morning, does her cardio in the afternoon and if it's not possible she will take 4:00 AM to get her cardio done if she has to. She had then has a quick shower and another bathroom routine to get ready for the day and then she gets dressed herself.

39:44 Then she goes downstairs, packs lunches, snacks, water bottles, wakes up the kids, gives the kids their vitamins, breakfast, takes her own supplements at this time which is her creatine and her aminos. Gets the kids dressed in the bathroom routine for kids, leaves the house by 7:00 AM, seven AM. She drops the kids off at school and then she goes to work. That right there is my exact routine. And when I was teaching bingo, like these ladies juggle it all. They juggle it all. Another one, this is the last one I'll share, is her usual morning routine changes depending on if she works or not.

40:15 On the day she does not work, she's up at 7:00 AM, maybe a little earlier. She lets her dogs out, she feeds them. She has her eight ounce of Pioneer chocolate milk with 8 grams of chia seeds and half a banana. At 7:45 she has her lift. By 9:00 AM she has showered and then whatever the day brings. Then workdays. Her start times vary so sometimes her morning she's up at 4:30 but she is always upped up by 7 and on those work days she is making her smoothie and she drinks it while she drives 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic.

40:44 She works her eight hour shift and then on the way home she hits the gym if it's before 4:30. Her gym is kind of like a a women's boutique fitness type gym. It's really cool. But they have classes there at 4:30. So she can't lift if she's later than 430. Long story. But then she does her treadmill and she will then do dinner and shower, maybe walk the dogs if it's not freezing gold. You can see that all the routines are different, but they all have the staples that they need. They all are doing crossing the T's, dotting the IS getting it done consistently.

41:17 And when you do those little actions every single day, it takes the guesswork out of it. People say that. Oh my gosh, that must be exhausting. No, it's, it's incredibly freeing to have that system in place. You don't have to be a slave to your emotions. You don't have to be a victim of your lack of motivation because again, your feelings are just that, their feelings. Flush them to the side. They come, they go, they're here, they're not doesn't matter. What does matter is that you are taking the time to complete your daily systems every day because those are the pathways to your goal.

41:52 You're not going to get to your goal unless you have a system, AKA pathway. So here's we're going to end. This is what you are going to do to start tomorrow. Here is your exact morning routine. However early you're getting up, get up a little bit earlier. Number one, your mental slash spiritual component. Give it 2 minutes. If you've never done it before, just give it 2 minutes. Write down something you're grateful for. Do all the things I mentioned previously in the episode, but just do it for 2 minutes #2 protein.

42:21 Go downstairs, have 25 to 40 grams of protein. If that seems intolerable, get one of those pre made shakes. All you have to do is crack open the can. OK, go downstairs. Do that. Or upstairs, wherever you live #3 movement, just move your body for five to 10 minutes. All you have to do is lay on the floor. Do some stretching, literally lay on the floor if this is intolerable for you, and just move your body. Bring your knee to your chest, bring your other knee to your chest. Stretch your arms way, way, way behind.

42:48 Open up your chest, open up your lower back. And if you have the tools, a treadmill. Get on there and walk for a couple minutes or just do some laps around your house. It's easy. Just do it for five to 10 minutes. Lastly, for two to three minutes you're going to do some type of organizational tasks. So 2 to 3 minutes, that's all it takes to make your bed. 2 to 3 minutes, that's all it takes to clean off your counter. 2 to 3 minutes, that's all it takes to do a quick pick up. Pick up your jacket, you know what's on the floor, pick up your shoes.

43:18 So all of this together takes approximately 20 minutes Max. That's where you can start tomorrow. If this feels unrealistic. So however early you're getting up, tack on an extra 20 minutes. Hit these steps. Now go on my Instagram rack RAC fitness under Dash. So rack fitness under Dash, you will see this cutesy little tool I made, which is the morning habit routine checklist. What did I call it? Morning routine checklist. I love making these types of tools. They're they're just so usable. Go on my Instagram, it's a freebie print it out, fill in your own habits and check it off.

43:59 Check them off when you complete them tomorrow. It is so satisfying. It is so satisfying. OK ladies, thank you so much for listening to me ramble on. I really hope this is helpful to you. If you haven't started a morning routine, I hope that the tool I talked about and the tool that is on my Instagram will help you start today because your morning routine is everything. Your morning routine sets the tone. Your morning routine is the system that will drive your success, not your motivation. Nothing else, just your systems.

44:33 OK ladies, thank you so much for listening. I'll talk to you soon.