How many times have you gotten up out of bed in the morning to go to the bathroom, and then the next thing you know you’re scrolling your phone and you are distracted starting your day looking at Twitter, social media, or something like that?

Or how many times have you started your day saw an email and immediately jumped into work whether you work from home or not, we all know we pretty much work from our phones these days. And before you know it, you’ve been locked to your computer and it’s 12 PM and you haven’t eaten anything all day.

Hello, my friends and welcome to the fit to lead podcast. The question is how can badass women leaders lose stubborn fat, feel amazing in their clothes, and never say no to Bikinis again. All without giving up their Fast and Furious lifestyle that they work so hard for? That is the question and this podcast is the answer.

I’m your host Natalie Hayes online fitness coach, US Army captain, and formally overweight healthy eater. Because I’ve struggled with weight my entire life. I’ve lived through just about every face you can imagine, from running every day and emptying my wallet on organic food to Bikini competitions and having Tupperware all but chained to my wrist to trying to lose weight while traveling around the world on army orders.

The difference between me and every other coach is I understand that different phases of life require different fitness approaches. I’m so passionate about helping women feel their best that I’ve spent the past decade learning everything there is to know about permanent weight loss in women leaders. The information on this podcast is going to give you the tools you need to lose the weight you’ve always wanted without feeling hungry, helpless, or alone in this process.

This podcast is going to help you feel connected to other remarkable leaders and reassure you that your fitness and life goals are indeed possible for you. It’s time to get after the body and life of your dreams. And put so much on the line that your neck self is forced to come out.

What is up crew today, I’m going to teach you how to implement a morning routine that is going to be so helpful for you in your fitness and weight loss journey. And stick around till the end. And I’m going to share with you the specific system that I use to implement my morning routine, which has helped me stay in shape and become much more productive. Let’s get into it.

So first, let’s define what we’re talking about here, shall we? So what even is a frickin morning routine Natalie and why would I want to put in place one of these things? So first, I want to ask you, How many times have you gotten up out of bed in the morning, and gone to the bathroom?

And then the next thing you know, you’re scrolling your phone, and you are distracted? starting your day looking at Twitter, social media, or something like that. Or how many times have you started your day, saw an email, and immediately jumped into work? Whether you work from home or not, we all know we pretty much work from our phones these days. And before you know it, you’ve been locked to your computer. And it’s 12pm and you haven’t eaten anything all day.

The problem with this is that when you start your day like this, you are reacting to the world. You’re saying world just have me whatever you need for me just take it, I’m yours, this body, this mind, whatever comes flying at me, I will react to it in that order. And that is the opposite of how we want to start our day. That is the opposite of how a successful person approaches their day. A successful person, a person who loses weight, the person who starts that business who chases that dream, decides what they’re going to focus on for the day, they identify the things that need to get done, in order to move their life forward and the direction that they want to see happen when you wake up, you should be setting the intentions, you should be setting their priorities, and you should know more or less what you’re going to be focusing on for that day. So this allows you space to prepare for the day. So even if maybe everything at work kind of goes wrong, or it’s kind of a shitshow there, you can at least know that you started your day on solid ground. And you can be proud of yourself for that. So how long does it take? Well, that really depends on you and what you want to do, and how you want to set it up. They can honestly range anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes again, depending on how your mornings are set up.

So what I will do is go through with you kind of my old morning routine, my current morning routine, and what each of the things means to me and how they helped me set up for a great and productive day. So before when I was on active duty had to be PT at six. So I would wake up pretty much last night and add it as possible. And you know, just put on my PTS grab water, and go to pt. But what I would do is in between after PT and the start of the workday, you have a couple of hours. So what I would do is use my time there to do somewhat of a morning routine. So after that, I would shower, I would make breakfast, would do my journaling and meditation, and set out my goals for the day. So that’s how it worked for me back then. And that worked just fine. But I definitely have adjusted as my schedule has changed. So keep that in mind, a morning routine should not be rigid, it should not be something that can’t change. That’s honestly one of the biggest mistakes people make is they get too rigid with their morning routine. And then it kind of becomes a handicap they can’t start their day without doing these things. But it’s a guideline to make sure that again, you’re setting your day up with intention on solid ground. So now what does my morning routine look like? And why did I set it up this way? So now I don’t wake up at 530 anymore.

Now I wake up at about 7 am. And that is because that is a time that I for me personally can wake up during the week and the weekends and still get enough sleep. So I’ve tried to get up earlier on a regular basis. And it just ends up staying up too late. So then I’m not getting enough sleep if I’m waking up at five. And honestly, sleep is one of the most important things in a fitness journey and a health journey. And it’s very important to me. So the first part of your morning routine is to go to bed at a consistent time and wake up at a consistent time and make sure that you’re getting at least seven to nine hours of sleep, it would be more beneficial for you to get 79 hours of sleep than to spend an hour doing kind of other extra things that might boost your health or fat loss. So just sitting in a sauna or doing extra cardio, more sleep is going to help you than those things are going to help you. So first, I make sure that I get eight hours of sleep usually for me, and then I get my water, which is I have lukewarm water with some lemon, some lemon juice, and a pinch of salt in there. And then I make coffee as well. And in my coffee, I put in my creatine and my collagen. So I mix all those up with a frother. So I have my two drinks. I’m a to drink girl in the morning. And then I go out to my balcony. And I just kind of have some quiet time with myself in the morning. So what does that look like? For me personally, this looks like getting comfortable on my chair and doing some deep breathing. So I breathe in for four seconds. I know I breathe in for seven seconds. I hold it for four seconds, and then I breathe out for eight seconds. And while I’m doing that, I’m just kind of settling my mind. And doing some visualization, some meditation, and also just mentally practicing gratitude for the things that I have. I used to journal my gratitude. And that is a great way to start getting into a gratitude practice. But for me right now, kind of in this season that I’m in this is working really well for me.

So again, I do deep breathing. I visualize myself kind of in the form that I want to be today I kind of visualize the highest version of myself or the version of myself that I want to show up as today. What Who does she look like? What’s her energy? Like? What’s her demeanor? Like? How does she treat other people? How does she treat her team and, and the people around her? I imagine that girl and I tap into her. And I just visualize the kind of showing up as her today and every day. And then I also practice my gratitude for the things that I am experiencing right now. And yeah, I like I said just have some quiet time with myself and that’s really just important for my mental health. To be honest, that takes me maybe five minutes, five to 10 minutes, and then I kind of switch gears, and at this point guys, I have not looked at my phone I have not looked at any messages from anyone no emails, no slack messages, no messages from clients work has does not have access to me right now. Not yet almost but not yet. So then I make my powerless for the day. So that means so now I’m kind of switching gears into you know, today what do I have to do to get closer to my goals? So I think of my powerless So again, what are the top five-ish, it’s usually around five things that I need to get done today for it to kind of be a successful day and for me to have moved the mark the needle One step forward to my goals. So I make that list. And that list is very important. And I would recommend not skipping this part because you want to have your day set up, right, I make that list, then I start making breakfast, and then I reply to messages. So whatever messages came in overnight, I’m responding to those and getting people any support, they need any clients or team members primarily. And then I make breakfast right now it’s oatmeal that I’m loving, it’s usually just something light of a carbon protein source, and then I go work out. And then I come back and shower, get ready. And then I start working. Honestly, I start working around 10 am. If I’m getting up at seven, this whole routine plus my workout plus getting ready if I’m, you know, getting dressed, putting on makeup, probably three hours from start to finish.

But I don’t think I work out once I start responding to messages, I don’t really think I’m in my morning routine anymore. That’s just kind of how I set up my day. Personally, there are days when I start working right away, and then I go work out later in the day. So I’m not married to this, this is just kind of usually how it goes, and what I found works best for me. Now I want to shift gears and get into how you can set up a morning routine that will help you with your fitness journey that will help you with your weight loss. And what are the key pillars of a healthy morning routine for you and where you’re at? So I’m going to go through those here. And yeah, so pay attention. Here we go. Number one is water getting in the water in the morning. So what happens at night is think you haven’t drank any water for the past eight hours, your body is dehydrated. And it’s really important to put something healthy in your body first thing in the morning because again, how you start your day is likely how you continue your day. So in the morning, get at least 16 ounces of room temp water room temp is best for digestion, little lemon juice, and a little pinch of salt. And you will be starting out your day the healthiest way you can. So little lemon water with some salts that’s to help digestion help electrolytes help hydration. The next thing is to expose yourself to sunlight. So I go out on my balcony, you don’t have me if you don’t have a balcony, no problem, no balcony is required. But this can go hand in hand with whether we want to expose ourselves to sunlight. And we want to move in some way. So if I didn’t go work out right after I made breakfast, I would go for a walk, or I would do some stretching outside or I would do something to move my body. You don’t have to be the person who works out in the morning.

That is totally okay. But we want to do some sort of movement outside, it can honestly just be going for a walk around your building, or it could be doing 10 burpees. Outside, it could just be doing your stretches doing some yoga poses outside, if you have a step goal, which if you’re a fit to lead client you should do, I would make a goal for you to get a certain amount of steps in by the end of your morning routine. And this is important because not only does it wake up your body, and it starts your circadian rhythm out in the right way. But it also reminds you that you’re the kind of person who drinks water moves and goes outside. And the kind of person that does those three things is a fit and healthy person. And that’s who you are. Maybe you don’t feel like her yet, but you are that person. And it’s really important to start identifying as her and to start doing things that the next version of you would do. The next thing that’s going to help you reach your weight loss goals is to have some sort of mindfulness or visualization practice. Now, don’t think I’m saying you have to meditate or you have to be completely still for 20 minutes. That’s not what I’m saying. This could be as simple as two to three minutes of just setting your intentions for the day. And like I said, just picturing how you want to show up in this day and research has shown you know the power of visualization, even in athletes. So what I want you to do is take at least two to three minutes in the morning to visualize yourself in your goal body in your dream outfit with your confidence as high as can be at the event where you can’t wait to show up. I want you to visualize where you want to be in a year and just take some time and feel those feelings of how amazing that’s going to feel. If you can imagine yourself like her adopting these habits of things that she would do is going to be so much easier.

The next thing is we’re kind of moving shifting gears here again, from visualization to tactical. But I want you to plan out your day of eating in your morning routine if it’s not already planned out. This isn’t important, especially if you are on a weight loss journey, because how many times have you come up to lunchtime? And you’re like, Oh, what are we going to get for lunch, and then you’re just reacting to what your coworkers want. Same thing to dinner, what are we going to get for dinner just reacting to what your partner wants or what your kids want when, when you have fitness goals, we cannot be reactive with planning our nutrition or planning our meals. Or if you’re just a healthy person in general, you want to make sure that you aren’t getting all your macronutrients, and micronutrients and hitting your calories and protein for your weight loss goal. And I want you to plan it out beforehand. I talked to my clients about this all the time. If you plan your meals ahead of time, you will not fail, there is no way you can fail, you can fail. If you plan that something stick and stick to the plan, it will not happen. I can promise and guarantee you that something about this is this, you may feel some resistance to this, but I want you to know it will get easier over time. This is kind of like the training wheels. Right now, if you’re on a weight loss journey, planning your day of eating is training is a tool that we’re using to help you change your habits from the old you may be where you are right now to that higher version of you that you just visualized. So to recap, it’s water movement, Sunshine visualization, or you can just think of it as quiet time if that works better for you only two to three minutes, and to plan your day of eating. Now, that is just kind of like the core pillars.

A really important thing, I’m going to go into the most common mistakes that people make when making their morning routine. So the number one mistake people make when setting up their morning routine is putting shit in there that they hate doing. Now there has to be a little dance with discipline here, this isn’t going to feel natural at first. But if you honestly hate doing burpees, don’t make your morning movement burpees if you love reading, and that just sparked so much joy for you add reading to your quiet time and have that be a time of reflection for you. As for me, I don’t love reading. So I wouldn’t look forward to that. But I do look forward to my visualization and kind of meditation time with myself. So make your quiet time kind of whatever you need to just feel grounded and feel sad. There don’t have to be strict rules with this. The next mistake people make is just doing too much, you’re just doing too much sometimes, especially when you’re first starting out. Honestly, when you’re first starting out morning routine can be 1015 minutes done, and you’re ready to go on to the next thing. That’s honestly all I can handle. Sometimes before I just feel like I want to get into work. And that’s okay. Some days are just like that. Honor your energy as it flows. But if you are adding on, you know pages and pages of reading, I gotta do 20 pages of reading, I got to do 20 minutes of meditation, I gotta get in 6000 steps all before I start working, that can be really intimidating. And that can be a lot. So let’s just start small, and build as we go. Number three is forcing something. So again, for me, that would be kind of like reading. I’m outing myself here, I don’t like reading. But if you maybe you just you’re just you hate meditation, you could just stand it. Don’t keep forcing it. If it’s just not working for you make again, make your routine morning routine will work for you. And then the last one is not changing or not updating it. So again, this is a living routine, it’s not set in stone, and it’s not something that is going to handicapped us like we can’t start the day unless we do these things in this specific order.

It’s honestly just an intention setting for the day that we are going to take care of ourselves. And we’re going to put ourselves first and foremost. Because remember, at the end of the day, at the end of your life, you will not be working for the same company that you’re working for today. I can almost guarantee it. But you will have the same body and you will have the same mind. So take care of it and put it first. And the last mistake people make is not tracking their wins and not celebrating those. If you have never done a morning routine and now you’re drinking water in the morning and you’re setting some intentions and you’re moving and getting some sun some sunshine, more days than not. I want you to know that that is a huge, huge win, and do not just get past that without celebrating. But what has helped me recognize my wins and also helped me stay on track when I you know maybe fall off a day or something like that is my habit tracker. So this is a document that I keep pinned on my computer. And every morning or every week I set my goals for the five habits I want to work on this week every day that I accomplish them. I can check them off. And then at the end of the week, I can see how I did compare to the goals that I set at the beginning of the week.

So if you want a copy of my exact habit tracker that I use, it’s available to you in the fit to the elite Facebook group. It’s called weight loss secrets for Busy Women over 30. But it’s linked for you in the show notes. So all you have to do is join the group, it’s in there for you completely free and let me know what you think. So thank you, guys. I hope this is valuable. And I’ll see you at the next one. Hey, thank you so much for spending some time with me today, I understand time is your most valuable resource. So I’m so grateful you spent some time with me today. If you are a woman who’s looking to lose some fat, and get in better shape, there are three ways that I can help you absolutely for free today. Number one is I’d love to gift you my free ebook. This ebook is called the guide to losing your first 10 pounds and it gives you everything you need to know to just take the first couple steps towards your weight loss journey. And you can get the whole thing at fittoleadinc.com. The second way I’d love to help you for free is to gift you three fat-blasting recipes per week. These are going to be easy, simple recipes you can make for the whole family that is going to taste great and allow you to reach your fat loss goals. So you can find those in our fit-to-lead community. The link will be in the show notes. And not only that, but you’ll find like-minded women in this group who you can share your wins and struggles with along this journey. Additionally, I go live in this group often to help answer any questions you may have. So it’s a completely free group. Again, join us at the link below for three free recipes a week. And the third way is simply to leave a rating and review on this podcast. The more five-star ratings and positive reviews we get on this podcast, the more helpful guests I can get on which will help you guys increase your knowledge and be able to lose weight that much faster.

Additionally, I’m doing a giveaway at the end of every month. So at the end of every month, I’m picking two winners who have left reviews and ratings on the podcast and gifting them a $25 Starbucks gift card honestly, not many people are leaving reviews and ratings right now so it could be the easiest cup of coffee you ever get. So please go ahead leave me a five-star rating and review and I appreciate you so much and we’ll talk to you soon.

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