Weight Loss Tips 3

In these posts I share any useful tips or ideas that I have found worked for me - they may not be best for you/fit into your own plan!

3) Exercise in the morning

Now this one is very much down to personal preference, as some people simply won't have time in the morning, and there is even some ground for saying your metabolism is more primed for exercise later in the day. But I prefer to do my exercising in the morning where I can, and I will outline my reasons why below.


- Getting it out the way. I like to try and exercise every day, either running or doing my weights, and doing it first thing in the morning gets my day off to the perfect start. I can go through my day knowing that I've already done my exercise and burned off some calories, and I don't have the need to exercise later looming over me (and potentially interfering with social plans, which invariably occur in the evening).

- Get your metabolism going. By exercising first thing, I force my body to 'wake up' and get into calorie-burning mode right from the off. I then know that all systems are active and running in the morning, which gives me more confidence when eating during the day.

- You get a second chance! Ever plan on working out in the evening, but by the time you've finished work/Uni/whatever, you're just too whipped and can't quite muster the enthusiasm? Well, exercising in the morning prevents this. Also, if you wake up and are still too tired to face it, you have the rest of the day to 'catch-up', and still have plenty of time to get some exercise in later. Not only that, but you'll probably have had an extra hour or so of sleep, so you'll be primed for later exercise, you'll perhaps be angry with yourself for slacking off and are then more likely to follow through with your plans in the evening, and best of all, if you DO exercise in the morning then suddenly feel the urge to do more, you'll have done DOUBLE what you planned!

- There are fewer people around. This one is perhaps most personal to me, but I'm still of a size where I get embarrassed passing someone when I'm out on a run, with body lumps flailing around and sweat pouring down my chubby red face. The streets are pretty much empty in the morning, if you go early enough, so you have the city/town/village pretty much to yourself! I've even been known to, *cough* sing along with my iPod if I'm feeling particularly energetic...and there's nobody around to see!

- It's cooler. Especially useful at the moment here in the UK, where its particularly warm. I get hot enough when out on a run without having the sun beating down on me too. In the morning the air is fresher and the temperature lower, perfect running conditions!

- Less time wasting in the evening. OK, this one isn't really a benefit, more a useful side-effect that has been especially good for me. If I haven't exercised in the morning, doing it later effectively 'wakes me up' by giving my metabolism a late jump-start, and I find it harder to sleep. By doing it first thing, I'm nice and weary come bed time, so I sleep better, and don't spend as much time faffing around with things like checking emails, watching TV etc.



I'm sure there are more that I've forgotten about for now, so will update the post if any other benefits spring to mind!