7 morning rituals that can help you lose weight

Anyone who has ever tried it themselves knows that losing weight sustainably and staying motivated is a huge challenge. If you get up on the wrong side of the bed, you're in a bad position. Yet a good start to the day is essential for performance and even weight loss success. We explain which morning rituals can help you to lose weight healthily and permanently.

Attention: There is no shortcut to your dream figure

The term ritual always involuntarily has a magical touch. We would therefore like to make it clear in advance that there are no magic formulas or shortcuts to your dream figure. So don't expect to lose several kilograms of body fat in one go with our seven morning routines.

Think of our morning routines as support to help you supplement your existing measures. They will help you get the most out of your fat burning, resist cravings and stay motivated. Morning habits are particularly important because they keep you mentally on track.

They unconsciously control all the decisions you make throughout the day. If your focus is on your goal as soon as you get up, it is much easier to say "no" to a piece of cake in the afternoon, for example. And the more regularly this happens, the greater your chances of success.

Ritual number 1: Drinking lemon water is healthy
Sour is not only fun, it can also help you lose weight. Studies show that a large glass of cold lemon water in the morning can definitely help you lose weight. There are several reasons for this. The obvious one is to replenish the fluid reservoir that has been emptied overnight.

What's more, 400 to 500 millilitres of water in the morning will drive away your biggest hunger pangs so that you go to the breakfast table more consciously and don't shovel everything into you straight away. However, the long-term effect for the day is based on the stimulating effect of the lemon.

The substances it contains activate your metabolism and the activity of the gastrointestinal tract by increasing the production of bile. This in turn improves the digestion of fats. In addition, the vitamin C it contains has a positive effect on your immune system.

Ritual number 2: Use natural sunlight
Would you have thought that sunlight could be a natural weight loss aid? That's not a joke, it's reality. Particularly in the morning and early morning, the sun is said to emit certain light waves that boost your metabolism. Conversely, this means that

The more of these "energetic" sun rays you get, the sooner your metabolism gets going and therefore the sooner you burn fat. In addition, UV radiation suppresses the release of the sleep hormone melatonin, which causes your metabolism to slow down again.

So pull up the shutters first thing in the morning or don't close them at all. Positive side effect: you wake up naturally and gently with the sunrise. This means you are less tired in the morning and start the day full of energy.

Ritual number 3: The early bird catches the worm
Too little sleep is unhealthy. This is actually an absolute no-brainer. After all, you know 100 percent yourself what it's like to consistently get far too little sleep in stressful times. The possible consequences range from stress-related obesity to a heart attack. But when it comes to sleep, it's like so many things in life: A lot doesn't necessarily help a lot.

If you sleep too much, you also damage your body. And through the same mechanism. The stress hormone cortisol is also released when we sleep too much. The result is food cravings and a rollercoaster blood sugar level.

Therefore, make sure that your average sleep time is between 6 and 8 hours. If you sleep significantly more than 9 hours, it is already measurable that your metabolism slows down considerably. In addition, more "waking time" is also synonymous with higher calorie consumption.

Ritual number 4: Weigh and measure yourself
The scales are mean. Every day the weight seems to fluctuate and sometimes stagnate for days on end. It's no wonder that many people who want to lose weight avoid the scales. Yet regular weighing is immensely important for weight loss success. The scales offer you a control function to check whether your calorie deficit is working.

However, weighing yourself every day makes little sense for the reasons mentioned. Instead, weigh yourself once a week in the morning on a fixed day. To get a meaningful result, you should always weigh yourself at the same time under the same circumstances. For example, always weigh yourself on Sunday morning after getting up in your underwear.

You can supplement weighing yourself by measuring your most important body measurements with a tape measure. The progress measured in lost centimetres of waist and hip circumference is even more motivating.

Ritual number 5: Have a sensible breakfast
A good breakfast is the basis for a successful day. However, if you start the day hungry, you run the risk of reaching for sweet sins and simply consuming too many calories. A good breakfast is also important to replenish the carbohydrate stores in your muscles that have been depleted during the night.

Ideally, a balanced breakfast should consist of complex carbohydrates and high-quality protein as well as a portion of fruit. It's entirely up to you whether you opt for something savory such as wholemeal bread with cheese, turkey, scrambled eggs and tomatoes or something sweet with oatmeal, muesli and low-fat quark.

Ritual number 6: Start the day with exercise
If you want to get your metabolism going first thing in the morning to lose weight, exercise is essential. A short yoga session is an ideal option, especially in the morning, to gently challenge your body. Just 10 to 15 minutes is enough to ignite the metabolic turbo and stretch the tension from the night out of your muscles and spine.

Conscious breathing also helps you to start the day calmly, relaxed and with a clear head. Yoga is not your thing? That's not a problem. Just sit on your exercise bike for 10 to 15 minutes, go for a jog around the block or activate your body with a short full-body workout consisting of burpees, press-ups, jumping jacks and squats.

Ritual number 7: Ignite the metabolic turbo
The seventh morning ritual in our series is the bonus tip, so to speak, for anyone who wants to lose weight with maximum success and minimum extra effort. The magic formula is caffeine. For most people, a nice cup of coffee is part of the morning ritual anyway. Without it, many people would neither open their eyes nor get their body up to operating temperature.

A cup of coffee, espresso or black tea is the ideal way to round off your morning ritual. Remember: the caffeine it contains increases your metabolic rate a little. Calculated over the course of several months, this adds up to a lot of extra calories burned every single day, which you don't have to work off in any other way. Losing weight could hardly be easier.