Morning and Night Habits That Lead to Weight Loss Success

There are many aspects to weight loss, from the details about what you will eat and how 
much you move your body, to changes you need to make to your daily lifestyle. But one 
thing these all have in common is that they begin with habits. 

The habits you have throughout the day can make or break your weight loss progress. 
The trick to achieving your weight loss goals is not in the type of diet you have or how 
hard you workout, but in the small habits you add to your daily routine. 

Here are some excellent morning and nighttime habits that can help lead to weight loss 
success, and help you to maintain your weight long after you have achieved your goals.


Morning Habits

The way you start your day, especially the first hour, is arguably the most important part 
of your entire day when it comes to a routine that works well for weight loss. This also 
goes for any type of healthy lifestyle change you are hoping to implement. 

Here are some healthy habits that you can add to your morning routine to help with your 
weight loss journey:


Drink Your Water First

The first habit is an easy one – just drink your water! Make it a habit that every morning, 
you drink water before you eat or drink anything else. It should preferably be plain water 
to help hydrate you and cleanse your body before you drink coffee, tea, or eat 
breakfast.

Keep Your Phone Notifications Turned Off 

This is for mindset and stress purposes in the morning. It can be hard to stick to your 
weight loss goals and other healthy habits when as soon as you wake up, you are 
bombarded by fast food ads and social media updates that cause a lot of stress. You 
want to wake up in a calm, relaxing manner, so keep those notifications off until you 
have gotten through your entire morning routine.

Write in a Journal or Planner

This is recommended both for your weight loss journey and just a good morning habit in 
general. If you are using a weight loss planner, you will probably use it in the evening to 
write down your meals and exercise that you accomplished. But by using it in the 
morning as well, you can look at what you have planned for the day and set your 
intentions. 

Using a journal in the morning is a great way to do a little brain dump, where you write 
thoughtfully and honestly about how you are feeling and what you have planned for that 
day. 

Choose a Healthy Meal for Breakfast
While you might not eat nutritious meals for every meal of every day, you should at least 
try to make your first meal of the day a healthy one. This sets the intention for healthy 
eating throughout your day. If you don’t eat breakfast and instead do intermittent fasting, 
then you can save this habit for the first meal of the day, even if it’s not until noon.

Move Your Body 

Lastly, try to find a way to move your body every morning. Even if it’s just going on a 
quick 10 minute walk around the neighborhood or doing some gentle stretching. Yoga is 
another great form of exercise to add to your morning routine.


Nighttime Habits

You also want to look at habits that you can add to your nighttime routine. You probably 
already brush your teeth and have your own hygiene practices, so we won’t be 
discussing those. Instead, let’s go over some healthy habits that help with adapting a 
healthier lifestyle that encourages you to lose weight by increasing your energy and 
helping you to de-stress. It includes:


Check-in and Track Your Progress

You used your journal or planner in the morning, but it is equally important to use it at 
night. For a weight loss journey, this is typically when you would check in with your 
progress throughout the day. You might have a little checklist of habits that you check 
off in your planner, or you write in your journal about how that day went. Maybe you 
write down details of what you eat and how many calories you burned during your 
workout.

Write a Gratitude List

Your nighttime routine is also the best time to write a gratitude list. This is another thing 
you can do in your daily journal. Just write down 5-10 things you are grateful for. Some 
days, they will be brand new and relevant to something that happened that day 
specifically. Other days, you might be grateful for the same things for weeks in a row. 
This is okay! 

Practice Good Sleep Hygiene

In order to have enough energy throughout the day, you need to get good sleep the 
night before. If you are lethargic and fatigued, you won’t be able to get through your 
workout, and if you do, not with the same intensity as you could have if you slept well.

This is why we recommend having a good sleep routine at night, called sleep hygiene. 
This can be having a comfortable bed and bedding, controlling the temperature in your 
room so it isn’t too hot or too cold, finding some relaxing activities, and shutting off the 
notifications on your phone. 

Relax with Meditation or Stretching

At the end of a particularly stressful day, it is a good idea to add stretching or meditation 
to your nighttime routine. It will help you get better quality sleep and prevent you from 
overeating due to the high levels of emotional stress. Plus, meditation helps a lot when 
you need to stay grounded.

Have a Water-Only Rule 

Lastly, create a habit where only have plain water in the evening. Choose a time when 
the “kitchen is closed” after dinner, which means you will no longer eat or drink anything 
with calories. After this time, all you have is water. 

The reason this helps is that it prevents late-night snacking that would push you over 
your calorie deficit, and also helps hydrate you before bed.
