06/18/2026
Don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry
That's what we're told. It makes a ton of sense - when you're hungry, you're likely to make worse decisions. You may spend more money on food than you needed to, or the bakery aisle will smell more appetizing than normal, causing you to make an unhealthy choice, all because you weren't in the right mindset when you were shopping.
My English teacher in high school also told me not to study in bed, which made sense, considering we associate our beds with sleep, not learning. Studying in your bed makes it easy to say "You know what, I can study later."
I believe the same is true for making decisions about exercise first thing in the morning. Let's say it's a Sunday night, you're ready to get back into the routine, so you make a plan to go for a jog at 6am. You need to be on your way to work by 8am at the latest, so this will leave you with enough time to have a post jog breakfast, which of course will be high in protein! You set your alarm for 5:30am, and get ready for bed.
Only for some reason, tonight you can't sleep. You take a glance at your phone, Dang it, it's 11pm already!? And now you start doing the "sleep math." If I fall asleep now, I'd get 6 1/2 hours of sleep, but realistically I won't fall asleep until midnight, so make that 5 1/2 hours of sleep.
But it's worth it. You are ready to make a change, and it starts tomorrow. Sure, you'll be sleepy, but you'll feel good about the start of your new journey.
Then the alarm rings. The version of you that was ever so motivated is gone. Right now, you just think there's no way you can exercise right now. You're just too sleepy, and in the first 60 seconds of you waking up, you decide not to go for that jog.
I'll be honest with you, I've done this so many times. It doesn't take much to motivate me to lift weights, but running is another beast. There have been times where I'll wake up, and decide right away that I'm not going to go run, even though I made an agreement with myself before that I would.
What I have found is that the way I feel immediately upon waking up rarely sticks. Even 10 minutes later, I feel more energized. But when I have already given myself permission to not go do that exercise, even though I feel better, I still skip.
All of that to say: Don't make decisions about exercise first thing in the morning. Give it 30 minutes. Drink a little coffee and have a high energy snack, like an apple or English muffin.
And remember, the only bad workout is the one that didn't happen, so go out there and do your best.
