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With the start of a New Year, I have improved how I start my mornings. This year I have been making myself get a full 7-8 hours of sleep each night and I get myself up AT LEAST an hour before the rest of the family does so I can start my day on the right foot.
Are you ready to hear tips on how to streamline your sleep schedule, so you are getting a healthy amount of sleep? I’ll also share why an hour of quiet time in the morning before your family wakes up is a perfect way to get a few things done for yourself AND to get your morning started right! And, I’ll share tips on why starting the morning with the Special K® Nourish® and Protein Bars and Bites at Target help boost energy and is a quick and easy breakfast option!
Starting a New Morning Routine
1. Shop for Special K® Nourish® and Protein Bars and Bites at Target:
I hate when I miss eating breakfast, just because I was rushed and didn’t have time. So, when I am at Target I always pick up some of the new Special K Nourish® and Protein Bars and Bites to have on hand. There is a variety of flavors to pick from and it really gives me that perfect boost I need before I wake the rest of the family!
I came home with the Special K® Protein Bars in Chocolate Cherry Nut and the Special K® Protein Bites in Peanut Butter Chocolate.
You can also save on these products with Target’s Cartwheel:
2. Go to Bed Earlier AND Get Up Earlier!
One of the new settings on the iPhone is the ‘Bedtime’ feature. You can set a bedtime and wake time and it’ll tell you how many hours of sleep you’re getting. I have been going to bed at 10:00 p.m. and getting up at 5:00 a.m. every day (sometimes on the weekend I MAY stay up a little later, but I’ll get up later).
You’ll see that I also have my alarm set for 5:00 a.m. and I put a special little message and some emoticons that says ‘Me Time’ with a little coffee cup, etc. Some days I will set the 5:15 a.m. timer, too, if I know I have a little room to sleep in a bit longer. Although, I usually leave this off as it gets me into trouble! Better to KNOW you have to get up at 5:00 a.m.!
If you aren’t getting your 7-8 hours of sleep now, then it may be hard to adjust your internal clock. I recommend going to bed 15 minutes earlier a night, but don’t try to do it all in one big chunk. It’ll never work. When the kids were on Christmas break, my pattern got all messed up and I had to do this to get back on track again.
The iPhone is great in that 15 minutes before your bed time, it’ll remind you that it is almost time to go to bed. This is when I’ll usually get in bed and read a bit before the lights are out.
We’ve also been setting our thermostat to a lower temp (68 degrees F), because I’ve read that a cooler temperature is better for sleep. You also want to avoid eating anything a couple of hours before bed, which has been great as I needed to cut out that unhealthy before bed snack anyway!
3. Start Your Morning with ME Time!
When my alarm clock goes off first thing in the morning, I like to spend 30-45 minutes waking up by catching up on my blog or by doing a devotional. If I don’t have time for my devotional in the morning, I try to do it while I’m waiting to pick my kids up later from school or before bed. During this time I will also boost myself with one of my Special K® Protein Bars while I am working on my laptop.
3. Get that Work Out DONE in the Morning!
After I’m more awake and have something in my belly, I will do my morning run. However, I don’t run every morning… some mornings I do a workout DVD at home instead. 
On the mornings I do my workout DVD, I find that the Special K® Protein Bites are perfect to eat while I’m starting up the DVD (why won’t they let us skip through the introduction on DVD’s?!) or while stretching.
So, why workout in the morning? I feel my workouts are always the most productive if I just get them out of the way. It is SUCH a boost to know I’m done and I don’t need to think about it the rest of the day! And, if you get it done first thing, you don’t have to worry about being too tired later or sometimes it just never happens, because something else comes up!
I try to run three days a week and sometimes my runs last an hour, so I will schedule less ME time for myself on those days. On the days I do my workout DVD’s, I stick to 30 minute workouts so that I have more ME time before the workout. You really need to figure out how early you want to get up and how much time you want to devote to working out. If 30 minutes is all you can do, do that! If you can only squeeze in 15 minutes, but can also do 15 minutes later in the day… that will be sufficient.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help!!
Asking for help is something I’ve always been afraid to do. My husband has always been wonderful about helping with bedtime tasks, but I wasn’t getting any help in the morning. This year, I decided I was going to give up my perfectionist ways and ask him for help! I asked him if he could make our bed (who cares if it isn’t made perfectly, it’s made!), wake the kids and get them up and dressed. Both kids get themselves dressed, but they sometimes need to be reminded 2-3 times to get up. I figured, if he could do these things for me before he got in the shower it would save me at least 15 minutes. And, seriously… do you know what I can do in 15 minutes?! A lot! Then, I make the kids beds, help them with breakfast and get my daughters lunch made.
5. Shower, Get Ready and Get Kids Up. Then, get out the door!
This is what is working for ME right now and it’s been great! The hardest part is training your body to adjust to this new schedule. But, you’ll be glad once you do! The saying… the early bird always gets the worm is SO true!
I wanted to talk a little more about the Special K® Protein Bars. The protein bars include 8 grams of protein and familiar favorite flavors. This Chocolate Cherry Nut satisfies by chocolate cravings yet it has delicious chunks of cherry and crunchy nuts in it with NO artificial flavors.
Here is a close up of the bar and you can see it is chocolate on the bottom with big chunks of nuts, chocolate and cherries on top. It is SO good!
The Special K® Protein Bites are convenient, poppable snack bites that are great for on-the-go. These bites don’t have any artificial flavors.
The protein bites pictured above are Peanut Butter Chocolate and you can definitely see the chunks of chocolate in them!
What routine works for you in the morning? If you are looking for an easy breakfast that will energize you every morning, be sure to check out Special K® Nourish® and Protein Bars and Bites at Target!
For more Kellogg inspiration, please check out THIS LINK!