Your energy might have been what enabled you to complete the workout routine every day, rather than the workout routine being the cause of your energy. How did things change when you stopped the routine?

Anybody who's done something like the above knows that the early morning workout is the ignitor that gets you on track, syncs your circadian rhythm, etc.

When you sleep in etc, that's when you start to get low energy and lethargic.

"Anybody"? I tried exercising early in the morning for several months and hated it. It turned out that 1) I got very sleepy during the day 2) I can't exercise as hard as usual because I'm just not in the right mood that early.

Don't need something crazy, just a 25 min run can suffice.

This is pretty inspiring to hear. I really do notice that my productivity is highest in the morning when I get time to have a shower, meditate, walk a short distance (10m) to the office, and have a cup of coffee-- I'm basically at peak performance until I get lunch "because it's lunch time" and then perf wanes from there as I get tired, sluggish, lose will power, etc. God forbid I lapse and have a sugary treat in the afternoon (even the little fun size baggie of M&Ms wrecks me for the rest of the day), eating sugar puts me on a sugar-dependent cycle where I need to re-up every hour or so after breaking the seal.

Exercise, eating healthy, eating when you're hungry rather than when it's time to eat. Avoiding sugar, getting good sleep. Taking it easy on weekends and in evenings. All good stuff!

For most what you eat matters a lot. A high protein / fat diet gives a huge amount of energy. A high carb diet makes you hungry very fast and then a huge drop in energy. If I eat a small light breakfast of a bagle and cream cheese, or a banana I am more hungry, and have less energy than if I ate nothing at all. When I eat bacon, eggs, sausage, cheese for breakfast. I have a ton of energy all day. Lately, with WFH I have been skipping breakfast, and eating "breakfast" during lunch, but that same food. I have lately been doing a 20 hours daily fast, eating in a 4 hour window, and a 1 day a week fast. And I have so much energy and almost never hungry, and I think keeping low carb is a big part of that.

When is your 4 hour eating window?

You pointed the obvious without maybe realizing it.

I find most people lose energy by eating lunch. So skip lunch or make it super small and light.

When I stopped drinking coffee I also had to stop having carbs for lunch not to fall asleep in the office. I only had a bowl of salad instead. It seems to be a virtuous routine but I gained weight anyway, as for some reason coffee was reducing my overall appetite.

> gained weight anyway

You were/are still overeating in the sense that you are taking in and storing more calories because you are outpacing the rate at which you deplete them. Eat less, or expend more calories.

I would love to do this but have no interest in going to bed at 8:30--9:00

Eat any vegetables?

Yes, home. I love vegetables.

I also don't eat bread. It's not out of caring for my weights (I have low fat no matter what I eat, but I don't eat bread because I don't eat bread. If I'm not eating peppers and olive oil, or lettuce with vinaigrette, or tomatos-ognons-and-olive oil, then I mostly don't eat bread). I sometimes eat it with lentils or beans in sauces, but other than that, I don't eat it.

Again, nothing against bread, it's just I'm not that into it. I use it more as a container.

This made me wonder how much nutritional difference there is in consuming the meat of a herbivore vs the meat of a carnivore.

This made me stop and think about what carnivores humans eat. I guess factory chickens are fed chicken, and wild chickens eat bugs. People eat dog, alligator, snake, bear. Bats, we now are very aware. Lots of fish and shellfish eat fish and shellfish. So, a few, but not that many.