Hina's 4:40 a.m. Weight-Loss Morning Routine: EAA, Slow Incline Walking, and a Gut-Focused Breakfast

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Overview

Hinata Kato of Hina Channel films the morning routine she credits with helping her lose weight when she is "serious about losing weight." She asks viewers to watch as if they were living together and walks through the morning from waking up until she leaves for a business meeting. Along the way she explains why she does each step. At the end she says plainly that nobody needs to copy all of it.

17 min read
0:13

Waking Up Early and Starting With the Mouth

Hina wakes at 4:40 a.m. She says she has woken at about this time for the past four days and simply likes that she can. After some light movement and making the bed, the first real task is cleaning her mouthpiece and brushing her teeth.

Her current toothpaste came from OLIVE YOUNG in Korea. She says it contains hydrogen peroxide for whitening and that she likes its taste better than the Colgate she also uses. Tongue brushing is near the top of her list of "things I can't live without," because she says the mouth is full of bacteria in the morning. She then uses a mouthwash that is supposed to be diluted, a few drops in a glass of water. She admits she just mixes it in her mouth instead, noting that keeping the habit going matters more than doing it the textbook way.

Her reason for starting with the mouth ties to dieting. She believes that starting the day feeling refreshed helps keep her from overeating and overdrinking from the start.

Records, Plants, and Gratitude

It is still dark at 4:30, so she turns on the living room light. She recently bought a record player and plays it every day, though not on camera because of copyright. She also waters her plant, Augusta.

She says the plants and the record player have noticeably improved her quality of life and made her want to get up in the morning. She has heard that speaking positively to plants helps them thrive, and says she believes it. So, "as a 28-year-old woman living alone," she talks to them. She also thanks her past self, out loud, for doing the dishes the night before.

2:47

Why EAA Comes First

The first thing she drinks each morning is EAA (essential amino acids). She has done this for about three years, whether or not she exercises that day.

Her explanation is that EAA is like protein, but absorbed much faster. In her description, ordinary protein has to be broken down in the stomach and intestines, while EAA is effectively protein that has already been broken down, so it reaches the muscles quickly. Sleep is about eight hours of fasting, so morning is when the body has the fewest nutrients, and she drinks EAA to recharge quickly. She lists several other goals as well:

  • hair, skin, and general beauty
  • building a body that loses weight easily and gains weight with difficulty
  • support for her morning cardio, which she calls "PEKOPEKO walking" and considers essential for this routine

The product she is drinking came as a sample through an Instagram DM. She says she receives many such offers and tries products from companies of any size, because she sees it as part of her job. In her view, knowing more about products than anyone else makes her recommendations more credible, and she buys the ones she actually likes herself.

She praises this EAA mainly for having no colorings or preservatives, so it is as clear as water. That is her reason for switching from a grape-soda-flavored one she used to drink (BUDOURAMUNE-chan), which contained coloring. She compares the taste to the flavored waters of the I LOHAS brand, such as peach or white grape, and calls it the most delicious EAA she has found. Each finished bottle also gets a sticker, a small "we did a good job today too" marker.

She does name one drawback: it contains artificial sweeteners. She says she told the company she would be much happier if they removed them. Even so, she considers it healthier than what she drank before because of the lack of coloring. She drinks about half before heading out and takes the rest on her walk.

6:14

Dynamic Stretching Before Cardio

At around 5 a.m. she plays her own video of "stretches that will supercharge your metabolism and speed up weight loss," which she says are formally called dynamic stretching. She describes the idea as telling each body part, "Muscles! Let's exercise now! Wake up!"

Her reasoning is that once the muscles are awake, she can use them properly during exercise, so the same workout burns more calories. She also speaks to viewers who won't do cardio right after waking. Commuting to work or school is already good exercise, she says, and warming up first gets blood circulating, warms the muscles, and raises metabolism, so it makes sense to do it efficiently. She adds that she sweats far more in later exercise when she has done these stretches first, and says that difference is what convinced her that stretching matters.

7:38

The Lace-Up Sports Bra She Developed

While changing, she shows the sports bra she wears for exercise. It is from N7, a brand she says she developed. It has a lacing system that she pulls from underneath, like tightening a sneaker lace, so it squeezes and lifts the breasts from below.

Her concern is sagging. She says even light exercise can make breasts bounce, which stretches the Cooper's ligaments and gradually causes them to sag, and that breasts are made of fat and tend to sag easily. She exercises carefully for that reason. Her problem with ordinary sports bras is that they come in a limited number of sizes, and she often found her size didn't fit, so her breasts still moved. Because of the lacing, she says, this bra adapts to any breast size and can be tightened very firmly.

She acknowledges that the upper part of the breast still moves up and down during exercise. Her claim is that because the bra lifts from below, the ligaments don't stretch. She presents it as early prevention so that no one regrets it later, and says vigorous exercise without this kind of support is out of the question for her.

9:33

Planning the Day and Reading While Walking

She heads out with a cap she bought in Korea, her EAA, and two books. On her walks she first uses her phone to decide what she wants to get done that day. Then, if there is time, she reads. Wanting to know what happens next in a book is one of the things that keeps her walking, though she stresses she isn't telling viewers to do the same.

One book was written by someone from the advertising agency HAKUHODO. She is reading it to think about how to spread the word about N7 and make it a product people love, and she says she is more than halfway through.

The other is a psychology book she has marked up heavily. She explains that she is an ENTJ, and that "T" types are said to have trouble understanding other people's feelings. She adds that this isn't true of everyone, but says it is true for her, so she is studying the subject. She shares one idea from the book, the "suspension bridge effect": two people crossing a rickety bridge mistake their anxiety for romantic excitement, which is why roller coasters and haunted houses are said to be good dates. She says this matches her own experience, since her relationship with an ex-boyfriend began at the Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea. She liked that the book puts into words questions people commonly have.

11:34

How She Does PEKOPEKO Walking

She wears Puma running shoes, which viewers often ask about. Before walking she lightly stretches her hips and legs, saying this helps her use those areas more so that walking alone slims the legs. She rotates her ankles, which she says helps the calves work properly so they don't get overly bulky, and she moves her toes as in the earlier dynamic stretch.

The walk itself is on a treadmill at the gym, which she uses on days when she doesn't want to bother with sunscreen. Otherwise she exercises at home with YouTube videos. Her settings are:

  • Incline: 12, "mountain climbing style." She says 10 or 11 is completely fine.
  • Speed: 3 at first, raised to 3.5 after about 10 minutes.
  • Duration: about 30 minutes.

She admits this is slow, but says the pace lets her walk using her glutes and the backs of her thighs. By her account, this burns over 200 calories and slims the legs. She says she does it under a professional's guidance. Her cues are to squeeze the shoulder blades, straighten the back, tighten the stomach, use the buttocks firmly, and breathe steadily.

She argues that more intense exercise is not necessarily better. In her view, a level where you can still breathe and talk normally is ideal, because it reduces body fat without breaking down muscle. She does it on an empty stomach because she believes that burns fat, and says it changes her body a lot. The time also doubles as daily planning. Her work schedule is free, which she calls a daily "battle with myself," so she sets tasks for each day so she doesn't waste time.

She is clear that morning isn't required. Walking during the day or at night still works, and that is how she lost weight too. On mornings she doesn't feel like exercising, she walks in the evening, or she walks to an outside meeting instead. Her point is that if you are going to do it anyway, the morning version gets results faster. She also says that since increasing strength training and adjusting her diet alongside this walking, her body has been changing much faster than when she didn't walk. She adds that when she gains weight, she now loses it again quickly.

When she finishes, her T-shirt is soaked and the treadmill shows 229 kcal burned. She compares that to roughly one Häagen-Dazs. It is 6:15.

15:17

Bath, Skin Care, and Breast Massage

She then takes a 50-minute bath, partly because she has an important offline meeting for her brand later and doesn't want to smell of sweat.

Afterward she applies lotion, then a rice-grain-sized amount of Vaseline spread thinly over her face and neck, which she says dries quickly. Sunscreen and makeup come after that. She has permed eyelashes and uses an eyelash coating from FOULA, which she says changes how long the perm lasts. On her body she uses a cream containing three types of human-type ceramides.

She uses the same body cream for a breast massage that she has covered in an earlier video. She says it plumps up the area around the breasts and lifts them. Her explanation is that relaxed muscles become soft and tend to rise. She also says it makes the décolleté look beautiful and improves posture. Her tip for sticking with it is to do the massage while already applying body cream or body soap.

She is also particular about hair care at home, including skin care in the bath, blow-drying, and using a hair iron. She shows footage her brother filmed of her moisturized hair. She says she generally doesn't think it's good to push people with "you should do this," but this is the one thing she wants to push: she thinks all women should try copying her home hair care. She says a video on it is coming soon.

18:00

A 15-Minute Gut-Focused Breakfast

At 8:12 a.m. she makes breakfast. She describes it as large but simple and organized around gut health.

Rice: 150 g of white rice mixed with mochi barley, heated in the microwave at 600W for 1.5 minutes. She recommends mochi barley to anyone who eats white rice, because it is rich in a water-soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which she calls "gut food."

Steamed vegetables and pork: She lines a bamboo steamer with baking paper and adds each ingredient with a reason:

  • Half an onion: rich in oligosaccharides that feed beneficial gut bacteria, and in her account good for circulation and digestive enzyme secretion.
  • Shimeji mushrooms: dietary fiber that stimulates intestinal movement, plus beta-glucan.
  • Broccoli: water-soluble fiber, and sulforaphane, which she says reduces bad bacteria; also vitamins.
  • Pumpkin: she calls it "a beauty serum for the intestines" and a good carbohydrate source, stressing that carbohydrates are important when dieting.
  • Two or three slices of pork: for vitamin B1 and good-quality protein.

She stores vegetables in Ziploc bags and buys dishes cheaply at Kappabashi. The steamer goes over a pot of water on medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Her reason for steaming is that steaming and boiling produce fewer AGEs (advanced glycation end products) than other methods, which she promises to explain in a later video. For beauty, she says food is best eaten raw, steamed, or boiled.

Tomato salad: She eats tomatoes every day, which she says is for whiter skin. She has done this for over a month and a half, and once carried tomatoes in a Ziploc bag onto a plane to Korea. She dresses them with 1 tablespoon of Lakanto vinegar, about two drops of linseed oil, black pepper, and salt.

Miso soup: She admits she used to hate her own miso soup because it tasted terrible. That changed with a dashi product she received from UMI SHINONOME. She liked it so much she is now on her second bag, which she buys on Amazon. The soup has eggplant and onion. She says adding onion and radish to miso soup helps gut health. She also adds aosa (sea lettuce), which her brother recommended and which she now loves for its ocean smell. She uses additive-free miso made with organic sun-dried salt, one large spoonful, and calls the result a "golden ratio." She then admits she added too much sea lettuce and says one handful is enough.

Sauce for the steamed dish: 1 tablespoon of Lakanto vinegar, 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil, black pepper, a little salt, and powdered cheese as the "secret ingredient" for creaminess. While adding the oil, she notes that the recommended daily fat intake for women is about 40 g.

The whole meal takes 15 minutes. She repeatedly jokes, "Someone please marry me," pointing out that she can cook diet meals that are nutritious and delicious. She mentions that she has braces. She also says the breakfast alone doesn't provide enough protein, so she adds a protein shake later and plans to have fish for lunch.

24:40

Building New N7 Products

At 8:30 she checks her schedule. That day's meeting is about new N7 products. She describes daytime corrective underwear meant to enhance bust size, and says it uses a fabric to address dark spots on the upper bust. She is also making underwear and night bras designed for bust enhancement.

She is candid about how hard it has been. At first it felt hopeless, she tried again and again, and she wondered whether she could make it at all. Only recently, she says, has she seen "glimmers of hope."

She also tries what she calls an "ENTJ makeup" look. She isn't happy with it and has no plans to make it a regular look. Red lipstick didn't suit her, so she switched to a lip color that went better with her hair and outfit.

26:06

"You Don't Have to Copy All of It"

At 11:00 a.m. she decides the morning is over. She expects viewers to comment that this routine is only possible for her and that people with jobs or school can't manage it, and she answers that directly. Nobody needs to copy the whole thing. People can try it on weekends, or if they are busy, walk one extra train station. She thinks most viewers can take something from the video that they can change day to day, and she says being able to continue is what matters most.

Her analogy comes from her own orthodontic treatment. Teeth don't straighten immediately but move a few millimeters at a time, and dieting is the same. Her advice is to do what is fun and sustainable. If that still doesn't produce change, she suggests trying the diet methods she recommends, or copying her routine exactly and treating it as a game. Her stated goal is to feel that life is getting better.

She returns to the psychology book to make a final point. She says it describes how keeping small promises to yourself can raise self-efficacy, which she distinguishes from self-esteem as a feeling of "I can do it! I'll show you!" As self-efficacy rises, she says, people stop comparing themselves to others and take charge of their own actions. Her advice is to keep promises to yourself at your own pace, not to dwell on what you can't do, and to start by adopting just one part of her morning.

She closes by mentioning a planned night-routine video, which she says helped her lose 6 kg and reach her body goal. She also mentions that viewers sometimes recognize her on the train and chat with her, and she wishes viewers watching in the morning good luck at work or school before leaving for the N7 meeting.