Author and broadcaster Katie Piper on morning rituals, empowering women and prioritising those steps

Interview: Cheryl Caira

Every day is pretty different for me, but there are definitely some fixed routines, with being a mum and having two children. The house can be chaos in the mornings with school runs and getting ready for work, so if I want to find some calm before the storm, I make sure that I get up before everyone else at around 5.30am. 

I change up what I have for breakfast quite a lot, but I’ve recently started fasting in the morning, feeding the kids then sorting myself out at work. I really like eggs because they’re so mobile – you can boil one, chuck it in your handbag, and have it on the go at about 10am. I also drink a black coffee – no milk, no sugar – because I’m just there for the caffeine.

Katie running a charity marathon with her husband

Fitness is a non-negotiable for me, so I make sure I exercise most days. I only have one window to exercise early in the morning, so I’ve been using the ‘Body Battery’ data from my Garmin to tell me how much energy I have. That informs what I’ll do, whether it’s weights, running or just focusing on my steps.

If I’m out running, I’ll do a 5km with two friends who live nearby. We run in a group to make it safe, with little headlamps and lights for your body. If my energy levels are a bit low, I just get up and practise a bit of mindfulness, or I hit the snooze button and let myself have a bit of a lie-in.

This week I’ve been in the studio for Loose Women. I really love being around a studio audience and seeing how they react, and the live show keeps you on your toes. I do a real variation of work, but it all comes back to what I’m passionate about. I just made a new TV series out in the US, called Katie Piper: Locked Up In Louisiana, where I look at the lives of women in prison. People are born into certain situations and can make bad choices, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad people. I really wanted to spotlight these women’s stories and make it relatable to our own lives.

The authors of the UnSeen series

I published a series of books in 2024 called UnSeen. I’d been getting people on my podcast who weren’t necessarily celebrities, who had faced adversity and overcome it. It just felt like some of these stories should take up a whole book, rather than just a podcast episode. So I started with model Ellie Goldstein, then I published a few more authors – Sophie Lee, who has a burn injury, and Livi Deane, who lost her eye due to childhood cancer. I felt strongly that these women needed a bigger platform, and their stories have really resonated. 

When I come home from work, I can really struggle to put my phone down – I’ve got a bit of an addiction to it. So I’ll try and take a moment to do some breathwork or meditation. I’ve definitely not mastered it, but I am consciously making an effort to do it.

When it comes to making dinner… I’ve very much been demoted in that department. When I first met my husband, I would cook for him because that was my love language. We’ve been together for nearly 13 years, and he’s now become this brilliant chef who doesn’t rate my cooking anymore, so that role has been handed over to him.

Bedtime can really vary, depending on if I’ve worked late or if the kids are refusing to go to bed. I’m much more successful in the mornings – the evenings can sometimes unravel for me. I’d love to read more solely for pleasure, but most of what I read is for work and research. I do get to read on holiday – I’m really strict about that. I take a good few books and make sure I get through them. 

I’m really excited about a book that’s been a long time in the making. I haven’t written a personal book for a long time and I’m kind of nervous about it. It’s very raw and honest. It’s coming out in June next year, and it’s the grown-up version of me.

Katie Piper is a brand ambassador for Garmin. She wears a Venu 3S GPS smartwatch to track her health and wellbeing