A VLOGGER has shared the time-consuming process of how she lost 25 pounds simply by walking.
The woman took an unconventional route to the weight but was still able to enjoy her favorite foods, like bagels, pizza, and more.
YouTube vlogger Morgan Greene took to the platform to express her frustration over how she looked and documented her up-and-down journey to lose 25 pounds.
The viral video has since amassed over one million views and depicts Greene’s new exercise discovery that aided her weight loss journey, promoted fat loss, and helped to boost her metabolism.
For most of her life, she was athletic, fit, and lived a healthy lifestyle, but had a “slight fear of carbs” and an unhealthy relationship with food.
The video encapsulates Greene’s thoughts and feelings over the course of her wellness journey, at different periods along the way.
In the video, she remains incredibly transparent about her reasoning behind why she wants to talk about the healthy and unhealthy habits she participated in, as well as share some roses and thorns.
She first began to chronicle her weight loss experience in August 2021 but ended up undergoing mental health struggles that delayed her goals.
Greene says at the start of the video that she was in great shape and at a weight she liked before the COVID-19 pandemic began, but once lockdown began she gained weight and wants to make a change.
Greene made a promise to herself to not follow strict intense rules because it is not sustainable for her lifestyle and wellbeing.
Ultimately, that goal was not kept, as she says shortly after that she did fall into unhealthy habits like food restriction and undereating that she didn’t recognize until about a month in.
The content creator then jumps back and shows footage of her body in August 2021 and her thoughts and experiences from that time.
“One of my most insecure things, honestly, is my arms,” she admits. “I hate all this arm fat. It sticks out in pictures like no other. I also am very insecure about my back rolls and my legs…they’re all cellulite.”
Greene makes a point to mention in the 2021 footage that on her first day it was hard to start her workout.
“Once you start, it’s easier to keep going, but it’s just, like, the starting that’s hard,” she says.
She shows viewers a montage of how she lived a healthy lifestyle filled with apple cider vinegar pills, consistent water, avocado toast, rice cakes, and a regular diet and fitness regimen.
One moment in particular from the 2021 vlog shows Greene visibly upset over how she drank a sugar fall drink from Dunkin Donuts and didn’t have the healthiest start to her day.
The video then jumps forward to the present-day where Greene offers some reflection.
“Ha, I was trying to be reasonable and positive here, but after this, I went on a over six and a half mile walk to attempt to burn off everything I ate,” she shares. “And that is not the reason I should be exercising, to try to undo what I just consumed. That’s very unhealthy.”
Greene then jumps back to the montage from 2021 showing more of her food choices and daily routine, as she voices her feelings about the state of her body at that time and her positive outlook on her workout schedule.
“In the beginning, my workouts were not very hard, when you don’t know much about working out. Sometimes, it takes that and working through it learn what does work for you,” present-day Greene interjects.
The vlogger adds that she’s always good about keeping fruits and veggies stocked at home, but having healthy food around all the time led her to want to eat out or buy something much worse than if she gave herself a light sugary snack or treat.
She also regularly ate low-calorie salads covered in cottage cheese that kept her hungry and unsatisfied, which sometimes led her to binge eat at the end of the day, thus not necessarily losing weight.
So how did she transform her mindset and lose 25 pounds?
Greene stumbled across the 12-3-30 workout by influencer Lauren Giraldo that changed her life.
It is a simple treadmill workout that’s highly effective for fat loss, as well as being a great alternative to running for anyone looking to build their cardiovascular fitness.
She followed many of the influencer’s food recipes, including a blueberry dessert that she says she attempted to convince herself tasted good without sugar.
She proceeds to show video footage of herself revealing her uncomfortable feelings about eating sugar, consuming too many calories, and the size of her meals.
Though she was engaging in unhealthy eating habits, her fitness routine was pretty effective, mood-boosting, and overall healthy.
She completed around two workouts a day and felt incredibly motivated and uplifted.
It’s what prompted her to find a healthy way to make bagels by combining Greek yogurt and self-rising enriched flour to create a “cream cheese.”
“I loved making these bagels and I still do. It is a healthy alternative to bagels, and it was not a restriction,” she declares.
Sometimes, healthy swaps can really be what kicks the body into gear and start seeing the wanted results.
Greene also talks about the importance of sleep to overall health.
“In terms of weight loss and hunger hormones, you have got to allow yourself time to sleep,” her present-day self says.
Over time, something happened where she truly enjoyed her 12-3-30 workouts because of the mental and physical boost it gave her to start the day.
This was a major turning point in her life.
“I craved my workout because it just made me feel well all over,” she adds.
The video then jumps back to show Greene explaining how her workout went smoother that day because she started her day off with a healthy breakfast and didn’t restrict herself.
“Crazy how after a day without restriction, you can get a proper workout in and you don’t feel exhausted and completely worn out…unable to walk for half an hour,” the modern-day version of the vlogger says.
The 12-3-30 became ingrained as part of her daily life and prompted her to engage in food freedom a little more, not restrict herself and just enjoy being healthy and active.
She did some weight training and did the 12-3-30 treadmill workout six days a week with one rest day, and then increased the difficulty level over time.
Around day twelve of her journey, her happy mood does falter a bit as her 2021 self tells viewers about how bloated and big she feels but later realized that this was usually on days of restriction.
“This is super important because you have to realize that this is not a quick thing. This takes time. This takes learning. This takes dedication,” the present-day version of the vlogger tells her audience.
She says she was mad that she didn’t see results as quickly as she wanted but knew that she had to keep testing out things to learn what did work and what didn’t work.”
The video then takes a personal turn as it shifts to a September 2021 vlog of Greene.
“I had a big realization. I was working out one day, and I was watching a YouTube video. It kind of changed my mindset, my perspective, everything.” she says.
She begins discussing why she decided to temporarily stop vlogging her journey for her mental health due to her previous undereating.
“What I wasn’t realizing was that with the undereating I was doing, the less I ate, the more my metabolism was just going to adapt to eating less,” she shares. “So, I will never be able to eat a regular-sized meal, if I keep undereating the way that I have been.”
She now has shifted her fitness mentality to no longer be about low eating and fast weight loss to eating enough and eating well, while being incredibly active.
As she reflects on her previous binging, restricting, and habits she was not proud of, she analyzes how her life just feels and looks different now that she’s pinpointed the key factors of her close-call with an eating disorder.
She also says that when she went on vacation, she allowed herself to enjoy foods, such as pasta, ice creams, and burgers, and didn’t restrict herself.
Upon her return, she took some time off to adjust to her schedule and then jumped back into her workouts a few days later like she hadn’t taken time off.
The quick bounce back was due to her consistent lifestyle before her trip.
The rest of the video remains mostly uplifting as she embraces her new food relationship, shares some tips, and prioritizes her mental and physical health, including 12-3-30 and weight lifting.
“And just one of the biggest things was the mental shift in knowing I can’t rush this. I can’t take shortcuts. I have to eat enough, and I have to allow myself to indulge once in a while but I can’t make this my life, and I have to just keep working and do my best…” Greene says toward the end of the video.
