 Hey y'all, what's up? My name is Sonali and I've been doing the 12-3-30 workout for about two months now. I thought I should put together a whole video sharing my experience and giving advice on how to get started and obviously my results at the end. Not sure if you follow me on TikTok, but if you don't, go ahead and do so. It's so underscore gnarly without the G, but I've definitely been sharing a lot about my fitness journey on there. So what is 12-3-30? You may be asking yourself. So Lauren Geraldo is actually a YouTuber and she actually started off fine, but now she's like a YouTuber and she's actually one of my favorites. 12-3-30 time. Shout out to you if you've got a treadmill to do 12-3-30. She created this treadmill challenge and it's called 12-3-30. It's 12 incline, three speed, and you do it for 30 minutes. And just wait till you see the results and it is actually... So that is it. That is the workout and honestly it sounds a lot easier than it is. And you'll see, your first time doing it, it is a lot harder than you would think it would be. The incline definitely just adds that challenge to it. And I will say you don't have to start full out because it's going to be harder first time. So I would definitely recommend to start out with like a 10 incline, maybe even like an eight incline. Like just work yourself up to that 12 number just a couple of times after you've been doing it. I also highly recommend just taking a very, very quick break after every 10 minute increment that you're on the treadmill at first. It helps a ton. It really keeps you motivated and keep going with it because if you really try to like push yourself the first couple of times and you can't do it all the way through, it's definitely discouraging. If you've seen Lauren Gerardo's iconic boomerangs when she's on the treadmill and doing her 12-3-30 with her like low up sign, I don't even know if you guys follow her. But like I said, she's one of my favorite YouTubers. She never like holds on to the treadmill. Like she makes it look so freaking easy because her hands are just like walking like normal up a 12 incline. And to be honest, it's just so hard to not hold on to the treadmill. So if you are holding on to the treadmill, it is okay. And that is totally normal. And honestly, I still do. I've been doing this for like two months now and I, especially on lazy days, I just hold on to that treadmill so much because at least I'm there on the treadmill. At least I'm getting my butt up and I'm working out. So at least I'm doing something. But I will say it is a challenge to just like take your hands off and you do burn more calories when you aren't holding on to the treadmill. So if you needed to get in a lot more calories burnt in like that 30 minutes, then I definitely recommend challenging yourself to just like not hold the treadmill. A couple things that helped me when I'm really trying to challenge myself to do that is to either go on your phone, you can like scroll on TikTok and really just use two hands so you're not like tempted to grab the treadmill. Another thing that helps a lot is to have wrist weights on and just like kind of like use your arms to really power walk through it. I have ballo weights and I will definitely link them down below. I have the two pound weights and I freaking love them. I actually splurged on them. I think it was like around Black Friday and I was like, okay, I'm gonna get the two pound weights because I didn't think that the one pound weights would do enough and I will link some Amazon dupes that I found. I will say that they're not that much cheaper. So like might as well just buy the brand name because it's just not, you know, it's not like you're getting a crazy good deal like they're not half off. So I definitely recommend getting those ballo weights. A lot of people have asked me if 12, 3, 30 is the only workout routine I've been doing lately and yes, but also sometimes when I'm like feeling it, I will do like a little arm toning workout with my ball weight. So whether that's like doing a little dance on my own and just like doing like, you know, like one, you know, I don't even know what this is called. And then like here and then like some here. Also, there's an Instagram account called PureBallowAthens and they post IGTVs of these little arm track workouts. They're literally three minutes long or like a little bit shorter. They're just the length of one song. And I think these are so great because they really get you in that burning zone. It's just like three minutes added on to your workout. So you feel like you're doing something a little bit more, but it's not anything too crazy. So I will definitely have their Instagram link down below. Definitely check out their IGTVs. They have so many to choose from because they did one like every day of quarantine. Now I think they only post them on Wednesdays, which kind of is sad because I wish there was like more new ones, but it's still a really, really good workout. And you know, just an easy one to do if you even have like three minutes on your lunch break or just want to get some like arm toning in. So I really did not do that every single day. I did try to do it more often in the beginning when I started 12, 330, but I kind of just like stopped doing it. But I really do think the ball weights are such a good investment. Speaking of investments, I actually purchased a new Apple Watch. Like, I don't know. I think I want to say like one month into it, maybe like three weeks. And I cannot tell you how much more this motivated me to kill that routine and just keep going with this journey. I did have like the first gen Apple Watch. And I swear it literally died right after the 30 minute workout. I personally just felt that it wasn't really as accurate as, you know, my new one now. So I'm really, really glad that I did invest in that because obviously I use it every day now. Now that my Apple Watch lasts so much longer than my old one, I can wear it all day long. And that has really motivated me to start calorie counting. I think I did 12, 330 for like a month without really like changing my diet. And then I started calorie counting. And that's when I saw the weight drop off. I feel like diet is so important and it just sucks so bad because I am a big foodie. You guys know if you watch my vlogs, I always eat out on the weekends. I'm always looking for somewhere new to try. And I love me some sweets obviously who doesn't. Actually, there's people that don't and I really want to be you guys. But unfortunately, I'm not like that. So I tried to calorie count because it's just a really different like lifestyle. It's like you can eat whatever you want. You just have to have it in moderation and like really control your portions, especially having a boyfriend that's a lot bigger than me. I see what he eats in his portions. And I think that I need to have the same portions as him, which is like so wrong. And that's kind of where I gained a lot of weight in my first year of like living in Austin. So calorie counting just has helped a lot with like just portions and really being conscious of like how many calories you're really eating. I was actually really shocked when I started to calorie count and like making all those little changes and how full I got from like, I don't know, a 350 calorie meal. Like I was perfectly full, not over full, you know, like I wasn't like overeating. I didn't feel shitty, which is amazing. My biggest life hack for you guys, if you want to start calorie counting is go crazy in the frozen food section because those are like pre-portioned meals. My boyfriend taught me this. He used to do this when he was like really into running and he lost so much weight just because these meals are let's say like 280 to like 350 calories. And so if you have one for lunch and you have one for dinner, then you have like your own breakfast. Sometimes I would like cook like eggs, spinach, tomatoes and get in my veggies that way. You would definitely be in calorie deficit with all your snacks and everything. I definitely had to search around for the best low calorie snacks because snacks are very important to me. I mean, if I'm really, really busy, I don't really think about snacking, but most of the time I just love to have like something to like just snack on while I'm like editing or like watching, you know, YouTube or something. So rice cakes are my favorite. Caramel ones are the best. Some people will tell you the chocolate ones are the best, but I tried it. It was actually kind of gross. So definitely get the caramel ones. And honestly, if you guys want, I'll do like a whole like vlog showing you guys all my like low calorie favorites. I'll be totally honest with you guys. I really try to only calorie count during the week because on the weekend I really like to treat myself and I know sometimes that's like counterintuitive. But sometimes it can kind of like help you. I don't even know the signs behind it, but sometimes when I eat out on the weekend, I like lose a little bit of weight. I don't know why, but I have seen there's like different charts that you can do. You can like eat the same calories every single day, or you can like eat, you know, in a calorie deficit and then like a little above that and then like kind of like on a wavelength. So it's not like your body's getting used to it. I don't know if these are even like real things, but I definitely saw that in an article when I was like researching it. Definitely do your own research because I'm obviously not a nutritionist. So this is purely from my experience only back to the workout itself. I did get a lot of comments asking if their treadmill did not go up to 12 incline because not all treadmills go that high. What should they do? Like should they just max it out to 10 and will it be the same? And I don't really know the exact answer to that question, but I think that it's okay to do 10 incline. I would just add on another 15 minutes, which is kind of annoying, especially if you only have 30 minutes out of your day to give to this workout routine. During the second month of doing 12, 3, 30, I actually added on an extra 15 minutes doing just like a normal treadmill workout. So like I would probably do like a five incline and then a three speed for 15 minutes and then just add that on to like my normal 12, 3, 30, just for the sole fact of just burning even more calories because I started to wake up earlier. So I just had a little bit more time in my day to give to my workout routine. And that was really nice because I kind of had like that cool down. So I would definitely recommend that if you do have time and it doesn't have to be on that, you know, 12 incline the whole 45 minutes because that is brutal. Trust me, I'm like counting down the like minute to the 30 minutes when it's over. But yeah, I think that will definitely help you burn some more calories that way. I feel like this video is a little bit all over the place because I'm just like thinking of random thoughts and I didn't have like a whole outline for this video. I really wanted this video just to be like kind of like a diary for you know, you guys to get advice from and just like for me to look back on. So sorry, it's a little bit rambly, but I wanted to talk about like things I really liked about this workout. So number one, it only takes 30 minutes out of your day, which is so good because pre COVID I did orange theory fitness and that was I think it was like an hour long class and I had to drive 20 minutes there 20 minutes back and before that I had to like get ready for the class and then after that I would have to shower and the whole thing I want to say. I think it took two hours like total just like the whole thing, you know and I feel like that's just so much time wasted in my day. Honestly, that was like such a good workout and like yes, I do miss it at times but the fact that I can just walk on over to my apartment office and do this treadmill routine and just quickly come home and shower is just so nice. I know not everyone will have that ability to just like walk on over because you know, maybe you have a gym membership at Planet Fitness lifetime, maybe you have a treadmill at your home which is even better because you don't even have to walk on over to the office you can walk downstairs. So that is just like the best thing about this freaking workout and then second, I feel like I never really got sore from the workout but it was just a really good thing to just get me off my butt because if you know me, I do a lot of computer work and I'm just like sitting all freaking day so it just got me up, gave me that like little bit of me time that I kind of just need throughout the day. A lot of people say that the workout is really boring. I would just watch YouTube videos, that's what I do. When my YouTube videos aren't cutting it, I'll switch to TikTok because that is just like such short form content and I feel like it just makes the workout routine just go by so much faster just because you're scrolling and I just, I don't know sometimes like YouTube gets a little bit boring, I will say that but you just got to find the people you like. And another thing on TikTok, during my workout I would actually search like Motivation and Spote or like Fitness and Spote that I would watch the TikToks about people going through the same thing I'm going through maybe trying to lose weight or trying to eat better but the meal options, I like love looking at like the hashtag what I eat in a day on TikTok that one has a lot of like good ideas you can even search like low calorie meal ideas I feel like I have to be looking at something and being entertained with my eyes otherwise I'm just going to stare at the treadmill and just like wait for the time to go on you know so I definitely highly recommend to just like scroll on TikTok if you don't have TikTok then YouTube. Another thing that I liked about 12, 3, 30 is that I never really got like super crazy sore I definitely did like the first couple of times I did it when you're doing it every single day you're kind of going to get used to it and I personally liked not being sore because it made me want to go back and do it again for example whenever I would go to Orange Theory and then I literally couldn't walk the next day or like the next three days I wouldn't want to go back you know so I feel like it's just a really encouraging workout routine that's doable it definitely takes time to build up to get to a certain point where you can let go of the handlebars and you can actually do it for 12 incline the whole time and you can go 30 minutes without stopping but it is doable you just kind of have to be consistent with it Speaking of consistency another question I get a lot is how many times did I do it a week so the first I want to say like five weeks I did it every single day maybe I missed one day I remember when the winter storm happened that was like the first time I had to miss because I had no other choice because there was like a leak in my apartment complex so they had to shut the gym down and I was like devastated and then the next day the gym was back open but our water was off so I couldn't shower I feel like one of my toxic traits is that like I have to go all out or it won't happen so that's why I kind of held myself to that standard of like doing it every single day because if I had a Sunday off then I just like would not want to go back on Monday and it's just like just annoying that my mind thinks like that so that's why I really really wanted to do it every single day just so I wouldn't like you know get off track after that winter storm I kind of went to Dallas so then I missed like three days here and there and then like you know two days here and there so like I did it for at least five times every single week for sure for two months but in the beginning I was definitely doing it every single day now you're probably wondering when did I actually start seeing the results and I'm gonna be honest I don't think I actually started seeing physical results until I switched up my diet which is something that you probably don't want to hear because I never want to hear that the first month when I didn't change up my diet I really did not lose any weight at all and I kind of felt like okay I'm doing this workout every single day I'm waking up, getting my butt to the gym putting in that work and I'm not seeing any results like I was just kind of really discouraged at that point so that is when I started to calorie count because I was like okay in unison these two are gonna go really well together like I'm working out I'm putting in the work in the kitchen so there's no way I'm not gonna see results so ever since then I've been fluctuating but I would say I lost about five-ish pounds from calorie counting and doing the 12-30 workouts honestly that was my biggest regret was not changing my diet from the beginning because I feel like that whole month and like two weeks was wasted because I didn't eat right I wasn't eating right so just definitely try to eat better when you're starting to attempt the 12-30 workout you guys know that I'm obsessed with set active sets and I really think that is one factor that really motivated me because I woke up I put on a cute matching workout set headed to the gym and I just felt so good and confident in my set active wear and I've done like a couple of TikToks on like trying them on talking about the bras and everything so if you guys wanna check those out they're all on my TikTok but I seriously think that set active is just so good because the Skull Flex is what I get they have a lux form and the Skull Flex and the Skull Flex is really just like that ripped material that really sucks you in so I could wear just like the sports bra and the leggings and not feel like weird about myself granted I was in an apartment gym that literally never had anyone in it so maybe if somebody was in it I would like throw on like a tank top or something but other than that like I really did feel confident in that when I first started the 12-30 workout I really felt like I was doing it for myself it's really interesting to see the difference from when you're doing it for yourself compared to like if you're doing it for other people you know like and I feel like this time around I was really trying to do it for myself and I still am and I'm really really happy with like how different my mentality is of like working out and just like being motivated to have this dream body and I mean even you saw it in my skims video I feel like I would have never posted all of my roles hanging out and me just like slipping into skims and really just showing off like the difference between you know like having my normal body and then skims on me I don't know if that is making sense to you but I just feel like I'm just so much more confident because I know I'm doing it for myself at the end of this and I'm like accepting my body throughout like the stages of getting to my dream body and I'm just like really proud of myself to try to remember at the end of the day why you're doing this is it for yourself or is it for your Instagram followers is it for your boyfriend I will say the motivation is gonna last a whole lot longer if you're doing it for yourself and you're doing it for the right reasons I don't know about y'all but I feel like I always hated working out just for the fact that I would get sweaty and I would have to wash my hair I thought that every time I worked out I would have to wash my hair which is like kind of crazy for me to think that but I did and now doing it every single day or like when I do do it every single day I have kind of like worked out a hair care routine so that I don't have to wash it every day and that has like changed the game of the mentality of not wanting to work out for that reason so for example I wash my hair every Monday and every Friday I also just posted a TikTok about how to revive your hair after a workout but my biggest hack is taking your blow dryer and putting it on this cool setting and really just drying your sweaty hair which is actually disgusting to think about but I swear it helps and I don't know I feel like if you put some dry shampoo in it I love the Playa Soft Volume Powder I rub that into my head after I dry my hair with the cool setting and it truly works wonders so that's how I can go a little bit without washing my hair now that I've talked to your ear off about this 12-30 workout let's get into my results so I'm gonna show you guys my before and after video I took the before video with like my real camera and then the after video I just did an iPhone video so I hope you guys don't mind but I do really see a difference like a very slight difference but I will say that I feel a lot better about myself like I feel like I see it a lot in my arms and I do see a little bit in my face too throughout like the videos that I've been doing on TikTok of like when I first was on the treadmill I just feel like my face looked a little bit larger around the chin area just looked a little bit rounder like I said I did lose like three to five pounds I'm still kind of fluctuating so you know it depends on the day but I am really proud of myself and I really want to keep this going I really want to stay active I was really trying to do it every single day just for the video and just to see the results so I don't know if I'm going to be continuing with this specific workout but I think it is a great workout for a beginner if you're really intimidated to go to the gym and like pick up weights start with the treadmill start with cardio and honestly that's something that I really want to get into and like learn more about is weightlifting because I know a lot of people are like okay that's like the next step that's what you need to like add on to your routine so that is why I tried to like do a little bit of ball of weights I know that's like more like toning and not like extreme weightlifting but thought that was like a little bit of like a baby step but anyways I just think this is a really really great beginner workout even if you do like workout classes and you're like really experienced in the gym I still think this is a great workout to do when you don't maybe have an hour to spend you only have like 30 minutes to spend you can just burn a lot of calories get your workout in for the day and then get on with your day so that wraps up this video on my experience of doing 12-30 for two months let me know in the comments down below if you guys have tried this workout and what you guys think about it also let me know if you guys have any other questions my Instagram DMs are always open if you guys don't want to comment on this video if you guys want to keep up with my everyday life go follow me on Instagram that's so underscored and hourly without the G and I will see y'all in my next video bye