A mom has shared the simple but effective trick she used to shed 50lbs after years of failed diets and workout plans.

Toogi Dorjbayar, 34, had spent over 20 years struggling with her weight and feeling ‘stuck’ in an endless loop of trying to lose it and failing.

‘I have done everything from the vegan diet, raw vegan diet, keto carnivore diet, Gabriel method to even drinking clay,’ she shared during an exclusive chat with the Daily Mail.

‘I spend hundreds probably on meal plans. My relationship with food was deeply distorted. 

‘I lived at extremes: I was either on a restrictive diet or binging while planning my next “reset.” There was no middle ground.’

Dorjbayar, who is based in Belgium, explained that she would lose 15lbs or 20lbs on the diets but then quickly gain it all back due to binging. 

She also tried ‘every workout trend’ in the book but nothing stuck. 

‘I was part of a CrossFit club, had a personal trainer for a while, did HIT workouts, did home workouts and bought workout plans off of Instagram,’ she continued.

A mom has shared the simple but effective trick she used to shed 50lbs after years of failed diets and workout plans. She’s seen before (left) and after (right) her weight loss

Toogi Dorjbayar, 34, shed the weight simply by setting a challenge with her twin that involved walking 20,000 steps a day or having to pay the other 200 euros

‘None of them worked. The problem with these workouts was that they are a large time investment that I just could not spend as a single mom working full-time.’

She was talking about her problems with her twin sister one afternoon in March 2025, when her sister suggested they come up with a walking challenge that they could embark on together as a way to hold one another accountable.

The challenge was simple: they both had to walk 20,000 steps every day. And if they didn’t, they’d have to send the other 200 euros, which is roughly $232. 

As someone who has always loved a good competition, Dorjbayar was enthralled by the idea.

‘Everyday, we had to send each other a screenshot of our steps to prove that the 20,000 step target was met,’ she explained. 

At the time, Dorjbayar was only walking about 5,000 to 6,000 steps a day, so 20,000 seemed like an impossible feat.

But as a single mom she couldn’t afford to lose hundreds of dollars, so she became determined.

She purchased a walking pad so she could get her steps in without having to leave the house, that way she could to while her kids were watching TV or sleep. 

Dorjbayar admitted that the first couple of weeks were extremely difficult; she developed immense pain in her joints and knees, she had blisters on her feet

But she pushed through and now it’s completely transformed her physically and mentally

‘I also used scroll time [on my phone] as walk time on my walking pad, making that habit a positive one,’ she explained.

Dorjbayar admitted that the first couple of weeks were extremely difficult. She experienced immense pain in her joints and knees, she had blisters on her feet and she was forced to stay up late to make sure she reached the 20,000 step goal.

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‘On many nights I had to walk until midnight on my walking pad after putting my kids to bed,’ she recalled.

But she pushed through, and as the days went by she started to notice a change in her body.

She quickly began shedding some pounds and suddenly had ‘more energy to play with her kids.’

‘My anxiety also went down, I was feeling better and better,’ she dished. ‘[By the third month] I had lost 20 pounds, which was more than I lost on any diet before.’ 

Dorjbayar kept it up for eight months straight before switching to 15,000 steps daily because she had reached her ‘goal weight.’

She now spends roughly two hours a day walking and has her schedule down to a tee.

She takes three 30 minute walks a day – one in the morning  before her kids wake up, one during her lunchtime at work and one in the evening.

Between those and her normal ‘day to day movement’ she always reaches 15,000 steps easily. 

In total, she has now lost a whopping 50 pounds from the endeavor

In total, she has now lost a whopping 50 pounds from the endeavor. 

‘The weight loss has been unbelievable after 20 plus years of failure,’ she gushed. ‘I had never experienced a normal, sustainable way of eating before. But walking changed that. 

‘By creating a daily calorie deficit through walking, I can eat around 2,000 calories and not feel like I’m dieting and still lose weight. 

‘For the first time, weight loss felt calm instead of an impossible fight against my body.’

She said walking has helped not only transformed her physically, but also mentally.

‘I never had confidence until I discovered walking. Seeing myself do a hard thing like 20,000 steps and staying consistent has built my self esteem up more than any therapy,’ she said. 

‘Also, the 20,000 steps forced me to invest three hours into myself everyday. I had never done something like that before. 

‘I was always pouring into everyone around me and the challenge forced me to put myself first. It has rewired my brain.’

She now uses what she went through to help others, hosting monthly walking challenges online where people can win a prize if they meet the target for the month. 

‘Seeing other people getting motivated to start walking has been the best part of everything,’ she concluded.