Hudson White, better known to his YouTube followers as one half of the bodybuilding brother duo the Buff Dudes, regularly creates videos about how he manages to stay shredded on top of his busy schedule as a dad. In his most recent video, White shares how Misty, his newly adopted, highly energetic Siberian Husky, helped him build a new healthy habit that resulted in him losing weight and improving his overall wellbeing.

“[Huskies] need a lot of stimulation, both mentally and physically,” says White. “I felt that could be really great for me as well, because I felt I needed to be stimulated mentally and physically.”

In order to help Misty expend some of that energy (and answer the call of nature), White started getting up earlier in the mornings to take her for a 3-mile walk. While he had previously struggled to build the habit of doing cardio every day, White notes that having a “really great walking partner” in Misty helped him get over some of those initial hurdles, as she was full of energy and always motivated:

“Many times in the past I’ve snoozed that alarm, I’ve made an excuse why I shouldn’t get up in order to walk,” he says. “But this little Husky was not going to let me make those excuses, she was ready to go every single morning and that inspired me to get up and walk every single morning.”

White kept his calorie intake, macro split and other workouts exactly the same throughout the month, and still found that he was looking leaner and more defined towards the end of the 30 days, having lost 2.5 pounds in the process.

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In addition to the physical benefits of daily walking, White also began to notice some mental changes, most significantly the sense of achievement that came from getting up early and incorporating a low-impact 5K into his morning routine.