My Experience with the 75 Hard Challenge

Well folks, I did it! I completed the 75 Hard Challenge. I don’t know if I should be surprised or proud or a little of both. I am definitely happy I did it and made it all the way through. If you don’t know what this challenge is, here’s my post giving all of the details. I have a lot to say about my experience, so today I thought I would go over the basics of how I did it and I will share some of the deeper lessons in another post.

First, the part of the challenge that EVERYONE says is the most daunting when you’re deciding if you want to try it…doing two workouts a day. I worried about this too when I was deciding if I wanted to do it. But I knew that I got to define what a workout is, so for me it was keeping myself moving at a faster pace than normal for 45 minutes. That means I wasn’t killing myself on these workouts, but just getting moving. I got a recumbent bike which made it easy to figure my indoor workouts. I’d do that first thing every morning. For my second workout, James and I would do that one together (he also did the challenge). In the beginning we got in the pool and paced around it. Once it got too cold for that we would go for a 45 minute walk each afternoon.

I do travel frequently so I had to get creative with the workouts when I wasn’t at home. I would wake up each morning and plan my two workouts for the day so I didn’t get stuck at night exhausted and having to exercise (which did happen a few times because of my schedule). For my outdoor workout I would keep my eye out for opportunities to go for a brisk walk. One day I walked around a path at a rest stop, another day I paced at an outdoor shopping mall. One day I walked around an empty parking lot while my kids were at a museum. Just this week I went to the flea market and after I was finished shopping I took my purchases to the car then went back out and did my walk around the market. I did a few workouts in the rain and, while I wouldn’t choose it, I appreciated the adventure. During most of my outdoor travel workouts I listened to podcasts, which was an added bonus. For my indoor workout (they could both be outdoor if I wanted, but I’d generally do one inside and one outside) sometimes I had to get creative. If I was in a hotel that didn’t have a fitness center I would turn on a 45 minute show and do stretches and lift water bottles and jog in place. Of course if I had access to a fitness center I would use that. Really it was about prioritizing movement and I am thankful that I have proved to myself that there’s no good excuse not to do it.

The second part that I found the hardest was drinking a gallon of water each day. Well, maybe hard isn’t the right word. I found it unpleasant. I generally add electrolytes to my water and I feel that’s important for my health, but with his challenge you can’t add anything to the water. I am a water drinker, but don’t think that a gallon of water with no electrolytes added is necessarily the best for my health. So my heart wasn’t really in it and I didn’t like having to measure all of my water. But I did it! I was determined to do it exactly the way it was laid out in the challenge. I got myself this 40oz water bottle and I filled it three times per day plus I drank 10 additional ounces so that I would go over the gallon I was required to drink each day. I generally drank the 10oz first thing in the morning when I took my supplements so all I had left was the 3 – 40oz bottles. There was something about telling myself, ”I only have to drink 3 of these” that made it easier. It really is all about how you talk to yourself!

Third, the diet. This part didn’t concern me because I had already made huge changes to my eating a year before. I had lost 60# eating what I call ”keto-vore” (mostly carnivore with a few exceptions) when I started. So I decided to just tighten that up for the 75 Hard. I took nuts completely out (I knew I had been eating too many of them and was happy for the motivation to stop), I dropped my total carb goal to 20 per day and I went deeper into the carnivore diet, sticking to mostly meat based products. In other words, I ate a lot of meat, eggs and a little cheese. I did allow the occasional avocado and my favorite ”Hawaiian Rolls” that are made with mostly egg whites, but basically I stuck very close to carnivore and ate about 5-6 carbs per day. Only twice did I get anywhere near the 20 carbs per day that I was officially allowing myself. I shared a lot of my meals on my Instagram stories, if you want to know more about that.

Each morning I would use an app to log what I planned to eat that day. Sometimes the plans would change, but planning early really helped me to know where I had wiggle room and not obsess about it the rest of the day. Once I logged my plans I would just relax about it.

I am really happy with this eating lifestyle. I generally fast until around after 2:00 then I eat a small snack like a couple of eggs and some bacon. Then around 6:00 I eat a nice, big meal and I’m done for the day. I don’t feel hungry or deprived. I love the foods I am eating and I feel great. So I don’t plan to make any huge changes in my diet after the challenge is over, except I will let myself have some nuts again (they are mostly great for when I am traveling) and I may stop logging all of my food, although honestly that was very helpful.

Fourth, the reading. I actually looked forward to this part. I had a stack of books waiting to be read so I pulled a few off the shelf plus I ordered a couple of new ones and I borrowed another one. Each day I would sit down with my book and immediately move the book mark ahead 10 pages. If I was in a hurry that day I would stop at the 10 pages, but I often would read further. I’m not quite finished with the last book, but now that I can see how nice it is to slowly read a book, ingesting it in small chunks, I do think I will keep this up. There were a few nights when I was traveling that I would get to the end of the day and not have done my reading. I learned very quickly that it was a mistake to lie in bed and try to read. I learned this because I would be jolted awake by the book hitting me in the face after falling asleep trying to read. So I would sit up and make myself focus until I got to the bookmark and then stop. I’m not sure how much I actually got from those nights of the reading, but I just kept going the next day.

Lastly, the progress photo. Every day you have to take a photo. This became a part of my morning routine. I would put on the same sports bra and pants, take the pic then put on a t-shirt and go do my morning workout. I see a lot of before and after photos of people who have done this challenge and they are incredible. I don’t have incredible photos. I’m not sure why, because my body has definitely changed, but you can’t really see it in the pictures. But I still took the picture every day….had to check it off the list.

One more thing that I think made it doable for me was I had two people doing it along with me. My husband was doing it, so we did those afternoon workouts together plus encouraged each other when it got hard. And one of my best girlfriends did it with me also. She was also using an exercise bike so most mornings we would chat and share our struggles, victories and goals over Marco Polo while we rode. I do think you can do it alone, but having them with me gave me so much strength!

My results? I lost 11#, making it a total of 71# lost since Oct 2021. I have more energy, better mood, more spiritual strength, really it was soooo good for me! I am thinking about doing a shorter one every year just to make sure I stay on track….maybe 30 days? I guess I’ll see how it goes.

I want to encourage anyone to do this challenge. It’s about fitness, but the main benefit is consistency and strength. Don’t let the 2 workouts scare you. Show yourself what you’re made of!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Follow me on Instagram to see more of what I am eating and how I’m finding ways to get exercise!