Some people gently wade into the cold water. I prefer to dive in headfirst.
Last year, one of the influencers I follow on Instagram posted her progress on a fitness/lifestyle challenge called 75Hard. It came off as super impressive, and I tried to follow it last year in the laziest way possible, without any effort. Obviously, it did not go well. This time, I’m going to do something groundbreaking: try.
So, what is 75Hard?
It is a challenge that is MOSTLY health and fitness based, though it works for expanding your mind and self-worth in smaller increments as well!
The gist is, for 75 days, you follow these five rules:
1. Follow ANY diet. No cheat days!
2. Complete two workouts. One workout MUST be outdoors.
3. No alcohol consumption whatsoever.
4. Read ten pages of a motivational/self-help/nonfiction book.
5. Drink one gallon of water.
Take a photo every day of those 75 days. If you mess up a day, you START FROM THE BEGINNING! If you get to day seventy and mess up… you gotta start from day one! No fun, right? Better get it done the first time!
Anyways, I figured this challenge might be a good way to get back into my healthy living journey, and get myself refocused on my career goals. I’ve not seriously touched coding in two weeks! That’s so much wasted time! I need more structure, and this is as structured as it gets. I think this challenge will push me to excel, since it’s a two and a half month commitment. There’s an end date in mind!
Rule-by-rule, here’s my “truth”:
1. The diet is going to be the hardest part. I think I’m going to go in with a 1400 calorie limit, with the added factor of cutting out chocolate and cheese, since those are the two foods that I let ruin my life on a near-daily basis.
2. This workout aspect doesn’t faze me that much: I typically go from an outdoor workout to an indoor workout in one foul swoop as it is! This just means adding a workout either during my lunch break or after work. Just as well, since I haven’t been strength training lately. This isn’t necessarily because of laziness, there’s just people in the gym at the time who take up that space, and I hate them. I don’t hate anyone, but… do you have to slam your weights down? Do you need to take up multiple machines at once? Are you okay?
3. I can barely finish a mimosa at brunch. This is not going to be a challenge whatsoever.
4. I almost exclusively read nonfiction. It’s just a matter of reading every day, consistently!
5. I am not great at drinking water. We know this. I’ve been doing better lately, though, and have had fewer dehydration migraines! Hopefully this will just boost me into making it a full-fledged, bona fide, Rick Rolled habit (you know: never gonna give you up? I’ll stop).
So, how far into this challenge am I? I’m not. I start tomorrow. I’ll give minor updates every so often, and then give a final update when I’m done.
I know this is not a permanent, lifestyle, forever change. This is merely a jumpstart to put myself into a better, structured lifestyle. I’m limiting my contact with the outside world, which will hopefully mean there will be less chance for me to “go to dinner” and then order a mile-high burger… which sounds amazing right now, to be honest.
A downside is that by starting tomorrow, I will still be in the final days of the challenge on my birthday. I’m gonna have to pick a very specific cake and eat carefully if I want to have cake on my birthday! I COULD just wait until I’m done, two weeks later, and then enjoy a belated birthday dinner with my family.
I’m getting way too ahead of myself! Let’s start with tomorrow. A gallon of water. My body is ready… my bladder is not.