I Completed 75 Hard!

It’s SO crazy to think about how I just finished completing 75 Hard. I heard about this challenge about a year before starting it myself. I feel AMAZING! Let’s recap everything from the last couple of months.

What is it?

It’s a mental toughness (not a weight loss) challenge. Rules:

• Stick to a diet. (Any diet)
• Drink a gallon of water every day.
• No cheat meals or alcohol for the full 75 days consecutively.
• Exercise twice a day for 45 minutes each time, with at least one session happening outside.
• Read 10 pages of a non fiction book every day.
• Take a progress picture every day.

Highly recommend listening to Andy Frisella’s podcast about it episodes 622 and 14. . It will REALLY motivate you! I like the no bullshit approach and he talks about how none of us are qualified to change any of the tasks.

Over the last 75 days I completed ALL of the above. I never missed a day! I did my outdoor workout in the snow a couple of times, a thunderstorm once, and about 10x in the freezing cold or rain. It wasn’t easy but wow was it incredible to complete.

Why I chose to do this:

I had a few reasons why I chose to do this. One being that I literally felt all over the place as a mom. I was a year postpartum, had gained more weight, struggled waking up early with my son, I had zero discipline or schedule outside of my sons schedule. My business was lacking, I would workout at all different times of the day, and I felt really lost as far as myself. I love motherhood and I let it fully consume me. But at a year when my son started sleeping through the night and it felt manageable to hire help and start a challenge, I did it.

I also wanted to of course feel really good in my body again and lose weight. I gave myself A LOT of grace the first year but again, at a year when I felt pretty good as a mom, I owed it to myself to feel good in other aspects of my life.

If you’re newly postpartum and reading this wanting to start… everyone is different of course but I HIGHLY recommend waiting. I would not do this under a year postpartum. Give yourself time and grace to adjust to your new life as a mom! Best thing I did was giving myself that year. I think it sets you up for more success in the end.

My tips / how to set yourself up for success:

• Clear.Your. Schedule.
  • To me the hardest part is time. Which means for 75 days if you want to succeed, clear your schedule. Say no to outings or stuff with friends. You can DEFINITELY fit it in but at least for the first 20 days I would do nothing outside of the tasks. If I wanted to catch up with a friend I’d do it over a walk and coffee. I had to either say no or let friends know I’d love to see you but I’m doing 75 Hard- can we catch up over a walk or a workout class?
• I would read Atomic Habits first and it talks about ways to set habits up. One of them being having something tangible to check off your habit. For me, it was a sticky note. It was satisfying and in my face to remove a sticky note each day. I wrote out 75 days of sticky notes and attached them to my bathroom mirror. This held me accountable daily! Josh kept a checklist on his calendar.
• I recommend a half-gallon or full gallon water bottle. The less time you have to spend on filling a water bottle up helps.
• Have a motivating buddy! My husband did this with me
• Keep it simple. The diet doesn’t have to be complicated and your workouts don’t have to be complicated either.
• Setup a schedule. I worked out everyday at 8am, and we did an afternoon walk.
• For the moms reading this and that want to do it: working out at home during your baby’s nap is great OR find a gym with childcare. That made a huge difference for my consistency when I started taking Ezra to the daycare. I also got over my fear of a babysitter and hired help twice a week so I can work and get my workout in.

What I did personally:

• Diet: I stuck to a whole foods/ clean diet. Prioritizing protein! We ate a lot of meat, vegetables, fruit, and rice or potatoes for carbs. I did no refined sugar for the most part and no bread although I did have english muffins for lunch on days we were having no carbs for dinner. I tried to only do one meal that had carbs in it a day!
• Exercise: I did Madeline Moves daily. It’s a great app that has targeted muscle days. For my outdoor workout I mainly walked with Ezra. Every once in awhile I’d run with him.

Books I read:

• The Courage to Be Disliked- Did not enjoy this it was weird
• Atomic Habits – I read this twice
• The Universe Has your Back– An easy read and great reminder

Random thoughts from the 75 days:

• Second week was the hardest mentally, I also came down with a cold and was extremely tired + had sugar cravings like crazy.
• Weekends remained tough throughout the whole 75 days as I just wanted to relax. We would plan fun family outings to different trails to mix it up!
• I saw noticeable small changes in my body around 23 days. Checkout my halfway through blog post.
• Day 40+ I noticed I had incredible skin and energy and was super motivated daily.
• Days 50-60 I hit a WALL. I was so over it and wanted to be done but I pushed through.

My results:

• I lost about 15 pounds (I THINK I started at 179 pounds, and ended at 164 pounds)
• Went from a size 8/10 and M/L to a size 6/8 and fitting into some smalls
• My skin is incredible… extremely glowy and the healthiest it’s ever looked
• Mentally, I feel amazing. I feel like I have a grasp on my life and goals outside of motherhood more and overall feel like I’m thriving in every way.

Examples of What I ATE:

Breakfast:

• Hard boiled eggs, Turkey sausage, Greek yogurt with fruit, Overnight protein oats, Egg bites.

Lunch:

• High protein smoked salmon english muffins, salads, ground turkey with vegetables, Eggs, any dinner leftovers.

Dinner:

• Egg roll in a bowl, Meat with potatoes or rice, Salads, Sweet potato nachos, etc.

Snacks:

• Apples and PB, Greek Yogurt bowls, Chomps, Gomacro protein bars, and Ritual protein shakes.

My plans moving forward:

After spending 75 days doing all of these tasks, my goal wasn’t to just forget all of it and be lazy again. I definitely want to continue this lifestyle, but with a little more flexibility.

• Continue diet 80-90% of the time! Leaving room for a little fun on the weekends
• Keeping daily workouts and walks still but again, leaving room to have days off/rest days and if I have a really busy day, not stressing myself with fitting everything in.
• Going back to my Stanley and aiming to drink 3 of them a day (about 90oz…. I WAS drinking 126oz everyday)
• Continuing a nightly read. If I only want to read 3 pages then I will or if I want to read more I will. Also, looking forward to reading some fiction books now.

If you feel called to do this, you got this! It’s amazing and I couldn’t recommend it more if you feel like I did in the beginning. BEST OF LUCK!