Starting the 75 Hard Challenge

TannerBoyl

I hit a few milestones today.

I’m officially half-way to my weight loss-goal. While this isn’t the focus of this challenge, it is a nice victory.

I have moved out of the XL shirt size and back into a Large. I had logged my body measurements every few weeks. I’m showing 2-4” loss in areas like my waist and chest. All of my measurements are showing a downward trend except my quads. They have gone down and then came back up. I feel pretty good about that.

I made a Personal Record on the Peloton for a 45 minute ride. It kicked my butt, but I’m glad that I did it.

All in all, this has turned out to be a pretty good day.

Here is my pic for today:



I haven’t worn that shirt in about two years. I’m five days into my 75 Hard Restart and I’m feeling pretty motivated!

HoneyBadger302

I completed the 75 hard challenge (NOT the Live Hard program) this spring (started it last December 1 - so through the holidays with family and snowstorms!).

I've been pretty dedicated and such in the past, so for me it was more about breaking out of a bad place I had been in after a very toxic work environment that had really started to affect me outside of work too. I needed to remind myself that I was strong enough - and worth it.

I got out of it what I hoped, and it helped break that cycle - not 100%, from where I was before that, but WAY better than I was when I started the challenge.

I found the app very helpful - just to make sure I didn't forget something dumb. Since then I've gotten an app to help me track the habits I want to keep up with.

For me, I chose not to go on to the phases as my work life simply didn't leave room for the program unless I CONSTANTLY shorted myself on sleep - which I did in order to finish the program (while going through it I was laid off, holidays, found a new job with crazy long hours - since then have a new job back in my line of work, but way underpaid so still have to work 2 jobs)...and that simply wasn't sustainable.

So I took some of the things I loved about the challenge, the things I felt really helped me, AND what I could maintain (so took out some things, added some different ones) and kept them in a Habit You app now.

TannerBoyl

HoneyBadger,

I’m looking for something similar out of this challenge. I’m looking to jumpstart my life again and build some good habits. So far, it’s been really positive.

I’m sorry to hear about work. I’m glad to hear that you got out of a bad situation, but it’s rough that you have to work two jobs. I hope that you’ve got more peace of mind now.

AKTipsyCat

Same here - it's not like I'm making this rigidity my lifestyle... but some of it definitely needs to carry through! I let myself fall into a dark place, and this is helping me claw my way out.

TannerBoyl

Here’s my day 25 update:

Things are going well. I’ve been able to complete all of my challenges with a little effort.

There have been days where I have struggled. I’ve had to shift workouts around and juggle obligations. Similarly, there have been nights where I’ve had to fight against some food temptations — more specifically I have been craving booze. I hadn’t had any alcohol since before COVID. For whatever reason, Fall brings out cravings for scotch, bourbon, Irish coffee and heavier beers. Instead, I’ve been drinking sparkling water. Yeah, it’s not the same, but it changes things up.

I’d hit a weight loss plateau at 214lbs. For a few weeks, I just hovered around that weight. It was slightly frustrating, but I just kept doing my plan. The only change is that I started drinking green tea in the morning. Maybe it had helped, because now I find myself at 209.4lbs.

Here is a progress pic:



Please ignore the extra stuff. I’m cleaning out some stuff that I’m no longer using and getting it ready for storage.

TannerBoyl

Well, I’ve had a bit of a setback. I’ve sprained my knee pretty badly and have not been able to work out.

This weekend, I’ve made the decision to rest and get my knee back to normal so I’m dropping out of the challenge. I had made it 45 days and then another 40 days. If I hadn’t forgotten to take a selfie one day, I would have been complete.

I will be starting up again after the first of the year. Hopefully, I’ll be a little wiser and be able to complete it without any hiccups.

AnnPT77

TannerBoyl wrote: »

Well, I’ve had a bit of a setback. I’ve sprained my knee pretty badly and have not been able to work out.

This weekend, I’ve made the decision to rest and get my knee back to normal so I’m dropping out of the challenge. I had made it 45 days and then another 40 days. If I hadn’t forgotten to take a selfie one day, I would have been complete.

I will be starting up again after the first of the year. Hopefully, I’ll be a little wiser and be able to complete it without any hiccups.

That seems like a wise decision under the circumstances, to prioritize recovery for your knee. Presumably, you have some plans for other health-prioritizing choices as you heal, like maintaining your current weight (enough calories to heal with, not gaining and putting more stress on the sprain), and getting good overall nutrition to support the healing process.

Heck, you could even do some upper body workouts or wheelchair-athlete-type cardio if you want to . . . but add that stuff all up, and that would be pretty hard. 😉

Thank you for the interesting updates: It's good to see how these things go for people, sounds like it went pretty well for you.

Wishing you speedy, complete healing!

AKTipsyCat

TannerBoyl wrote: »

Well, I’ve had a bit of a setback. I’ve sprained my knee pretty badly and have not been able to work out.

This weekend, I’ve made the decision to rest and get my knee back to normal so I’m dropping out of the challenge. I had made it 45 days and then another 40 days. If I hadn’t forgotten to take a selfie one day, I would have been complete.

I will be starting up again after the first of the year. Hopefully, I’ll be a little wiser and be able to complete it without any hiccups.

Sorry to hear it! I just plain old quit. I want to start back up - but it's just so darned cold and dark already I can feel the SAD creeping in. Was going to start on Monday again, but my energy level are at historic lows, which sucks because I was doing so well. Brought the SAD light in to work today and am starting up on my winter Vitamin D regimen, hopefully I stabilize soon and can start up again.

Lightbeamer

I am in. Will start tomorrow! Walk the dog first for 45, and then I will ride the bike for as long as I can. My food will need to increase dramatically. I will run the numbers for tomorrow. We'll see!

hoarc1987

TannerBoyl wrote: »

The last year and a half have been interesting. I went from being somewhat active to completely sedentary. I’ve watched my waist increase in size while my muscle mass decreased.

I decided that I needed something to jump start my motivation. Over the weekend, my girlfriend suggested that I try the 75 Hard Challenge.

Basically, it is a mental toughness challenge with health improvement aspects.

Here are the basics:

The challenge consists of sticking to five main pillars for 75 days straight:

-You must drink one gallon of water a day.
-You must pick a diet and stick to it, with no cheat meals (also, no alcohol).
-You must workout twice a day for 45 minutes. One of the workouts must be done outdoors.
-You must read 10 pages of an entrepreneurial or self-help book each day.
-You must take a progress picture each day.

So, off I go. The weekend was easy, but the workweek has presented some challenges. I’ve had to modify my daily routine in order to accommodate the water intake and the outdoor exercise. Planning ahead seems to be working for me for both diet and exercise.

I am feeling very motivated, but I realize that I’m still early in the challenge. That is why I’m posting this. I’ve told family, friends and coworkers what I’m doing in order to force accountability. I figured that I would do that here too.



This is my starting photo. I’m 6’ and 228lbs.

I’m four days in and have already noticed some positive changes (mostly on my outlook).

Wish me luck!

Use the challenge as a list of things you get experience doing. You get experience with gym and reading.