Hello!
I hope your weekend has been ace. Despite Collingwood losing yesterday and it raining a lot today, the weekend has still been a good one.
While the headline of this newsletter says halfway update on the 75 challenge, I am actually on day 49 of the 75 hard challenge. If you missed my previous emails where I shared info on the challenge, please note that the 75 challenge is definitely not for everyone and it has many critics so keep this in mind if you take a look at it. It may not be right for you.
I started the challenge because I wanted something to focus on and to work towards while I was not running because of my foot injury. I also used to do a reset at least annually with my diet when I was going to CrossFit and I haven’t done that now since 2019 so felt like it was a good opportunity to hit reset on my diet as well.
These are the tasks you are required to do in the 75 hard challenge every day for 75 days:
Follow a diet. This can be the diet of your choice, but it must be a structured plan designed with a physical improvement in mind.
You must complete two 45-minute workouts. One of those workouts MUST be outdoors.
No alcohol or cheat meals.
Take a progress picture every day.
Drink 3.8 litres of water each day.
Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book (audiobooks do not count).
You have until you go to sleep to complete the day. If you even miss one page of your reading, a minute of your workout or forget to take your photo, you must start on day 1 again.
How have I found the 75 hard challenge?
The 75 hard challenge has provided me with some great structure in a time when I couldn’t run, nor could I cross-train and walking any real distance caused me pain in my foot that kept me awake at night.
Overall thoughts
I am going to first list my thoughts overall on the challenge, then I will go into detail about each of the tasks you are required to do, note how I have found them, and say whether or not I would recommend doing the challenge.
Doing the 75 hard challenge has definitely been an overall positive experience for me so far and it is having a positive impact on my health and well-being in the following ways:
As noted it has given some further structure to my days at a time of flux for me. The structure, combined with the motivation to keep my streak going has actually allowed me to fit more into my days without feeling overwhelmed and too busy.
It has made me improve my time management. When you have a number of key tasks to fit in each day you begin to notice wasted time a lot more. My personal use of social media is almost a fraction of what it was in July.
Starting the 75 challenge was never about losing weight for me