Today I officially completed the 75 hard challenge!

[insert applause and standing ovation here]

No but really, it was no easy feat getting to 75 days. If you are unfamiliar with the challenge, here is what it entails:

• Stick to a diet of your choice.
• Drink a gallon of water every day.
• No cheat meals or alcohol.
• Exercise twice a day for 45 minutes each time, with at least one session happening outside.
• Read 10 pages of a book every day. The books should be non-fiction and focus on self-improvement. Audiobooks do not count.
• Take a progress picture every day. They’re for you, you don’t have to post them anywhere.
• If you miss a day, you must restart at day 1.

Some of you are probably reading this and thinking “why would anyone ever want to do this to themselves?” Honestly, not that long ago I had the exact same thought. My motivation behind doing this challenge wasn’t singular. Sure I had seen some people lose weight from doing it, and while I did want that, that wasn’t my sole focus. I wanted to challenge myself mentally and physically, I needed to get my body in better shape, I really needed to be drinking more water, and the added bonus of potentially losing some weight before the summer was a plus. There are a few things, though, I personally think set me up for success leading into this challenge.

1. I was tired of drinking alcohol and had already mostly stopped. I wanted to stop spending money on it and I was interested in exploring my relationship with alcohol.
2. Last year I had the goal of exercising every day for at least 10 minutes a day because I needed to get my body moving more. I lasted about nine months before I got sick and it impeded some of my progress. I believe this helped me feel like I could do this for at least 75 days despite how much more I would be doing.
3. I knew someone who was starting this challenge in the fall and I wondered why anyone would ever do it. I was in a very different mindset then. So, when I actually started contemplating this, I knew my motivation had changed and was more prepared to take this on.
4. I found at-home workouts that I actually started to enjoy; at least a little bit.
5. I modified the challenge ever so slightly to make it work for my life.
   • I figured out how to pace myself drinking a gallon of water every day so it didn’t seem as daunting.
   • I did the full exercise piece, but split up the second 45 minute workout if I needed to based on the day I had and if I knew I wouldn’t have time after work to get one in. Sometimes I would workout for 1.5 hours straight in order to make sure I could get it all in if the rest of my day didn’t allow for it.
   • I didn’t really follow a diet. I just tried to eat healthier. I knew that this part of the challenge would be difficult along with everything else. I was also in the height of my busy season at work, so to make it more manageable I settled for “eating healthy.” I know, I know, eating healthy or dieting is probably one of the more crucial parts of this challenge and crucial for a healthier living style. However, my general eating isn’t that unhealthy, and I was doing this challenge for more than just losing weight.
   • I read 10 pages of a book every day, but it wasn’t always non-fiction and it wasn’t focused on self-improvement. I already have a lot of practices in my life for self-improvement, including therapy and journaling, and have focused a lot of my time and energy on that over the last few years. So, I figured I didn’t need or really want more of the self-improvement side. I also already read a ton and I really didn’t want to add to my list. So, I decided that even reading 10 pages of any book a day was plenty.
   • I didn’t take a progress photo every day, but I did take one every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I just didn’t think it was necessary and felt like three a week was enough.

This may read like I changed a lot, but for the most part I really did keep to the basics of the challenge. Plus, part of me feels like it’s healthier to adapt it to my life rather than push myself in ways that aren’t helpful. Throughout the challenge I had great support from family, friends, and colleagues who would check in and ask how things were going. It was hard to put to words what I was feeling on a daily basis because my mindset was just “it’s going to get done.” I didn’t give myself another option after awhile. So, at times, it didn’t necessarily feel ‘challenging’ because it was just another part of my day. That is oversimplifying the entire process though.

What was the hardest part?

• This challenge, as it says in its title, is indeed challenging. Even with a few of my modifications. Drinking a gallon of water every day is much harder than it sounds. Especially when it get’s to be after 8pm and you still have another 32oz to drink before bed. I’ve peed a lot over the course of the last few months.
• Reading even 10 pages right before bed when I all I wanted to do was sleep, was also difficult. I caught myself falling asleep in the middle of a page on more than one occasion. Sometimes you just can’t get it in during the day and you stay up later than planned, so all that is left is reading at 11pm at night when you still need to get up at 5:45am the next morning to workout.
• Not drinking a cocktail in the heat of the summer with friends was challenging, but not quite as challenging as I think I anticipated it to be.

Most of all though, I think I would say the most challenging part was the exercise. Two workouts a day is tedious and not the most feasible for me to continue after 75 days. My body has hurt for most of the 75 days and I don’t think it ever won’t hurt. A lot of mornings it was quite challenging to get myself out of bed to workout. Even when I’d turn off my morning alarm multiple times, I couldn’t do it too much because I had 45 minutes I needed to fit in before work. And I knew if I didn’t do my morning workout I was screwed for the rest of the day. So that first workout was crucial. Once I was able to complete that, I felt accomplished, even if it wasn’t my best effort that day. However, I still had one more workout to complete. That second workout was so mentally and physically challenging. It was usually an outdoor walk since that was the most feasible with my schedule (and my wallet), and it was the one thing I could mentally get on board with. There were days my job would keep me late or I’d barely leave my desk during the day. It was on those days that it was the hardest to find time to get that walk in. There were days I fudged it ever so slightly to make it work; counting walking while grocery shopping, or calculating over 10,000 steps for the day as enough if I just didn’t have the time to get it in. Some may say this is cheating, but I think it shows flexibility to make it work in whatever capacity I could do that day. And don’t forget, I still, without any question, always completed that first 45 min workout in the morning.

What are you most proud of?

• Completing it! It sounds so simple, right? It was anything but. And even if it was, sometimes you need to celebrate the small wins. I got sick 13 days into starting the challenge. I tried to push through but I made it worse and gave myself a fever. My body told me to stop, so I did. For two days. And then I picked it all back up again. If you read the challenge carefully and in detail, they do say that a ‘true’ 75 hard challenge means you don’t stop and if you miss a day you restart. That was way too hard for me at the time, so I decided to just skip the two days and then continue with day 14. I hated the idea that my progress, especially so early on, seemed lost if I restarted. That is until I got a little closer to the end and figured if I made it that far I may as well go another two weeks. So I’m not only most proud of finishing, but I’m proud of *technically* lasting 88 days.

Now that you’ve finished, is there anything you’ve learned from the process?

• I can do hard things. It’s that simple. I never in a million years thought I’d be able to do this challenge. Even when I started it, I allowed myself the possibility that I may not finish. I completed this challenge despite starting right before Easter and during the busiest season of my job, volunteering for a weekend retreat, traveling to visit a friend, and going to a conference. I don’t think I’ve ever drank as much water as I did in the last few months. I think I’ve exercised more in the last few weeks than I have in the last few years. Let alone doing it all on my own. I was an athlete in college and doing any form of exercise outside of my sport was hard for me. I loathed at home workouts and getting myself to any gym was so difficult. So completing this challenge by my own sheer determination is something that I proved to myself I am able to do. Any time I doubt that I can do something, I hope I remember completing this. If you set your mind to it, you can truly accomplish anything.
• I’ve noticed changes in my body. There were some mornings I would wake up super tired and lethargic. My morning exercise felt more difficult than usual to complete and my body was moving much slower. Since I was exercising regularly and this was a few weeks into the challenge, I could eliminate any of those reasonings for why my body was reacting that way. The culprit? Sugar. Sugar and carbs are known to affect our bodies. It’s known to affect my body even more since I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). I’m also not in my teens or early 20s anymore. So, all of this combined, I couldn’t blame my lack of exercise on how I was feeling anymore and had to allow myself to recognize that sugar affects me much more than I wanted to admit. My movement and energy overall have improved. I have a long way to go to get to where I’d ultimately like to be, but I am much better off than I was. I’m still tired, it is still hard to wake up some mornings, but overall I can tell it has improved. My body has gotten used to my water intake, and I get thirsty much more often than I used to, but I do still pee quite a lot. Lastly, I think I hesitate to credit this challenge for it, but I do think my mental health as overall improved. Imagine that, exercise, eating well, and drinking more water can improve your mental health. I still had really anxious days. I still overthought a lot. There were also many factors at play. But I do think doing this challenge improved my mental health and well being, and that alone is an accomplishment.
• My relationship with alcohol. I’ve never had a bad relationship to alcohol in my opinion. But I did drink much more last fall than I liked. I got tired of going out and drinking a ton, so even before I started the challenge, I backed off on drinking so much. At the start of this challenge it honestly wasn’t that difficult to go sober. More than anything I was worried about going out with people and just drinking water or ordering a mocktail. This challenge allowed me to ask for something I thought was unusual, but actually isn’t (a mocktail), and I found that they can actually be pretty good and the bartender was great about the whole experience. Most people didn’t care I wasn’t drinking; it was all my own perceptions making me feel like I had to explain myself. The biggest lesson I learned about my relationship to alcohol, though, is that it’s a lot harder for me to say no when I’m being offered a free drink. There were a few times I was with family or at a work event where alcohol was readily available and I had to just say no to myself. Even if I wanted it. So I learned that sometimes I accept things just because they are there. Saying no to someone else, when that situation presented itself, also made me feel like an inconvenience or a burden. I think abstaining from alcohol helped me prioritize my own needs, wants, and boundaries. I wouldn’t accept something just to keep the peace. This goes the same with sugar and dessert, but more on that later.
• My determination is a lot stronger than I realized. That’s it. I think that speaks for itself.
• It’s empowering showing up for myself. When I think about completing this challenge, part of me wants to downplay it. But this is a huge feat that not everyone can do. It’s not even something I thought I could or wanted to do at the start of this year. So to make it to the end and see how I showed up for myself every day is one of the more empowering things I’ve experienced. I didn’t do this for anyone else but myself. I’ve gone through a lot of challenging things over the last few years and have dug myself out a hole I put myself in. To see this version of myself who continued to show up every morning even when I was too tired, is something I am incredibly proud of.
• 75 days is, in fact, not a lifetime. In the beginning it was really hard and felt like the 75 days would last forever and everything was so tedious. Somewhere along the way it just became a part of my routine. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow when it’s no longer an obligation that I keep all of this up.
• I should have stuck to a better eating regime. I’m not mad about the path I chose because it is what I needed at the time. But I do think I would be able to see more of a physical change if I had stuck to some sort of “diet.” I also see how everything else in the challenge have basically become habits at this point in time and it would have been really great if I just pushed through those first few weeks so that today it would be more of a habit.
• Physical changes. While I didn’t lose that much weight (I still don’t know exactly how much since I don’t own a scale), I have noticed other changes in my body. I feel better, I can move better, I feel more energized overall, and I feel like I look at least a little fitter.

What now?

• 100 days sober. Before I even started this challenge, I contemplated doing 100 days sober. I planned it out so that I’d be finished before vacation. When I decided to do the 75 hard challenge, someone asked “why not just do the 75” because it includes staying sober. Ultimately, to make it less daunting, I chose to stick to the 75 and if when I was finished I wanted to extend it I could. When I decided to extend the 75 hard challenge to make my completion official, that meant I was only 10 days away from 100 days sober. So, I may as well keep going.
• Cutting out sugar. Ok, I know this one may sound just a bit crazy. I mention above about how I noticed what sugar does to my body and that I wasn’t super strict with my diet. One week ago I decided to cut sugar for three weeks. I would have made it longer but my vacation is at the end of those three weeks and I was not about to restrict sugar on my vacation. Ultimately, I figured if I could do all this challenge required of me for 88 days, I could go without sugar for three weeks. Let me tell you that the side affects of withdrawing from a sugar addiction is no joke. And saying no to dessert is a lot harder than saying no to a drink.
• Sticking with as much water as possible. I don’t know if I’ll drink a gallon a day moving forward, but I do hope to continue drinking as much water as I can.
• Sticking with one 45 min workout in the morning. I’m very ready to get rid of the second workout. It will be an adjustment on the first day I don’t complete it and not feeling like I ‘failed’ in some capacity. But for sustainability alone, I can’t keep up two workouts a day. However, I do hope to continue the 45 minutes in the morning. I think it’s a good practice to get into and then I don’t have to worry about it the rest of the day.
• Reading before bed. This is something I always try to implement but can be so challenging when TikTok is at my disposal. However, I do hope to continue this in some fashion.
• My biggest goal is to not just revert to my daily routine prior to starting this challenge. My hope is that tomorrow I won’t just sit on my couch all day dehydrated, but will instead implement at least pieces of the habits I’ve built over the last few weeks. I’m worried that I’ll feel like I let myself down on the first day I don’t complete every aspect of the challenge, but now there are no rules. Whatever I accomplish is a win, and that has been true for the last 88 days, too. I can do hard things

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve read a lot, congratulations! I share this not only to share in this huge accomplishment of mine, but to also show that anything is possible. I proved to myself that I can do hard things, but you, too, can do hard things. It doesn’t need to be the 75 hard challenge and your hard thing will be different from someone else’s, but regardless I know you can do it. Start with day 1 and before you know it it will be day 88 and you won’t know what do about day 89.

Progress Photos:

I hesitated posting my progress photos because I didn’t feel like they showed much progress. But looking at them now, I think, even if it’s minimal, there is absolutely progress. Progress that can be seen in these photos, and progress that I’m only just beginning to uncover. The photo in the jumpsuit I came across as I was looking for a main cover photo for this post and it is the first time during this entire process I’ve allowed myself to truly see how far I’ve come since Day 1.