75 Hard Challenge; Week One Review

The first three days of any habit, routine, or lifestyle change is the most difficult.

Once the motivation and excitement wears off from wanting to change your life, reality sets in on how difficult it will be.

I am surprised that this wasn’t the case for myself when I endured this challenge. I think I was ready for a health change. I was ready for a new way to grow my mindset. I wanted to accept this challenge and all that comes with it.

I had built it up to be this most powerful journey, only the elite endure and accomplish. However, once I started doing it, I realized that my current life was not that much far off from it. Paired with the fact that I was open and ready to face difficulty, made me get over those first few days quite easily.

The rules of the 75 Hard Challenge are as follows:

1. Must pick and stick with a diet

   1. No alcohol

   2. No cheat meals

2. Exercise twice a day for at least 45 minutes each

   1. One must be outside

3. Take a progress photo everyday

4. Drink 1 gallon of water everyday

5. Read 10 pages of a book

This is how I structured my guideline:

1. Keto (I initially picked Paleo but quickly realized I personally was going to lack too much protein and iron.)

2. Due to my food allergy, we rarely eat out as is. Our cheat meals are always pizza Fridays, so we gave up pizza.

3. Our daily family walk outside has quickly become my favorite part of the day. We strap the boys into the double stroller and walk around the neighborhood or go to the local park. We did this occasionally already, but now we are committed to that extra time as a family.

4. Progress photos is the mentally tough one. I may feel more energetic and in a good place physically, but then looking at myself in the mirror or the photos I take, quickly brings me down. I have to remind myself that progress doesn’t happen overnight- especially in the first week!

5. I am already so big on drinking tons of water, so I wasn’t too worried about this one. However I definitely needed to almost double my intake. I have to be consciously aware to be at the halfway mark around noon in order to accomplish this goal (and not pee all night long.)

6. If you know me, I am a huge reader. I typically wake up every morning and read for twenty minutes or so (depending on if the boys wake-up early or not.) I didn’t want to cheat myself out of this assignment, so I added an additional reading time at the end of the day. I have thoroughly enjoyed this!

75 Hard Challenge is not that “hard.”

I truly worked it up in my head to be something I would tear my hair out over. And as a life coach, I felt so hypocritical for not wanting to do it.

I am not sure what has clicked, or changed in me, but I am on a mission in 2025 to do as many challenging things as I can. I want to make this year the most growth I have had in a long time.

Maybe it stems from the fact the last year I had a newborn and balancing becoming a mom of two. I didn’t have a lot of goals other than figuring out my new normal. Which is of course what I wanted\needed, but now that I am out of that season of life, I am ready to jump back into growth.

It feels like it has been a long time since I have leveled up. I am excited to share my journey with you this year.