Thoughts, Insights, and Takeaways

On January 3, 2022, my husband and I took on the 75Hard Challenge for the first time, and it’s too soon to tell if it will be the last.

If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a program founded by author and entrepreneur, Andy Frisella, who happens to be a native Missourian! The challenge includes the following six requirements with no cheats or exceptions: Two 45 minute workouts, and one of the workouts must be outdoors; reading 10 pages of nonfiction each day, drinking 1 gallon of water, following a diet/nutrition program, no cheat meals, no alcohol, and you must take a progress photo each day.

The first 2 1/2 – 3 weeks were really hard to adjust to the new changes in our schedules, not to mention giving up comfort foods, and tracking everything. After three weeks, some of the changes start to feel good, like eating healthy without any compromises, being hydrated, healthy flow of endorphins from consistent exercise, sleeping better (my husband legitimately stopped snoring for the first time since I’ve known him!), less time scrolling my phone because I need to read 10 pages each day, etc.

However, the name is 75Hard because there were plenty of days when one or both of us wanted to give in and skip a workout or eat takeout pizza, or even have a drink. Taking on this type of challenge during a very busy season of life was not wise, and I will caution anyone else who has a teenager and two other school aged children, plus two parents with Alzheimer’s, and full-time jobs, to reconsider taking the challenge in a less busy season. It is supposed to be hard and push you to a level of mental toughness you’re not accustomed to, which it did do, and we are both thankful we were able to push through the hard days. But, there were times when it felt like insanity for my husband to worry about a second 45 minute workout after working all day, going to take care of his parents, and taking our son to baseball or basketball practice. Especially when he hadn’t eaten and it would mean a very late bed time and not enough sleep to rest/recover. He did it anyway, and there were times he was ready to quit and I stopped trying to talk him out of it; yet he pulled himself out of his funk and got it done.

We both lost a combined weight of 35 pounds (naturally Eddie lost more than I). We really enjoyed the times our workouts aligned and we had time to talk/catch-up while walking outside….even in below freezing temperatures with snow, sleet, ice, etc. Wearing appropriate gear makes all the difference: snow boots, snow pants/coveralls, heavy gloves, face masks, stocking caps, and good base layers. With the right gear the 45 minute outdoor workout was not as miserable as it sounds.

One takeaway we both agree on is that the program was a bit too consuming, mentally and physically. We both chose programs that required food logging, adding that to the daily grind of the other requirements, it felt like any free moment of time was spent on 75Hard. And when it’s 75 consecutive days, that can definitely wear on you. If I do the program again, I would likely choose an eating plan that doesn’t require logging, and I would try to get away from so much digital/phone reliance.

There are additional phases we may consider later this year, but for now we are relieved we can both resume a more normal schedule. We want to maintain as many gains as we can though. I will definitely drink more water than I ever did before this program. We both want to maintain our strength and endurance from the exercise, but it will most likely not entail 90 minutes every single day. I started a social media fast after the 75Hard was complete so that I can get back to some of my healthy output rhythms, like writing / blogging! I also plan to start running again on a regular basis now that this challenge has ended and the weather is becoming more favorable (hard to run in snow boots and coveralls). I’m also hoping my husband won’t resume snoring;)