75 Hard: Week 1 Recap

Vanity has never been a good motivator for me to 'get in shape' or eat healthier, but I recently saw two friends doing 75 Hard, and one them mentioned the discipline and mental toughness she was experiencing.

That piqued my curiosity. So I reached out to her and she sent me the podcast episode explaining what exactly 75 Hard is. 

Before I tell you why I decided to do it, I'll tell you what's required: 

For 75 days:

• read 10 pages of a self-improvement book
• work out twice a day for 45 minutes each (1 has to be outdoor)
• drink 1 gallon of water per day
• pick a diet and stick to it
• take a progress pic
• if you miss anything, start over from Day 1

That sounded great, but I needed more than just "I'm gonna feel better". 

So I listened to another podcast episode of a girl who had recently finished it. I was looking for something that was gonna make me go all in.

One of things that got me was when the girl talked about how she now has zero tolerance for people's excuses.

That was what I needed. 

 The fact that she pushed herself through her own excuses enough times that she could no longer tolerate the excuses of others, tells me she's mentally different.

I want to push myself past my own excuses. So I jumped.

The prep:

Before I fully mentally committed, I had to ask some important questions that were making me hesitate...

After that was cleared up, I committed.

I didn't tell anyone. I just printed a 75 Hard weekly checklist that I found online and I started. As of today, the girl I messaged doesn't even know I'm doing it.

Why I did it:

Along with the discipline I mentioned above, the other thing I needed to get a handle on was my sugar intake. Like I said, vanity's not a good motivator for me, so even if I know the visual impact that sugar is having on my body, I'm of the mind that I only live once. 

How it's going:

10 pages per day of a self-development book. I already read a lot of self-development books (I don't read novels), so this is a good way for me to work through my stack.

2 workouts per day. The great thing here is that I already work out outdoors 5 times a week with Camp Gladiator (if you sign up using my email or phone number, it'll help me reach the next level 🙃 let me know if you want my email).

For my second workout, I've found some great YouTube channels. I've gone walking. I've listened to podcasts while I move my body in one place. We also have a Total Gym that I've used a couple of times.

Gallon of water. I thought this was going to be tougher than it is. The fact that you're working out twice a day makes it easy to drink more water. I'm using my 20 oz Ello water bottle that I got from Target and I drink 4-5 of those a day depending on how much I drink at my workouts. I've been keeping tally on a post-it note so I don't lose track.

Stick to a diet. I've never done a diet. I'm not a fan of diets where you follow someone's plan for a certain duration of time. I'm a fan of clean eating - for life. All of our bodies are different, and since I know what 'clean eating' is, that's what I decided to do. I'm not eating processed foods, refined sugars, and I even stopped drinking coffee (!!!) because the way I make it, it's loaded with sugar. This is what I want to maintain, so this is what I'm requiring of myself for 75 Hard.

Progress pic. I've been doing it. It's been one week and I haven't seen any noticeable changes. I did weigh myself when I started, just to see, but I don't have a number goal, and I don't use that as a tool for progress.

I will say that my husband just brought home a rice krispie treat and a beautiful, fluffy chocolate chip thing that I've never had, but since my mind knows we're not doing that, I'm not tempted or even bummed.

That's my 75 Hard experience for the first seven days! Holler if you have questions about it, and I'm happy to send you the podcast episodes I mentioned.

Enjoy your day!
Venus Monique