Going into this, I took almost a whole year to make the decision. I saw a friend on my Instagram who decided to start it before their wedding. At that point, I didn't know enough about what it was and thought it was a weight loss challenge. I was going through something huge at the time and barely had it in me to get out of the house. Since then, I've realized it's a mental toughness challenge, not a weight loss challenge and once I heard about her results mental and physical, I knew I needed to do it.
An overview of this challenge, it's 75 days long, 5 tasks to complete each day and if you don't complete them all, you start over on day 1. It's a lot about personal integrity because if you miss even an ounce of water, it's up to you to stay honest with yourself and start over.
Right now, it's April 25, 2023, and a lot of my fitness friends started 75 Hard on January 2. I was so close to starting it then but the idea of doing a workout in the cold everyday was not for me. I cheered those ladies on while watching their journey and honestly, I was just so intimidated and thought that there was no way I could do it. I had another friend who also mentioned they were considering it and she helped me with the decision that I needed this challenge. I'm someone who can get stuck in a rut and stay there until I am completely miserable.
So, when we thought about when we wanted to start, we waited until the bitter cold was over and we wanted to finish before it was too hot since we'd have our kids with us for most of the outside workouts. We started on April 3rd, and we will finish on June 17th.
So, here's my thoughts so far:
I was anxious about starting this because I was worried that I couldn't drink a gallon of water per day. I'm here to say, you can. There are times when I've had to chug it, but once you have to do that a couple times, you will work harder to get it in earlier and more consistent each day.
The other thing was the outside workout each day. I am a mom of 2 kids, a 4-year-old and an almost 2-year-old. While they love to be outside, for me it had to be productive for this challenge. In order to do a productive walk, they'd have to ride in a wagon, which is fine, but halfway through, they'd be over it and that it made it hard to finish. I quickly learned that if I took enough snacks, they would spend the whole day in there.
Some days I just don't have it in me to get them out the door and into the car and out of the car and into the wagon and back in the car and out of the car and into the house, so we just go in our back yard. They play and I either walk what feels like 500 laps or do a workout on our patio.
The biggest thing I have noticed after 23 days of this challenge is that I no longer stay up until 2 am because I can't fall asleep. I can easily fall asleep by 10 and have the most restful sleep I've had in what feels like years. While I've been doing at home workouts for 3 years now with Bodi, this extra movement I'm getting is proving to be the perfect amount.
I will say that this challenge for me has increased just a bit lately because my husband is working out of town for a bit, and I no longer have the option to do my outside workout alone. I have to plan ahead because on hotter days, I have to get the kids outside earlier or in the evening, so they don't get too hot. While you may be thinking, just leave them inside, that's just not an option for me at their ages and their constant need to get into everything or annoy each other to the point of crying every five minutes.
It may sound hard and intimidating, but this is something you just have to give a shot and do your best. I can honestly say that it's not as hard as you might think.
-Valencia
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