Have you heard about this challenge? 75 Hard—you take 75 days and follow a few rules each day for self-improvement. Let me tell you something—they got the name right.
The rules:
- Follow a diet (no alcohol and no cheat days).
- Drink 1 gallon of water (for those of us not in the U.S.—3.78541L).
- Two 45-minute workouts, one of which must be outdoors.
- Read 10 pages of a nonfiction book.
- Take a progress picture.
You have to do this every single day for 75 days—no exceptions, no days off. If you skip even one rule for a day, you start over from day one.
Now, don’t tell Andy Frisella (the masochist who created this challenge), but I’ve taken a few liberties with the rules—I don’t always work out outside, but I still do two 45-minute workouts or one 90-minute workout. I also take progress pictures only once a week (because seriously, what progress can you even see in a day?). And yeah, I definitely read fiction every night—currently reading Happy Place by Emily Henry.
I’m on day 5, and honestly, it’s going great, not gonna lie. But I’m definitely the kind of woman who wants to see instant results the day I start a new diet.
I feel like I’ve been on a diet since I was 15. I was always a bigger girl (correction: I always saw myself as a bigger girl). But now, when I’m at my heaviest, I look back at old photos and think—“How could I have ever hated that young, pretty girl?”
I was never truly big—not until the last couple of years—but I always felt like a monster. Why?
I’ll tell you why—because, like everything else in life, when you look back, you see things so much better than they actually were. You know, like the first time you kissed a boy and it went terribly, but looking back, you’re like, “God, we were so cute.” Or the first time you went camping with your friends (I cried for most of it), but all I remember now is the warmth of the fire we made and how freezing the water was at sunrise.
So basically, what I’m saying is: life is mid, and it only seems great in hindsight. JK… or not.
But back to what I was saying—I’m on day 5, and I really want this to work. I’m at a point in my life where I’m miserable from all the self-hatred, and some days, I feel like I want to disappear just from looking in the mirror.
But what’s going to be different this time? I’ve tried a million diets, succeeded in only a few, and a month later, I was right back where I started.
But this time? I’m determined. Determined to become the best version of myself. Determined to stop being lazy. Determined to lose the weight and not gain it back.
And most importantly—I’m determined to love myself in the present, not just when looking back.
So go love your self now, and in every fucking moment, you silly gooses!
