#75Hard

Thoughts on 75 really hard days.  When reading through the 6 tasks, it really didn’t seem tough or should I say, it seemed “doable” For a review, here they are:

1) Follow a diet. This is left up to you. You’re allowed to pick any diet of your choice as long as it’s designed for physical improvement.

2) Work out twice a day for at least 45 minutes each time. One of these workouts MUST be an outdoor session,

3) No alcohol or cheat meals.

4) Drink one gallon of water.

5) Read 10 pages of a book. (Audiobooks do not count)

6) Take progress photos every day.

Accomplishments:

I know people love to see “Before and After” Pictures..Read through to the end. 

The tasks that I thought would be difficult were easy and those that I thought were easy, became difficult.   All, were monotonous.  But as Andy Frisella (founder of 1^st PHORM and developer of this program) said, “Grit is a series of monotonous behavior repeated over and over and over”

Thoughts during 1^st days: 

• I was ready and since 1 workout had to be outdoors, I was all up for an outdoor workout in rain, sleet or snow…Bring it!
• My 2^nd workout was a usually a boot camp, yoga, or Pilates workout and every once in a while I would do a second walk outdoors.
• I think I may throw up drinking the gallon of water
• I will go about this like I trained for the ½ marathon or MS 150. It’s not about weight loss when you train, it’s about the goal.

Meal Plan

• Gluten Free- Due to my autoimmune disease (Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis) I would stick to a Gluten free meal plan (I’m not always diligent on that) but since #75Hard leaves the diet up to the individual I set the plan from the beginning. 
• Cycling carbs (some days, none, low and high – Not stringent), Eat Breakfast, Lunch, Mandatory snack at 3pm (small meal), dinner at 6pm and nothing after.  
• 12 -13 hours between dinner and breakfast. So if on rare occasions my dinner was after 6pm, I would eat a bit later in the morning. 
• No fried foods or added sugar but I wouldn’t decrease good fats and I would add them to anything. (Olive Oil, Butter made with olive oil etc. )
• Weight loss was not my priority, only healthy eating to decrease the inflammation that is ever-present with Thyroiditis.

Thoughts during middle days: 

• Can I keep doing this since my birthday, mother’s day, graduation parties, and daughter’s b’day coming up?
• I don’t want to walk one more time in the rain. I will look at the forecast and avoid it.  I will plan better.
• I’m sick of reading books (this is something that I thought would be easy- it’s only 10 pages for goodness sake.
• My diet is easy and I feel great, and I haven’t once had to take Motrin or Tylenol (gluten free)
• Water is now easy, especially since it’s super-hot outside

Thoughts during last part:

• I’m ready for this to be over but I feel great and can’t believe I am doing this. I can’t stop now.
• I think I can even do Phase 1 , 2 and 3 after this is done.
• I now have tendonitis in my foot, but I will not stop, have gone too far
• How will I detail my thoughts to my clients

End of Program Thoughts:

As a fitness instructor, I really do not like before and after pictures.  “After pictures” do not tell a story.  A story of how strong, agile, or flexible you are.   You can be “thin” and have none of these and actually feel pretty bad physically. Also, it would totally go against my motto which is:

“I hope that what you can do with your body will far outweigh what you think it should look like”

If this was just about weight loss, I could have gone on a juice cleanse and been done after a couple of weeks. This was a mental toughness challenge.  Anyone can do this if they put their Mind to it. 

Off to phase 1, 2 and 3 but not before a break and vacation…oh yeah, and I saved my B’day cake, in the freezer (May 14^th), I will now have a bite!

Thoughts from my supportive and loving husband:

• Husband left at party because I had to go home and walk
• Dinner on the blue-hair schedule (husband’s words)
• Get home early and leave early from wherever we are so that I can do my final workout
• Husband participating in some of my walks now and doesn’t like it, but did it because he was supporting me. 

Deborah Lea