Let’s talk 75 hard. It started back around 2019 and I feel like it blew up around COVID and everywhere you look you see #75hard! My friend, LeeAnne Hayden, is one of the few people I know who have gone through the 75 days and I wanted to have this open conversation with her! I wanted to talk to someone who has been there, and I know I can have this open conversation with her because we have known each other for SO LONG! She’ll give me the straight poop of it!
Not only is LeeAnne a good friend, but she also is a wife, a mom, a grandmother, a Former Fitness Competitor turned Cancer Survivor, an Ostomy Advocate, and the Host of The Beautiful Bag Podcast. She is also a Holistic Nutritionist and giving us the rundown on 75 Hard!
What is 75 Hard?
Was created by Andy Frisella, who owns a supplement line. He created this because he started to do things to get himself in better shape, head right, etc and wanted to be healthier. So he started to do these specific things and it developed into the whole program that it is now. So what needs to be done every day for 75 days is, 2 – 45 minute workouts a day, 1 has to be outside and they need to be 3 hours apart. You have to drink a gallon of water a day. You follow a diet of your choosing. Read 10 pages in a self-help book of your choosing. Take progress pictures daily. There are no cheat meals and no alcohol. And if you miss 1 of these things in a day, you have to go back to square 1 and start at day 1. (This is also a free program.)
What got me started with it.
I woke up one day and just said, “I am doing it! I have to rein my shit in, take some control.” I was already working out almost an hour and 15 minutes a day, so what was 15-20 minutes longer? I needed to stop drinking, I needed to clean up my diet and I needed to start drinking more water. I also wanted to drop weight too. The first time, I did it for 75 days, dropped 18 pounds, and I felt amazing! With those goals in mind, I wanted to do this!
What appealed to you about this? What spoke to you that said you should do this?
When I actually looked at the “rules” it wasn’t really what the rule is. It wasn’t this INTENSE thing that people said online. I was already doing most of these things on the list. But I wanted structure around this. Your 2 workouts could be 2 – 45 minute walks a day. It’s totally up to you! The hardest thing for me was to take the stupid pictures every day! This really does hold you accountable for the things you want to accomplish in your life, the health and good things. It holds you accountable for those things.
The person I became at the end of it, I was like look at what I accomplished! I felt good and healthy. I then took 30 days off and I started Phase 1. Phase 1 is 30 days of what we just did, but you are adding in a cold shower, functional tasks and something else but I can’t remember but it wasn’t that hard! The cold shower thing felt so hard to me and I wanted to quit those cold showers so bad! I finished that phase and then I was done after that. (But I recently started it again.)
The one sad thing about 75 Hard is when you look at it, all you see is a before and after and they always look in better shape of course! That’s the part that is the shame, because the things that happen during the process is way more than a physical change. For me it was a whole mental change as well! I was accomplished, I was proud of myself!
The same thing goes for most diets, people only look at the before and after and they don’t look at the identity shift as the result of any diet.
It doesn’t have to be as hard as you think it needs to be. There is so much flexibility as to what you are doing each day. Are you walking twice, 45 minutes each? Are you doing yoga and then walking? Are you cutting out just sugar as your diet changes? It doesn’t have to be so hard that you can’t sit down the next day. It makes you really take the time to see how it fits into your life and into your schedule. It helps you get structured and disciplined. And if you can take this and do this, you can put it into other areas of your life. You can apply this structure to other places!
The food part can be the hardest part too because some of us, our lives revolve around food. I learned through 75 hard that I cannot be a hermit and sit in my house and not go out to dinner. I CAN go out to dinner now and not have to have a drink. I can have tea or a mocktail! There are things you can have. I also learned that I didn’t need to have alcohol to socialize or enjoy myself with friends and family.
This is the time of year where people want to start something and this is why I wanted to talk to you about this. You are one of the only people I know that finished this! You got to 75 and you learned a lot of lessons and 80% of the stuff you are doing stuck with you!
What are the habits you would love to have stick, VS after day 75 I am done and never have to do this shit again?
What I found and learned was that I love to walk every day! I love the fresh air! I have walked almost every day for 45 minutes. Every day even on vacation I go on a 45 minute walk. I still work out 5-6 days a week, yoga, lifting, etc. I also love reading and I found that passion I had for it again! So many things I continued to follow afterwards. Did I let a few things go? YES! I’ve had weddings and trips and traveling. But it’s the structure of the things I found that I loved more than anything and I continued it!
The person I was becoming going through this journey has really propelled me to say I want to do this again. I want to do this again for myself. It’s not to look good in a bathing suit anymore!! It’s about BEING HEALTHY! It’s about having more energy! It’s about having more vibrancy! It’s about helping the aging process!
We need to learn to put ourselves first. Put our health first! As women we really need to learn to do that. We think if we put ourselves first we are selfish. You can’t give from an empty cup, you have to fill yours first. Working out, meditating, reading, this is all filling your cup! Fill your things so you can give to others 100% of the time when they need you!
When you reach Day 76… do you think you will try to do phase 2? Or look at what you did over the last 75 days and what are the pieces that you really love and move the dial for you?
I know this time, I am going to Greece for a week during the 75 days. But I am going to enjoy myself on this vacation and still try to do everything while I am there! But if I decide to say, “oh I did 60 out of the 75 and I am in Greece, I won’t be failing. I am okay and happy with myself. But I want to challenge myself to do this and still enjoy my vacation! By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, I am done with the first 2 phases and then I HAVE to take 30 days off between 2 and 3. That is when I am supposed to learn for myself and be consistent with it. I am going to try and push and do the next 2 phases… try it and see! My first goal now is to just get these first 75 days done!
We are given one life.. And being a cancer survivor, living in an ostomy and talking to the people I talk to all the time… and the struggles they go through on a daily basis. I don’t want anyone to go through cancer to have to take life by the balls and run with it. But at some point we are going to die.. Life is short! SO WE HAVE TO get the most out of this lifetime… To get every single thing you can suck off of this life.. What are you going to do to do that? I want to live my life this way and that is why I put everything on the table.. I want to grow as much as I can as a person.
Take care of yourself now… I am 52 and I am more than halfway done with this life. What more is out there that I want to do and accomplish and how healthy do I want to be to get to that point? I want to be that 100 year old great great grandmother! Take care of yourself now, 1 day at a time!!
What is one thing you can do for 75 days? Is it getting your ass to bed on time? Is it something you can eat? Is it cutting the shit out or 75 days? Can we scale back on the alcohol for 75 days? Could you go for that walk? And out of those things you do for 75 hard.. How many are you already doing today? Look at your season of life too. If I am in that busy season and all of the things are a bit too much.. Pick one thing and say I am going to insert this in and get it done.
I wanted to blow open the lid on 75 Hard and give you options! You can try it of course, But don’t have it make you feel like shit! If you missed 1 page on the reading.. What is that? It’s one page?? It’s ok! Just keep going! Learn from how you tripped up!
What is one thing that makes you feel magical?
A good night’s sleep!!!! LOL! That is the first thing that came to my mind!! It makes me feel sooo goood!! I always feel amazing when I get a good night’s sleep, that is the magic button for me!
If you’re over 35 and curious about your menopausal status, I’ve got a handy checklist of symptoms to help clue you in. So grab this menopause tracker and take back the reins! https://kimbarnesjefferson.lpages.co/menopause-checklist/
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