75 HARD

It has been a hot minute since I have written anything here! Our lives have been completely chaotic. So much happening with us and with our families! December was entirely on the go, but we are thankful that January has had a slow start and are excited to start 2023 off on the right foot! 

That said, Samuel and I have decided to undertake a difficult journey - we are trying out the 75 Hard program (we've been calling it our 75 Medium since we don't ENTIRELY follow it perfectly and adapted it to work for us.) To see a more thorough explanation of 75 Hard - check out the explanation on this website, here I am just going to talk about what Samuel and I are doing to tackle it! 

To start, it is important to know that this is 75 days. We decided to start it at the beginning of the year, not as a New Years Resolution (though it could be thought of that way), but because from January 2 it was exactly 78 days until we left for our honeymoon! So we thought it would be pretty cool to finish this challenge right before we took off for our honeymoon. We are specifically focusing on exercise, diet, and reading. 

Though we are doing this challenge together, Samuel and I have each decided to create our own exercise plan to follow along for the next 75 days that would suit us best. This is how my plan looks:

•  Mondays and Fridays: 
  • Squat: 5 sets of 5 reps at 155+ pounds (this will go up as I get stronger) 
  • Bench: 5 sets of 5 reps at 85+ pounds 
  • Lat pull downs: 5 sets of 7 reps at 80+ pounds 
  • Superset (hammer curls and dumbbell curls): 3 sets of 10 reps at 7.5+ pounds 
  • 30 minute walk on the treadmill 
    • 5 minutes at a 6% incline at 2.7 mph 
    • 20 minutes at a 9% incline at 3.0 mph 
    • 5 minutes at a 13% incline at 3.0 mph
  • Take the doggos for a walk! (hopefully a 45 minute walk)
• Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays: 
  • 30 minute walk on the treadmill
    • 5 minutes at a 6% incline at 2.7 mph
    • 20 minutes at a 9% incline at 3.0 mph
    • 5 minutes at a 13% incline at 3.0 mph
  • Abs - 3 sets of 10+ reps (the reps go up weekly) 
    • Reverse crunches 
    • Leg ups 
    • Toe touches 
    • Roll ups 
    • Plank twists 
  • Take the doggos for a walk! (hopefully a 45 minute walk)
• Wednesdays: 
  • Squat: 5 sets of 5 reps at 155+ pounds 
  • Deadlift: 3 sets of 5 reps at 155+ pounds 
  • Overhead press: 5 sets of 5 reps with 20+ pound dumbbells
  • 30 minute walk on the treadmill
    • 5 minutes at a 6% incline at 2.7 mph
    • 20 minutes at a 9% incline at 3.0 mph
    • 5 minutes at a 13% incline at 3.0 mph
  • Take the doggos for a walk! (hopefully a 45 minute walk)

So far, the exercise portion of this challenge has been my favorite part! We get up around 5:30 to head to the gym and it has just been an incredible way to start my day. 

Similar to exercise, Samuel and I have each decided to do our own thing for diet! Especially considering, he's a dude and I'm female - so he needs to eat more than me. Neither of us are following a specific "diet," for example we aren't doing Keto or cutting out gluten (we have tried that in the past, but we love bread too much to commit!) Instead, we are just counting calories. I am allowed 1500 calories a day. MyFitnessPal has been a lifesaver and made tracking our calories so much easier!

In the past when I have counted calories, I would typically skip breakfast so that I could have a bigger lunch and dinner. I am doing it different this time. Instead, I am focusing on having a bigger breakfast and dinner with a smaller lunch, and let me tell you - I feel loads better doing it this way! Samuel has created an avocado toast recipe that makes all other avocado toast taste bland - he's even taught me how to actually like eggs (which is quite the feat.)

We are also supposed to be drinking a gallon of water a day, Samuel is CRUSHING that challenge, me...not so much. 

For our reading, we are supposed to pick a self-development book and read at least ten pages a day. Samuel is reading the book Good too Great by Jim Collins, while I am reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. So far I am LOVING Atomic Habits. I am only 70 pages in (I got it late so I was reading the nonfiction book The Children of Ash and Elm A History of the Vikings by Neil Price) and I have already learned so much about both good and bad habits. I am so excited to continue reading this book and learning how to tackle negative habits and how to strengthen and create positive habits!

We are also continuing to read our Bibles. I read the whole Bible from Genesis-Revelations last year, so this year I decided to challenge myself and read it in chronological order with a close friend!  

Today is day 12 for us, and we have been doing a pretty good job following through. I took on the added challenge of journaling everything everyday! How I feel, what I ate, what my exercise was, what I took away from my reading of the day. I just thought that it would be a great habit to start and something I can look back on in the future.

For now we are going to keep chugging along and I can't wait to see how it changes my body and how my confidence is changed at the end!