Tomorrow marks the start of my 75 balanced challenge and my way to reset myself physically and mentally going into 2022. I've decided that this year, I am going to own my mind and body and not let them and my chronic illnesses control me! The 75 hard challenge was the first thing I found on TikTok that inspired me to reset myself and my life but with working full time on 13hr shifts, certain parts were unachievable and I was just setting myself up to fail so when I came across the 75 balanced challenge by Madison Hildreth, it was like all the pages alined and everything she's included in her version was exactly wanted I wanted to do and achieve during the 75 days.
For me, I want this challenge to bring me changes to my habits rather than make huge changes in my life. I really want it to help me create more sustainable habits that I can keep up long-term and give myself some self-care and love. So if you haven't heard of the 75 hard challenge, it's a physical and mental challenge created in 2019 that lasts over 75 days where you follow a strict set of rules as a way to change your life for the better. The 75 hard challenge became so popular on TikTok and consists of two 45 minute workouts, 4L of water, read 10 pages, take a cold shower, follow a diet, and take a progress picture everyday.
For me that's just completely unachievable because of my work schedule and I'm just basically setting myself up to fail. However after seeing all these videos on TikTok/Instagram reels I kept coming back again and again to the challenge so I went on the hunt for a version that would be easier for me to fit into my schedule and still allow me to achieve my goals which led me to the 75 balanced challenge by Madison Hildreth.
The 75 Balanced Challenge -
- At least one 45-minute workout
- 10K steps every day
- 30 minutes of personal development (book or podcast)
- 1 hour of productivity every day (no phone)
- Drink at least 2L water every day
- Follow a healthy 'diet'
- Drink only on social occasions
- Do one thing every day that makes me happy
While this challenge doesn't stipulate regular progress pictures or weight check in's, I think I'm going to be doing a check in once every 30 days so I can see how things are progressing. I try not to get too hung up on numbers because it puts me into old habits that were really harmful to my health, I want the focus to be on how I feel as I progress through the challenge. I will be following a healthy 80/20 way of eating that I've worked out with my PT because we're focusing more on healing my relationship with food and tuning back into my body's cues.
Because I'm looking at this challenge as a lifestyle reset, it's left me so motivated and excited to start today. It's not technically in the challenge but I want to add in some key extras to try and improve my sleep and help minimise fibromyalgia flare ups by having a consistent wake up time which I planning for up by 7am, in bed for 10pm and no phone for at least an hour before bed. Would you guys like to see a before and after check in or check in's every 30 days?
Have you tried any challenges like this?
Speak to you next time!
