Hello all! This Thursday, April 1st, is the official kickoff for the 75 Hard challenge that I mentioned in my previous post. If you didn’t read that, let me catch you up. This challenge is 75 days. I need to do two 45 minute workouts a day, one of which must be done outdoors. I need to drink a gallon of water a day and follow a diet with no cheat meals. I need to read 10 pages a day from a nonfiction or self-help book. The last thing is to take a progress picture every day.

Yes, I’ve officially lost my mind. But I’m also so fed up with how I’ve been yo-yoing with my health and I need structure.

From here on out, I will be doing a weekly update with my workouts and nutrition. The majority of my workouts will be coming from my Beachbody membership, so if you are already a member, feel free to join me! Or bring your own workouts and join me anyways!

Workouts for Days 1-4

Again, if you’ve seen my last blog where I started training for the 75 Hard challenge, this part will look really familiar. I had to take the last few days away from fitness because of work and I just wasn’t getting enough sleep. So I’m starting 9 Week Control Freak over…….again. I do plan to modify the rest days for this program to work around my menstrual week. I will do the two workouts still, but I won’t be doing any intense workouts during that time.

Thursday 4/1	Friday 4/2	Saturday 4/3	Sunday 4/4
9WCF Phase 1: Week 1: Workout 1: Back & Biceps	9WCF Phase 1: Week 1: Workout 2: Chest & Triceps	9WCF Phase 1: Week 1: Workout 3: Tabata Cardio	9WCF Phase 1: Week 1: Workout 4: Shoulders
Treadmill 10 minutes	Treadmill 10 minutes	Treadmill 10 minutes	Treadmill 10-20 minutes
45 minute walk	45 minute walk or basketball at local park	45 minute walk (trail/hike)	45 minute walk
Workout 1 stretches	Workout 2 stretches	Workout 3 stretches	Workout 4 stretches

The way this chart is set up, it looks like I have four separate workouts a day. It’s only going to be two with additional stretches at the end of the night. When I was going through my “training” phase, I was completely forgetting my stretches for this program because I didn’t schedule them into my day. So that’s one thing I want to change. When I do the 9WCF workouts, most are only around 30-35 mins so I have to add more time to the treadmill to make it a 45 minute workout. Once I get past my menstrual week, I might switch the treadmill out with some ab workouts. The same thing is true for the 45 minute walk. Once I get used to it and adjust my sleep schedule and balance that with work and school, I might be able to bump up to more intense workouts that can be done right outside my patio.

I also feel like it will get easier to do these evening workouts once it starts to warm up. I can’t wait for summer to get here already so that I can spend 45 minutes doing laps in the pool.

Diet

As of right now, my diet is still just trying to find balance and watching my calorie intake. My “cycle” is supposed to start sometime next week so I have to be very cautious about what I’m feeding myself. I plan on sticking as close as I can to the Fixate program through Beachbody, however, I’ve been meaning to do a little digging into their 2B Mindset. Once I figure those things out and do some grocery shopping I’ll be able to give a little more detail into what I’m eating. I think the hardest part this week is starting with Easter so close. We always have holiday dinners over at my husband’s parent’s home and there are always huge heavy meals. It’s going to take a lot of self-control to mind my portions and say no to desserts.

As I’m writing this, a few days before the challenge starts, I am having a final Smirnoff Seltzer. I am looking forward to practicing my mocktails and creating some tasty summery drinks that have that same zing without the alcohol.

Drinking a Gallon a Day

During my “training”, I did not have an issue reaching my goal of 128 oz. of water. I always pack these little containers in my bag with BCAA’s and flavored water packets. This will probably be the easiest thing for me to take control of next to the reading challenge.

Read 10 Pages a Day

I started Andy Frisella’s book, 75 Hard: A Tactical Guide to Winning the War With Yourself, a sort of companion book to this whole challenge. I didn’t get far, but what I did read I was really enjoying. So I will pick up reading this book later this week.

Progress Pictures

If you aren’t already, be sure to follow me on Instagram as I’ll be posting my daily progress there through my feed and on my stories. I am going to wait until Thursday to get better progress measurements and my current weight. I fully expect my weight to be slightly higher as I tend to hold water weight the closer I get to my period.

Let’s Get It!

I am super excited for this challenge, especially as I am now seeing this everywhere and people of all fitness levels are trying it. My biggest struggle throughout all of this will be my time management from day to day. Do I expect to fail? No. I expect that I may have to start over multiple times but eventually I will make it through to the finish line. April is going to be a crazy month for me as I have school yet and work and Camp NaNoWriMo starts Thursday as well. I also fully intend to continue reading 50 pages a day of fiction books. I recently reread childhood favorites such as the first Harry Potter book and Twilight. I still haven’t decided on my April TBR but hopefully that will be posted soon.

Thank you all so much for your continuous support and until next time…………..