Your Dream Wedding Body in 75 Days

I lost 10 lb.’s doing Andy Frisella’s 75 Hard

I know post-engagement everyone’s mind immediately gos to “what program will I get on?” “What have other people done?” “What even works?”

Now I can’t tell you what will work for you and your body type, what I can tell you is something I completed recently that I loved. My goal was to lose 10 lbs. and build sustainable habits for the new year, and that is what I did.

If you haven’t heard of 75 hard, it’s a mental toughness challenge “How To Take Complete Control of Your Life in Only 75 Days” that Andy Frisella created.

I’ll give a brief summary of what it is in case you haven’t heard of this one.

In 75 hard, for 75 days you complete a list of items:

1.     Follow a diet and stick to it & no alcohol

2.     Drink 1 gallon of water

3.     Do two, 45-minute workouts, one has to be outdoors (no matter the weather condition)

4.     Take a progress picture

5.     Read 10 pages in a business/self-help book

And if you don’t do one and mess up one day, then you have to start back at day 1, regardless of if you were on day 70 or not. Tough, I know.

This time last year my boyfriend and our friend started doing 75 hard. They actually just completed a year of it: 75 hard, phase 1, 2, and 3- which is a crazy huge accomplishment. I had never heard of it and was shocked because I thought it was kind of extreme. I thought it was only for tough guys. It wasn’t until a few months later when I wanted to see some pretty big shifts in my life that I ever considered doing this.

75 hard was my new year’s resolution because I wanted to learn discipline and implement a better, healthier, everyday routine. So, I did it and I would recommend it to anyone. It wasn’t just about the weight loss in this for me, but it was also about setting a goal and sticking to it for ME. I showed up every day for myself and that almost feels better than losing 10 lb.’s.

Diet and alcohol

The cool thing is you get to pick any diet you want so you can do it alongside keto, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, low carb, or whatever you are interested in.  Or whatever you already practice, that will just make for easier implementation. Personally, I did no added sugars more than 1 gram, and whole foods for meals (vegetables, meats, carbs fats and I cooked everything myself doing meal prep). The meal prep containers I used were glass, microwave safe, easy to clean, and a great size to make it easier to portion. A normal day for me looked like a banana with peanut butter for breakfast or gluten free oatmeal with almond butter and berries, protein bar for a snack, meal prep for lunch (usually stir fry) and meal prepped dinner (chicken, sweet potato, and veggies).

The no alcohol was easy 90% of the time for me because I don’t drink often, just a glass of wine here and there—you definitely miss some fun and have FOMO, but the no alcohol felt really good, especially after the holidays when I did it. If your diet allows it, you can always order mock-tails! I chose not to because of the sugars. You’re going to be so tired from doing all of the challenge, that most nights you won’t want to go out for long. It’s a funny feeling, I’d say I’ve never felt more energized and exhausted all in one, but also extremely fulfilled and accomplished.  

Overall when it comes to the diet and alcohol portion I developed a really healthy relationship with food from this. I never realized how much I let myself get out of contort. I mean, I had no control haha. Before 75 hard there was a lot more late-night snacking and binges. Now I know how to fuel my body and I have learned the affects of sugar. I was a major sugar addict before and now I have learned how sugar actually makes my body feel. Going on a strict diet and sticking to it for 75 days opened my eyes to my relationship with food and just made me more intentional with how I fueled my body. How I eat now and in the future is forever impacted fo the better.

Water

The gallon of water… whew... this was a big adjustment for me. I was probably drinking a half gallon of water a day before the challenge so doubling my intake was a difficult to say the least. However, it 100% helped clear up my skin and helped to energize me. Now, I drink almost a gallon of water every day because of what a large difference it made in my life. The first thing I did when I decided to do this was actually purchase a cute water bottle so I would take it everywhere and remember to keep drinking. I recommend drinking room temperature water if it is hard to drink a lot, I found cold water was harder to drink. You can also add lemon or lime to give it some flavor as you’re adjusting. I was pretty strict on myself about drinking the water because I didn’t want to end the day just chugging. I would drink one water bottle (32 oz) by 10am, 1pm, 5pm, and bedtime. This helped keep me in check and on track. Did I constantly go to the bathroom? Yes. Does that get better? Not really.

So completely worth it though.

Workout

For workouts outside I did a 45 min walk every day. It was probably my favorite part of my day. I did it first thing every morning at 5:45am. On days I needed to sleep in I would do it in the evening. Because working out every day is a lot on your body and there will be days when you are physically so sore. I would walk an hour and a half as a rest day or do hot yoga as the second workout. Days I do the long walk it is usually 5.25 miles. It is really interesting to see walking burn a ton of calories- I just never knew walking could be so good for me! I like walking because it burns fat and makes you lean. Hot yoga was great for making me feel empowered, strong, and relaxed all in one, while also burning a lot of calories.

On normal workout and walk days where I really went all in, I would use my ankle weights, and resistance bands to target certain areas I was working that specific day. These workouts I did in the comfort of my home, and sometimes the gym. Feel free to do whatever workouts you like; this is just worked for me.

I will warn you that around day 40 you might feel in a plateau of motivation. There isn’t that excitement fresh when you started it, and it can feel like you’ll never finish. But I’d encourage you to keep this in mind if starting it and try and do some workouts with the significant other or friends! Accountability is everything in this. My friend and I actually did this together and I don’t know if either of us could have done it alone because support is SO necessary in this! And just having someone to do a workout with here and there makes it more fun!

Another thing to note about the workouts is the outdoor element. I did this in the winter in Georgia so it was what I would consider ~ extra ~ difficult. I would go for walks some mornings in 30-degree weather. I would go for walks in the pouring rain. You’re probably thinking “Hope, why on earth would anyone want to do this?” I thought that to myself some days but remember this is ultimately a mental toughness challenge. And enduring the weather definitely gets you there. My advice on this is to plan!! Look at the weather when you go to bed and first thing in the morning. Get the outside workout done when it makes sense..

Progress picture

The progress picture is a cool addition to the list, personally I have never taken progress pictures before but when it came to this, I was so glad it was a part of the program so I had documentation of the results. My progress picture is shown at the top of the post. I recommend standing in the same position every time, so you are able to clearly see the muscles change and the fat loss. I wore leggings in mine because it was winter in Atlanta but if I did it again, I would wear a bathing suit to truly see everything change!

Read 10 pages

Find a way to implement this into a routine. If you like slowly waking up in the mornings, maybe you’re a morning reader! But if you like winding down and falling asleep without screen time, this might be for you at night. I always say try and knock as much as you can out in the morning in case something fun comes up at night last minute. This practice definitely teaches you about sacrifice and non-negotiable’s in your life. The 10 pages to me was fun because I read a lot in college but hadn’t much since graduating. Because the book is supposed to be some kind of self-help, business, bettering your life type book, you could consider making yours wedding related!

I have seen these recommended time and time and time again: “The Meaning of Marriage,” The 5 Love Languages,” or “For Couples Only.”

Other things to know

I can’t even put into words how good it feels to complete this program. I learned great habits, discipline, follow through and how to show up for myself.

I can’t tell you if this is right for you or not, all I can do is explain what worked for me and how I enjoyed it. If the program doesn’t sound right for you, maybe consider taking a piece here and there and trying to implement it into what you are doing. Start with the water maybe, not fun but I think it makes a giant impact!

Remember, it’s only 75 days! That is not long at all in the grand scheme of things. To help power through the days, you can also plan something fun on day 76 when you are officially off of it- maybe this is the bachelorette, or a bridal shower, etc. For me, it was brunch with my friends- I absolutely love brunch.

To learn the full details of the program you can read up here.

You’ve got this, and you are capable of this if you want to do it. I support you!

Let me know if you’re going for it, I would love to send you encouragement.