#75Hard: The Halfway Point

It’s official – I have reached the halfway point of 75 Hard! If you want to be super pedantic, it works out to something like 38.5 days. Which means technically I still have half a day to go to make it to the true halfway point. But since we don’t count in half days, I am going to declare this is halfway and there is nothing you can do to stop me!

Now originally, I was going to break this up into thirds and do a review every 25 days. Because that’s a lot neater than 38 days, you have to admit. But, as we’ll soon discover, all your spare moments become accounted for. Anyways, I promised everyone (well whoever follows me on Instagram) that I’ll be doing a stat breakdown, so this is what you get. And if you need a refresher of what the heck 75 Hard is, then you’re welcome.

Most people start 75 Hard to lose weight. For them, the other rules are just there to assist in this endeavor. But the main goal remains to shrink the spare tire, look and feel good, and maybe kickstart a fitness habit. We all know it’s slightly more than that, but as weight is the main metric one can measure, there will be a wealth of stats around that topic… However, I’ll try cover everything I need to do for this program.

The Exercise

First up – my activity for February.
In total, I did almost 49 hours of exercise, burned over 18,000,000 calories (yes, that’s technically 18 million) and walked over 91 km in 29 days! Thats pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. If you don’t believe me, here is what my fitness tracker says. Now the Apple Watch has been known to underestimate these values as well, but close to 100% is better than close to 0%.

I’ve used an app called Gentler Streak for almost all my workouts, as I really like its metrics. It does things the in-built Apple Watch fitness app can’t do, and it breaks it all down into these really friendly, bite sized nuggets. It’s also supposed to stop you from overtraining, or being too hard on yourself.

I must say, when I started off February with a bang, the app was not at all happy with me. I was constantly overreaching and told to slow down by the app. But have no fear, no app shall dictate what I do or not do! I pushed on, and it soon caught up with my new level of activity. Now it’s constantly telling me I am not pushing hard enough! Seems like there’s just no pleasing you, Mr. Powers…

The Weight

Now, the graphs!
I am lucky enough to have a smart scale that does all these things for me, so I just stand on it every morning, with my eyes half closed and off it goes to work. I started February at about 71 kgs. As I am not the tallest man in the world, an extra kg here and there really does show up… In five or so weeks, I have just touched 66 kg! (Minor update as this is being posted on day 40 now: I am down to 65.7!)

Now that I have hit 66 kg, I can see it starting to plateau a bit as my body has gotten the hint and is adjusting to the new normal. This works out well, as in the beginning, I was just trying to survive gym. But around the start of March, I went from surviving my gym routine to being able to push myself – both with weights and cardio. This will help me break past the plateau and really get to my goal weight.

With all the water drinking, you can see how my body water content has increased. And speaking of the water drinking…

The Water

For some reason, this is the point where I tend to lose most 75 Hard recruits…
“Thats too much water”, “I could never drink that much” and “I have no problem with 4 litres of beer, but water??” are some of the excuses I have heard. But really! It’s not that much – about 200ml every half an hour. With the only major downside of having to go to the loo more often. Now, as an office worker – any meeting that goes longer than 45 minutes becomes torture. I’ve had to excuse myself a few times from meetings just to waddle to the loo in a hurry.

While you may think it’s a lot of water, it’s not impossible. I even find myself waking up thirsty! Can you believe it? In the beginning, there were a few times I chugged about a litre in 20 minutes, which lead to me not feeling so good. But the benefit of it being water is that it tends to pass as quickly as it enters. I think over half of the weight loss comes from just drinking so much water. In fact, it’s made me cut down on my coke intake to an average of one can a day! So if nothing else, 75 Hard is helping me break my caffine addition!

The Reading

While this may seem easy, it’s almost caught me out a few times…
I started off aiming to start and finish Sovereignty by Ryan Michler, but had to stop around the 80% mark. You see, this book is not just about reclaiming sovereignty over your life, but it also is a call to action. Which makes the last 20% or so of this book all about mental exercises you need to do. From things like “think about your life, how your choices have led to this point” to “write your own eulogy”, its made so you decide what type of man you want to be. All things you need time, space and metal capacity to complete. It will be something I get back to after I have completed 75 Hard.

The second book I am reading, and almost completed, is The Art of Manliness Manvotionals. And let me tell you, this book is not designed to be read 10 pages at time! Manvotionals is densely packed with stories, poems, essays, and quotes about differently manly virtues, and each one is created to be read and dwelt on for the rest of the day. I will be re-reading this, at its intended pace, and expect some writing to come from it as I have thoughts. On top of that, I think it will be a fantastic book to have in the house for young James as he grows and has to navigate his own manhood. I highly recommend this book, but I suggest you don’t read 10 pages all in one go!

The Progress Photos

This has been easy!
Wake up, take photo, stand on scale. I will refrain from posting my progress photos here, because I am sure you do not want to see me in my skivvies. But know this, I have noticed a vast improvement between when I started and now.

These are super helpful to look back on, but it’s also good in a different way. The photos allow you to get something ticked off straight away, and that helps keep the momentum going. “I’ve taken my photo; I may as well go to gym” you can think.

Personal Achievements

Now I get to brag a little.
Apple Watch has achievements, all related to working out, to fitness and other such healthy stuff. So of course I am going to share my most impressive ones! My longest move streak – where you hit your move goal for the day – is now sitting comfortably at 38 days. I have a perfect month and a few perfect weeks where you hit all your goals for every day of said week or month. And even a new move record or burning through over 6,000 kilojoules in just one day.

Plus, the Apple Watch badges are so pretty! And on iPhone they spin and reflect light and it’s almost as good as having a real medal.

The Learnings

After almost 40 days of this, getting into a routine, and struggling with somethings, I have come to realise a few things about this program. Basically, this section is the advice I would give to someone looking to start 75 Hard to make it 75-Hard-But-Slightly-Easier.

Weekends are a pest! They throw out your weekly routine. Try to stick to the routine during the weekends as much as possible. If you’re waking up at 5AM to get your morning gym sesh in, continue doing that. It really helps keep the momentum going. This is something I have yet to master myself. Maybe next weekend will see me at the gym at 6AM? Who knows? Certainly not me!

Make sure you’re done with your water by at least 7PM. Oh, my word, the lack of sleep you’re going to struggle through in the beginning because of constant toilet wakings! Be strategic with your water drinking. Try to get through at least half of all your water by lunchtime. This is easy if you have an early morning hard workout, as you can chug through water super quickly. There’s been a few nights I’ve finished my water at 9PM and I can tell you how much it sucks…

Don’t put off your reading for ‘later’. Later ends up being much later and you end up having to re-read those 10 pages the next day because you didn’t actually absorb anything. Take your book with you if you have a commute. Three pages before work really helps get you in the mindset to read the rest at lunch or on the commute back. And if you split up the pages, you have more time to think about what you’re read in-between. It’s a win-win!

You can still live your life! Go to movies, hang out with friends, go to that pub. But be aware that you are made painfully aware of your sacrifices and the temptations that come with them. Sure, it’s no fun to drink a glass of water while everyone around you is tucking into ribs and chips, but I am sure by starting 75 Hard, you already have your why. Having a why makes the choices super easy. Like the saying goes “Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret”. But I’ll go one further: suffer the freedom of discipline or suffer the pain of regret.

And finally, 75 Hard is not actually that hard. It’s all about scheduling. Sure, you have to give up a few things – burgers, some free time, the late nights.

But radical change requires radical change.

Until next update, my friends.