WHY 75 DAY HARD IS A HARD PASS FOR ME

If you’ve ever searched for about 75 Hard Challenge, one of the first things you'll see pop up on Google is "Why is 75 days hard bad?" 

This popular program that's come to the forefront the last few years promises rapid transformations, increased mental toughness, and life-changing results, but what it misses is how extreme approaches can be counterproductive to your long-term goals. The focus on rigidity, perfectionism, and punishing routines may offer short-term wins but lead to burnout, injury, or even regression. It can be counterintuitive to your overall well-being and can just be another attempted quick fix that keeps us stuck in the cycle of restriction, punishment, and believing that change comes only when we’re miserable and doing everything “perfectly.”

What is the 75 day hard challenge?

Created by Andy Frisella, the CEO of 1st Phorm, the challenge is framed as a “mental toughness program.” The premise is seven pillars:

1. Drink one gallon of water a day;

2. Pick a diet and stick to it, with no “cheat meals” or alcohol;

3. Workout twice a day for 45 minutes, one of which must be an outdoor workout;

4. Take a five-minute cold shower;

5. Take progress pictures every day;

6. Read 10 pages of nonfiction a day;

7. Perform a random act of kindness or talk to someone in person.

You must start over if you “fail” on any of these tasks.

What results does Andy Frisella claim are the results of this program?

According to his website, Frisella claims that completing this challenge results in:

• Career strides;

• Increased income;

• Confidence;

• Time management;

• Developing relationships;

• Gaining independence;

• Completely overhauling the way you think and act;

• Learning to be honest with yourself;

• Be in the best physical shape of your life.

You get the idea – YOUR LIFE CHANGES IN 75 DAYS.

WHAT ARE THE RED FLAGS OF THE 75 HARD CHALLENGE?

Some of the concerns that come up around the 75 Hard Challenge are not limited to: 

• A promise of your life completely changing because of 75 days without taking into account other important aspects of your lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and relationships with food and your body;

• It doesn’t seem to involve the work of nutrition professionals to help ensure you’re learning correct nutrition principles other than depriving yourself of food for 75 days;

• That you can’t rest for the entire time;

• That mental toughness is all about checking things off of an arbitrary to-do list;

• It forces you to turn off a lot of the things your body is made to inform you of, like a need for food or rest.

But “What about the mental toughness?!”

In my opinion, this is a mental toughness program that doesn’t allow you to listen to any of the cues your body and mind are telling you. You don’t get to rest. You have to continue to deprive yourself of food if you’re hungry. It suggests that talking to people, working out, and reading nonfiction will make you mentally tough. Undoubtedly, these can help build resilience, human connection, and some short-term habits, but where is the rest and recovery? Where is the connection to YOURSELF?

Do you want to know what’s mentally tough? Seeing a therapist – not reading a self-help book. Doing the hard work of improving your relationship with food and learning to honor your hunger and fullness cues. Working to see fitness and movement as enjoyment, not punishment.  75 Hard can be yet another way to “numb” your way into growth from outside and external perspectives rather than doing deep and internal work.

75 Day Hard is not sustainable.

This is just another 30-day weight loss challenge (for 2.5x longer), masked as a mental toughness life overhaul, with the added benefit of being more well-read and hydrated.

You see the amazing transformation photos, but what you don’t see is the number of people who leave feeling broken and tired. Because they “failed.” Because it’s “all or nothing.” Because when you fail, you have to start over. Because you aren’t allowed to rest.

You often see individuals doing workouts on the daily known for their intensity -- CrossFit, Orange Theory, F45 -- sometimes twice a day. Or beyond five times in a week, which can be a bit more intensity than what most need. 

The fact that I see epic cheat meals soon after these transformation photos is an immediate illustration of how this doesn’t teach proper nutrition principles, it only affirms that you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. This only results in short-term changes, with the potential for long-term negative impacts.

What if instead of 75 day hard, we pursue a lifetime of moderation?

I love habits that are reasonable and sustainable– ones that you can keep for a lifetime. A lifetime of reasonable, feasible options that if we f*ck up (and we inevitably will), we don’t have to “start over.” 

Our lives are already challenging enough! Let’s not keep adding to the list of things we’re told we’re supposed to do and lead ourselves further into the grasp of All or Nothing.

We don’t need to add more workouts while eating less food. We don’t need more stress and more restriction. 

We need to create habits, recognize behavior patterns that mean we’re normal human beings (like emotional eating), allow ourselves to mess up, embrace rest, and become more in tune with our needs.

Want to do something challenging?

Give yourself permission to rest in a world that doesn’t seem to promote it. Allow yourself to eat in a world where you’re told to be smaller. Go to therapy in a world of self-help books. Use your privilege to help the oppressed because using your voice, even if shaky, is hard work. Work to establish habits you can maintain for the rest of your life. Take the time to learn about nutrition beyond aimlessly trying to find the easiest or fastest way to lose weight.

As a nutrition professional, I can’t, in good faith, recommend this approach. I see some benefit in “challenges,” or time-frames, or wanting to change habits. The gamification of our fitness and the value of a goal is real, but there are better ways we can approach our health, nutrition, and overall well-being that still challenges us, pushes us and allows us to create habits and behaviors that support us far beyond 75 days.

Your life is not something that needs a quick fix. Live a life of reasonable and sustainable habits.

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