Thursday, May 12, 2022
Today is Day 7 of the 75 Hard Challenge. I am in the process of completing my first week of my first time participating in a challenge. I wanted to discuss what I have been feeling and experiencing during this process. There are some things I like and some of which I do not like.
I will be one to say, that I did not at first like the 2 separate 45 minute workout sessions. I say this coming from a scheduling viewpoint. As for myself, I currently do not have a full time job. But for those that do or for when I myself return back to a full time work schedule, it will seem nearly impossible to get it done. One will not only have their working hours, but also their family life that needs their attention. For myself, since I do not have a full time work schedule, it may seem easier to get both done. But on some days this is not the case. For I do allocate a few hours of the day in looking and applying for jobs. These job searches replace the hours in my schedule of me having to go to work.
This challenge has abled me to pinpoint my focus on tightening up and prioritizing my daily schedule. I see this as a benefit in self improvement of my focus and attitude. I tend to be a creature of habit and prefer having a regular schedule throughout the day. But I know that a perfectly scheduled and planned day is not always going to be possible. My current plan while on this challenge is waking up by 9:00am PDT and then immediately go to use the restroom. Even as that may seem to be a little graphic, but it’s part of the weight loss journey and the most accurate time to measure my weight. So I then proceed to my scale and see my weight. I follow this up by taking two progress pictures from the same place each day. The progress pictures are one front facing, and the second back facing towards the camera, or in my case my iPhone. I then proceed to place both pictures on two template graphics I have created for sharing to; MyFitnessPal, the 75 Hard Challenge app, Twitter feed, and both the Instagram feed and stories. The uploading of my progress picture to the 75 Hard Challenge app is part of the daily requirements to complete.
Once I have completed the picture taking and postings, I proceed to fill up my water bottle and make my pre-workout stack. My pre-workout stack at the moment consists of Ghost Legend Pre-Workout, Ghost Gamer, and Shade Thermogenic by Tiered Nutrition. Now this is when I can go out to a quiet room of the house and begin tackling the a second item for my challenge; read 10 pages of a physical non-fiction book. I usually begin the reading after I finish drinking the first fill up of my water bottle. Then while reading, I will sip on the pre-workout stack. I refill up my water bottle once I finish my reading and prior to heading to the gym.
I prefer to await the completion of my second bottle of water before heading to my gym. I do not like working out on a full stomach. The gym I am currently working out in is Planet Fitness and is roughly 10 minutes away from my house. During this 75 day challenge, I chose to not partake in having a personal trainer nor nutrition coach. I am on my own at the moment with the fitness and nutrition. My gym session is currently focused on 45 minutes of treadmill broken into two parts. The first being 25 minutes, while the second is 20 minutes. Each will have a one minute cool down.
This is the now the point in the day when it is half over. I have been able to check off the taking of my progress pictures, reading 10 pages, and completing my first 45-minute workout session. From a water consumption standpoint, I would have consumed only half of my goal of 128 fluid ounces.
Here’s where I will now complete this week’s blog at this time. Next week’s blog will entail the second half of my day and also my personal thoughts on the challenge overall. I am impressed with what I have been able to do physically and mentally. Let’s see how things progress into week two (days 8-14) of the challenge.
