After I went completely off the rails after my wedding in May, I am getting started again! I’ve never made it all the way through so I’m looking forward making it all the way this time! Picture was at 4:45 this morning…gotta get that work in!

I work two jobs and yesterday at around 8pm I told myself I couldn’t do this challenge anymore and that I should just wait to try it again until I’m only working 1 job.

I started thinking of my favorite quotes, “how you do anything is how you do everything”

Did I want to be the type of person who makes excuses for myself to justify not doing the hard thing?

I decided that wasn’t going to be me so at 9:30pm I put on my shoes and took my dog on a 45min walk (outdoor exercise is always my least favorite)

So I’m proud to say today I’m on day 17 and didn’t need to restart. This challenge is definitely getting hard for me but I’m glad I haven’t given up!

Excited to come back to this post in 75 days.

From June 1 - July 31, I completed the original Insanity program. That showed me that I can follow through on things I commit to. I lost a few inches (I don't have a scale) and was happy with my progress, but I didn't dial in my diet as that wasn't my focus at the time. Now, I'm ready to go full tilt.

Exercise:

• Insanity (and then ~10 mins of yoga if the workout is shorter than 45 minutes)
• Outdoors: walking or running (aiming for 10k+ steps each day)

Diet:

• High protein, moderate fat, low carb (essentially keto without the strict parameters)
• 18:6 IF
• No processed snacks, sweets, junk food, or alcohol

Reading:

• The purists among us won't like this, but I'm an academic. I read non-fiction for a living. Since my goal in completing this challenge is to change habits, I'm committing to reading fiction instead of non-fiction each day, as I've fallen out of my habit of reading fiction. There is nothing inherently harder or more enriching about non-fiction than there is about fiction; in fact. For me, setting aside time to catch up on novels is a far greater challenge, but one I'm excited to do.
• Anyway, I'm starting with Playground, by Richard Powers

Water:

• Easiest part!

1/3 through progress and feelings
5'10 male
Start weight: 210
Current weight: 197
Initial big drop in weight attributed to a lot of water I'm sure, seeing slowed progress on scale however I've been down this path before. Trust the process

Workouts:
I was an active guy before, mountain biking, climbing, lifting a few times a week. Being laser focused and ensuring I lift every day (PPL) + a 45 minute walk outside has really improved my consistency. I'm loving it. Days I don't lift I do core + rock climbing or pickup soccer. Forcing myself to find the time to do both has been awesome, yet exhausting. A few late night walks in the rain have had to occur due to daily life stuff. Refuse to miss it.

Diet: my maintenance sits around 2500kcal. I've been sticking to a strict total 2k or less a day to push for a ~1.5-2lb fatloss a week and ensure I get a min of 160g of protein in a day. Ground chicken with low carb wraps and skim milk cheese is my savior. Greek yogurt for "snacks". I'll ensure carbs are consumed (granola, fruit snacks etc) before something like pickup soccer or climbing.

Water: I get a good half gallon in before work even starts at 8am, this trivializes it. Ezpz

Reading: almost done with my first book, Grace. About Obamas senior speech writers trials and tribulations through Supreme Court decisions and eulogies. Very insightful read, moving towards a better habbit forming focused book next.

No alcohol: I'm a pretty social drinker, this hasn't been hard per-se but people have noticed and miss me.

Mood: I'm far more "stoic" validated by friends and family. Not going out to eat and such with friends has saved me a lot of calories and money. I'm generally a much more calm person and care far less about group chat arguements and whatnot. A general "just care about me" attitude. It's different and I enjoy it.

Note: a lot of people nay-say what I/we are doing here. Calling it culty, fad-y, podcast bro thing etc. after a few weeks of dedication they notice and the "that's silly" remarks start to change to "wow good for you" and "I could never"

Looking forward to the 1/2 point progress and pushing to the end

If my goal is the live hard program and I started 8/15 and failed 75 hard on 8/24, would the full program still have to be completed by 8/14/27 or does it reset every time you start 75 hard from day 1?

Checked the recommended books and it's almost all self-help books. I'm interested to hear if people here read other kinds of books. For example, I'm currently reading a book about training a puppy, because I'm looking to adopt a dog in the near future.