August 31, 2020

6 Weeks on Plan! (and Jerry's comparison pictures)


Six weeks! It's been six weeks since I started 75 Hard. I sincerely cannot believe it's been that long. 

I've been working hard to develop the self-discipline that I used to have, feel the control over myself that I really miss, and pushing past my comfort zone--not too much, but definitely pushing it.

I mentioned before that I guess it's not "75 Hard" and that I am just doing it my own way for 90 days instead. But I'm still keeping the same "rules" of what I interpreted from 75 Hard.

Yesterday was Day 42. The weekly updates are actually pretty boring, because they all seem to be the same. But I'll continue to post them, because who knows what will happen? 

So, here is a recap of the week:

Drink a gallon of water every day.

I'm 99% sure that I did this every day this week. It's really easy to lose track sometimes, especially when I'm busy. I have a Nalgene bottle that I fill four times (it holds a quart, so drinking four of them is a gallon), but sometimes I even get more than that. By the end of the day, though, it's hard to say. I really should keep tabs with my checklist app.

Take a progress photo every day.

Done. This one is the easiest on the list! I wake up, get dressed in something comfortable to walk in, and then take a photo right before I put on my sunscreen to go out for a walk. I don't think the changes in my body are as visible now as they were in the beginning, but Jerry notices things. Just today, when he hugged me, he mentioned that my shoulders seem thinner. 

Here is a six week comparison in the same clothes:


The scale is so interesting. I will post numbers at the end of the 90 days, but I will say that my weight goes up and down by about 2-3 pounds every day. Yes, a daily fluctuation by 2-3 pounds! But that's very typical with intermittent fasting. And it doesn't bother me at all. The overall trend is downward, so I'm cool with that.

It's just interesting because when I counted calories or did Weight Watchers or things like that, I was used to a very minor fluctuation day to day, but unless I had a binge or some serious sodium one day, my weight stayed mostly the same or was down a bit each day. The intermittent fasting makes the fluctuations much more pronounced.

I had planned to take body measurements today, considering I'm six weeks in, but I completely forgot until later in the day. I'm going to try to remember to do it tomorrow morning.

Follow a diet of choice.

I'm still doing the 20:4 ratio of intermittent fasting. I still love it. One of the major things I've noticed is that I don't crave sweets as much--actually, it's very rare now. (Note: I am not cutting out carbs or sugar or anything else; but my cravings have changed.)

I find that when I'm hungry and ready to eat, I don't want something sweet; I want "real" food, a meal. I usually have in mind that I'll eat something sweet afterward, but a lot of times, I eat a very filling dinner and then dessert just doesn't sound good at all. 

Overall, though, I still really love intermittent fasting for lots of reasons: I don't think about food all the time; I can eat whatever I want; I can eat until I'm comfortably full; I don't have to count calories; I don't have to plan out breakfasts, lunches, and snacks; and I can eat high calorie foods (when I was counting calories, I always tried to make the calories in my meals lower, and now I make sure that I cook with higher calorie foods to ensure I'm getting enough in my eating window). 

Jerry came across a photo of himself from December of 2019, and he finally saw that he really HAS gotten smaller. He started intermittent fasting in June, and I noticed immediately that his stomach was getting smaller. He said the scale barely moved, but I knew I wasn't imagining things. 

To date, now, he's lost about 30 pounds. I think he looks as small, if not smaller, than he did when he was 165 pounds (he's now at 180). Here is a comparison:


Doesn't he look amazing?! He didn't believe me when I told him that I noticed a difference. Anyway, he loves the intermittent fasting, too. It works out really well for his lifestyle and work schedule.

Exercise 45 minutes twice a day (at least one must be outside).

As of today, I have exercised for 45 minutes at a time, twice a day, every single day for six weeks! I've never done this before. Sure, I've done a ton of running, especially while marathon training. But the discipline that it takes to do TWO workouts a day is is very tough. During marathon training, I could run in the morning and it would be done for the day. Now, I have to fit in a second, and most of the time, I really don't want to!

I've done a morning walk with Joey every day and he loves it. He gets so excited when I wake up because he knows it's time to go for walk. Even when it was pouring rain a few days ago, I took him out for his walk. 

A couple of times this week, I've tried to do a tougher walk for my second workout by picking up the pace. When I have Joey, we usually walk at about a 17:30-18:30/mile pace. He slows me down a bit, but I think of it as "his" walk, too. The afternoon walks are all mine, so I do my own thing. 

Yesterday, I really wanted to enjoy the weather and just listen to my audiobook, so I walked extremely slowly (my slowest pace to date). And then today, I decided to see just how fast I could walk for 45 minutes. I was shocked when I walked a sub-15:00 mile, and then even more shocked when my third mile was sub-14:00!



It made me laugh, because I'm pretty sure that would be about the same as my running pace right now ;) 

My heart rate was up near 160 at the end... when I normally walk, it's usually between 95 and 120. Today, I literally walked as fast I could manage (and be able to complete the walk without giving up the pace). 

Here are the cumulative details for the past week:


Read 10 pages of a non-fiction, inspirational or self-help type book.

I'm sorry to say that I dropped the ball on this one this week. If I was truly doing 75 Hard, I'd have to start over from Day 1 again. I was reading books, but they were fiction "fun" reading. Like I wrote about yesterday! That book was SO good and I finished it today. It's definitely one of my "Top 5 Favorite Books I've Ever Read". 

While I haven't done the self-help books this week, and therefore broke the "rule", I'm still happy about the fact that I'm reading. I know that sitting is sitting, but I still feel better about reading than I do about watching TV. Jerry was off work last night, and he watched wrestling while I read my book--we weren't really interacting other than sitting next to each other on the couch, but it was nice for each of us to be able to do what we wanted while still spending time "together".

I want to get back to the reading part of 75 Hard, though, so I am making it a point to do that this week.

Anyway, it was another good week, and I'm happy with my progress (physically and mentally) over the last six weeks. I'm almost halfway to my goal of 90 days :)


6 comments:

  1. WoW what a difference! I do if fo a little over a year. Lost 21kg .

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  2. Great update. So happy you have been doing so well and look forward to future updates.

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  3. Great job!!! Can you give more info on the intermittent fasting? Do you drink anything during the 20 hr fast period?

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  4. That’s a big difference in before and after photos! Great job!

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  5. You look amazing! But you are super pretty no matter what you weigh! I’m trying IF too. Actually I tried alternate day fasting for 2 weeks and then one meal a day for a few days. I’m kind of experimenting. Do you usually just eat your one meal? Or do you eat twice? I know you say you have a snack, but here you said maybe not so much. I wish I could eat my meal earlier in the day but I can’t eat until 8pm and I go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00. It seems too much too late. I would love to see some pics of what you eat for your meal :)

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  6. I think you both look great! Totally can see a difference! That's a lot of hard work!

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