Doctor's Response to the 75 Hard Challenge

One of my patients has been struggling with high cholesterol despite doing many things “right.” He was thinking about doing 75 HARD Challenge and asked me what I thought. So naturally I had to google this in the exam room.

What is 75 Hard Challenge?

This is a tough program and it is meant to be tough.

• Follow a structured diet and avoid alcohol

• Drink 1 gallon of water

• Complete two 45-minute work outs PER DAY

• Take a photo

• Read 10 pages of a book

...for 75 days straight, with no exceptions.

So naturally I gave it a big skeptical eyebrow raise and a bit "X".

This is a very rigid program and doesn’t teach any sustainable process for long term success. But what are you going to do when this program ends? Are you going to go right back to old status quo? What else could you accomplish other than this program? While this program will work for some people, to me the cons of programs like this outweigh the pros for many people. Unless you have a transition plan for afterwards, most people go back to what they did before. And because weight and metabolic dysfunction is biologically wired, this means you end up where you started.

While challenges and restrictive diets CAN work in the short run, they are not sustainable.

It’s even in the name of this program that it is temporary. And quite frankly, I’m not sure who would have the time to implement this for 75 days straight. Certainly not most of the family-oriented, working professionals I know and take care of every single day.

So here is my response to the 75 Hard Challenge.

My response was that we could create for him a new program focused on evidence based changes. But people love catchy names and easy to define programs. And hence the concept for the 90 EASY-"ISH".

90 because you should do this for 90 days.

In order to make foundational changes and make them sticky, it takes time. You don’t put on weight or develop a disease overnight, and you can’t reverse it that quickly either. This is “easy-ish” because the level of toughness 100% depends on your baseline fitness and nutrition level, as well as comfort and knowledge with preparing meals and time to commit to change. For some, this may seem difficult. Regardless, these are sustainable modifications that can be more easily fit into a long term weight maintenance and metabolic improvement plan. So here goes…

90 EASY-"ISH" Challenge for Sustainable Health

I tried to make this simple to remember by using this count down: 90 - 60 -45 -30 -15 as the guide rails. The numbers just about line up with the activities that you are going to do. Is this plan comprehensive and all encompassing? No. I'll note a few things that had to be left out. But will this be an approach that you can stick with for the long run, I hope so. Even if you can hit all the "daily" tasks every day, or you miss a mark here or there, it is far better than having something rigid and feeling like you've fail. So here goes...

For 90 Days (and beyond, modifying to your liking and building on this foundation…)

1) Eat 90 grams of protein per day.

• It can be hard to get enough protein. The average American diet typically is light on protein (and heavy on carbs). You should try to eat at least 90 grams of protein on this plan, or target 2 g per kg of body weight. Plan to target 20-30 g of protein per meal, 10 g for snacks.

• Good sources of protein include: meat (preferably lean), fish, eggs, legumes, and nuts.

• If you need to add a supplement, look for something with at least 20 g of protein and less than 20 g of carbs.

2) Strength train for 60 minutes per week, divided sessions (two sessions x 30 minutes each, or three sessions x 20 minutes each will work).

• I know some people will cringe at the thought of formal exercise. This shouldn't be scary. Exercise is all about finding something you enjoy and sticking to it.

• Examples include classic weight lifting approaches such as power lifting, or integrated with intervals like Crossfit.

• Or simply grab some dumbells, resistance bands, or use your body weight. There are plenty of good free tutoorials on Youtube, or check out low cost streaming apps like Body (formerly Beach Body), Peleton, or Xpotential.

3) Stability train for 45 minutes per week in two or three sessions (15-20 minutes each).

• Some great stability exercises include yoga, pilates, and barre classes. You can also do some simple stretching exercises to create your own routine.

• Focus on strengthening your core and increasing flexibility.

• You can stack this with walking or strength training, or plan to alternate days as your schedule allows.

4) Walk for 30 minutes per day, 1 or 2 sessions.

• This is an effort to get your moving (and sitting less) during the day. There is lots of evidence on the benefits of even just standing more.

• I'd also suggest that you eventually increase your pace for some of the weekly sessions. Use brisk walking (or biking, hiking, or jogging) to get build up your aerobic endurance. The goal is to be breathy but not breathless. You could speak choppy sentences, but you don't want to have a long conversation.

5) Practice self-care for 15 minutes per day (divided or at once)

• This will look different for everyone. For you, this might be reading a good book, practicing mindfulness or meditation, getting a massage, or taking a hot bath.

• If you can double up a practice with some time outdoors in nature, you get a double dip of relaxation. 10 minutes in nature has been show to reduce your heart rate.

• This could also be a new bedtime wind down routine that you develop.

• Spend some time alone, and NOT connected to any devices or screens.

Final Thoughts on Doing the 90 EASY-ISH to Build Healthy Habits

Now I could have come up with some other things, like eat 30 different plants per week, or eat more fiber, fruits and veggies, cut out alcohol and sugar, avoid ultra-processed foods, drink 8 glasses of water, and the list goes on. But I wanted to keep it easy and buildable. As a starting place, these 5 steps will help with the fundamental pillars needed for weight management and metabolic health: sleep, stress, nutrition, movement.

When you feel more energy, sleep well, and move better, you can gain some motivation to continue making habit changes and stack onto this foundational plan.

So what do you think? If you give my 90 EASY-ISH a go I’d love to hear from you.

Are you looking to jumpstart healthy habits?

Get the Jumpstart Health Guide. Join this 4-week challenge and see how many healthy habits you can pack in in only 1 month. This is a great “pre-course” to try some new habits prior to or while working on the 90 EASY-ISH plan above.