The 75-Day Hard:

1.Stick to a diet — no cheat meals (For those over 21, no alcohol)

2.Drink 1 gallon of water/day

3.Complete two 45 minute workouts per day. One must be outside.

4.Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book per day.

 

My 7-Day Hard:

1.No sugar diet — no cheat meals, no deserts, chocolate, etc. Fruit okay.

2.Drink as close to a gallon of water as possible (Although rare, drinking too much water too fast can cause sodium levels in your blood to drop too low, so I modified.)

3.Complete two 45 minute workouts per day. One must be outside.

4.Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book per day.

5.No social media. (Instagram, Snapchat, Tok Tok, and Youtube)

 

My findings:

1.Following a no sugar diet was much easier than I had thought for two reasons: I saw each possibility of sugar as one small choice, so the choices were easy to make, and it was for an assignment, and that I can rationalize with more significance than just a personal choice. I attribute my better moods, increased energy, clearer skin, deeper sleeps, and wider smile to this section of the challenge.

2.I succeeded in drinking plenty of water this past week and am very happy with the affects! (I try to drink a lot of water usually, so this wasn’t a huge change).

3.I tried my best to complete two 45 minute workouts per day, but there were two days when my schedule didn’t permit it, but on those days I was moving constantly so I counted that day as one workout. Regardless, almost all of my workouts were outside and most were runs. 

4.I read as much as possible this past week, and I found I had more free time to do so without social media as a distraction. On the days that I work, I listened to an audio book for 80 mins/day total (40mins there and back). 

5.This was the most transformative aspect of the challenge. Prior to the senior project week, I had already begun to dislike social media/my time spent there, so my hiatus was personally welcomed. Afterwards, I found that it is definitely not as necessary as I had once thought/been conditioned to think, and that I am consistently happier without it. I’m not a huge social media advocate/user/consumer anyways, but having this week to reflect on where I spend my time changed its presence in my life.