Graphic by Pajia Browning
Many UT students pride themselves on their “work hard, play hard” mentality. Several Longhorns have tried popular diets and lifestyle changes like 75 Hard but feel that it is simply not maintainable with their demanding academic schedules and social lives.
The 75 Hard challenge is a physical, self-improvement program that consists of following a chosen diet, consuming no alcohol, completing two 45-minute workouts a day, drinking three liters of water and reading 10 pages of a nonfiction book for 75 days straight. While this is supposed to be a challenge, many students feel that it is simply not manageable to juggle all these requirements while in school.
Kelsey Simmons, a sophomore advertising major, wanted to try the 75 Hard challenge but took a different approach with “75 Soft.” Her overall goal was to improve her lifestyle and create more structure for herself.
Unlike its predecessor, the 75 Soft challenge encourages healthy habits over short-strict rules. The key elements are focusing on eating a balanced diet and limiting alcohol consumption, reading 10 pages of any book, drinking at least three liters of water and exercising for 45 minutes everyday while incorporating rest days.
“I wanted to do 75 Soft because I just did not have enough time in the day to workout twice a day,” Simmons said. “Between getting ready and eating before the two workouts, it was just too much time.”
Simmons said that living in Austin, a city with many job and internship opportunities, was another factor that makes it harder for students to incorporate such a rigorous diet and lifestyle into their lives.
“Students at a smaller school that don’t have very time-consuming internship opportunities might have an easier work load on them, making it easier to prioritize these changes,” Simmons said.
The goal that Simmons found least attainable as a college student was the price of consistently eating clean.
“I feel like it’s hard to constantly be buying (healthy) foods, especially when (they’re) so expensive,” Simmons said.
Some students try to do 75 Hard over the summer to maximize their ability to follow the rules and to avoid class conflicts.
Harper Stanley, a sophomore psychology major, made it 50 days into the challenge over the summer break.
“I think it would have been way harder if I did (it) during the school year because you have way less free time,” Stanley said.
Stanley continued her challenge when she traveled to Europe. Despite not being in a college social setting, she said there were still conflicts that come with the challenge’s rules like the amount of water you need to be drinking.
“I was in London for a layover and had this huge one-liter water bottle and this British boy came up to me and said, ‘That’s a humongous jug,’” Stanley said. “(It) was just embarrassing.”
Another major difficulty Stanley and many other students encounter is the guilt of missing a day. Stanley said that since she was so committed to the challenge, she would get really in her head when she did something that did not align with the 75 Hard rules.
“I accidentally broke one of the rules when I was on vacation in Europe and was really giving myself a hard time,” Stanley said. “My mom reminded me that I don’t need to be so stressed about something that I honestly don’t need to be doing.”
Many students believe balancing the 75 Hard challenge with UT’s academic and social demands is unrealistic and too challenging to produce meaningful benefits. If you are wanting to give it a try, consider tweaking the program to better fit your schedule or waiting for school breaks to try it.