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What’s the part that slipped on my 75 Hard Journey?
This blog. Work, Life, Family, Holiday, and the Challenge itself got in the way of me writing and recording this blog. So now I’m getting back on it.
I actually looked at my analytics for the first for this site to see if I would continue. I get about 100 downloads of the podcast and have about 200 people a day visit the site. Thank you for reading this. It’s keeping me going on the site and the challenge to know there are that many people out there watching what I’m doing. Very humbling and motivating.
This last week has been crazy busy with life and work. Easter was yesterday and I did not partake in candy, or worse (my favorite) peeps! I watched the kid hunt eggs and had fun with that. Volunteered at the church as part the safety team. I watched thousands of people walking through and eating candy, but I did not touch one single bite.
This week things are getting back to “normal” and I will be continuing this blog with my challenge and hardships.
I almost gave up last week… again. I got home from my trip with my company where I brought my own food, watched people eat cake and rolls at various restaurants and catered events, and I didn’t cheat, not one bite.
I got home and stepped on the scale and didn’t lose a pound! Not one! I tortured myself for a week and stayed the same. So my wife (the smartest one of the two, yes I married up) suggested I start measuring my gut. So she helped me take a measurement on day 31 and on day 35, I’ll check it again. Maybe I’ll lose weight that way. My scale says I’m loosing body fat, so for now, that will have to be enough.
The Picture is easy, I just take one after every workout, that way I don’t miss one.
Drinking water is becoming easy, I’m actually still thirsty after drinking a gallon and have been drinking more water.
Workouts have been going well. I’ve been walking every morning since I started and that is becoming better on my pace. Last week I was hurting for a couple days and was walking at 25 minute miles. Today I did 19:30 on average for the 45 minutes. Nothing earth shattering but the time continues to get better. I’d like to be back to my Marine Corps pace of 15 minute miles even with a pack. That will take a little more then 75 days, but is one of my life’s goals.
Night workouts at the gym have been good. I’ve continued to grow stronger in my power lifting. My current weights: Deadlift 395, Squat 185, Bench 255, Overhead Press 165. I’d like those numbers to be at 500, 400, 300, and 200. I have a long way to go on the squat, but I can get there. This program isn’t the best for making mass gains as a power lifter, but I keep going up with my numbers and am approaching my personal best on Deadlift and Overhead Press. The rest will come.
Sleep is still hard and painful. Some nights I get plenty of rest with 7 hours and others like last night I slept for almost 9 hours.
Reading is easy when I get up and just do it. So that’s what I’ve been doing. 10 pages is starting to take me about 20 minutes. I’m currently reading Cigars, Whiskey and Winning: Leadership Lessons from General Ulysses S. Grant. (Amazon Affiliate Link). It’s okay, but I’m going to finish it because of this challenge.
The Diet continues. If it will start working again it is a diet that I can keep using for the rest of my life. So I’ll see how that goes. I lost 5 pounds in the first week but have been stalled since then. Which is super depressing for me. I’ve never stuck to a diet for more then a couple weeks at a time in my life. Now I’ve been at it a month and the results are piss poor. But I will keep going, if for nothing else to finish this challenge.
75 Hard I will Conquer,
Ben Branam
Keep up the good work brother. Sounds cheesy, but the discipline will last longer than the weight if you keep at it, that’s the goal of the plan. You got this
Thanks for the kind words. Working on it everyday… I know you are right, but the weight thing hit me hard. It was a set back for me, but I’m pushing through.