Transcription
Look how blessing it is. What the devil shoulders get up ain't over.
It's a whole lot of flexing going on. Feel like I could walk on water. Lemon pepper steppers on. We was really damn bad to my mama. Not for long. Held and thought they got another one. We know they got it wrong. And another thing now we don't wrestle with flesh and blood. I was out your wild and it ain't the same way that I was tapping when I pray. I'm like I know.
Today is April 1st. Today is the second day of my 75 hard challenge. Today is the day after my 75 hard challenge. Day two. Emma is going to be talking to day 75. Emma, hey, if everything went well, it should be June 14th. Is it? Today is in fact June 14th. I kept a journal entry every single day. I literally wrote a journal entry from day one. And last night, I wrote my day 75. This one had to take more than a page, but I did it. If it is June 14th, I'm so happy that we did it and we got it done and we stuck to it.
So, I went ahead and I wrote a bunch of goals that I want to accomplish during the 75 days. If you know about 75 hard, there are some rules that you have to follow. Those rules should help me accomplish the goals that I'm aiming to achieve. So, the first goal is to weigh under 155 lbs. So, hop on the scale and let's see. If we are, congrats. Let's just do two 360s of my day one and my day 75. I really hope I have a six-pack or a fourpack. Can we do 10 regular push-ups? No assistance, not knee push-ups, none of that. Because right now, this is what my push-ups look like. I'm almost there, but in 75 days, I better be able to do 10.
Next goal is, can we do one pull-up? We just got to be able to do one, girl. I just know that the day that I'm able to do a pull-up, I might cry. Like, I really might cry. made a mess. Next is, can we run six miles? I just picked a random number. I didn't want to be too ambitious because I used to do long distance when I was younger. So, I know I can run, but I do have some injuries. Like, my shins aren't the best, but I know I can run six miles. So, if I start running every week, I should be able to run six miles. If I did, show me the proof. It's so crazy hearing me say that I want to run six miles because now I've done it weeks ago. So, I can comfortably run six miles. But because I did it weeks ago, I chose to push my goals to 7.5 miles, which I did yesterday. And that was rough. I overslept. So, I did it at 12:00 in the heat. It was so hot. But there was no way I was giving up because it was my way of celebrating the end of my 75 hard. So, I did it and I'm so proud of myself.
I want to be able to shoulder press 40 lbs. Prior to my surgery, I could shoulder press 35s and now I'm at 32.5. So, again, if I'm consistent, I should be able to shoulder press 40s with no problem. Yeah, guys. So, what happened was I genuinely forgot that that was one of my goal until I rewatched the video just now and I was like, "Yeah, definitely can't do that." I also haven't been in a gym in a while, like a actual gym, because my workouts consisted of me going on walks, going on run, going biking, or just doing at home workouts. So, I haven't been lifting weights in a minute. I think the last time I shoulder press something, I did 32.5 maybe 35s. But yeah, that goal I did not reach. But now that I remember that that was even a goal of mine, I will be able to do it by the end of the summer. Mark my words. Also, July 1st will mark six months since the year started. So, I plan on doing a six-month challenge then. Not really a challenge, but just working towards my goals before the year ends. So, stay tuned for that.
The next goal, I actually didn't write it down. One of the habit that I want to implement is stretching. If I stretch every day for 75 days, there should be no reason why I can't do a split. This is what my split looks like right now. In 75 days, if I remain consistent, I should be able to do one. It's not a front split, at least a side split. I don't really know what it's called, but you guys know what I mean. I hope. So, this is where my split is now. It may be worse than before I even started. This goal, I actually have no excuses. I definitely did remember that. That was one of my goal. I just didn't really follow through with it. Day one, Emma would be so mad at me if she heard what I'm about to say because they really are just excuses. But, I was consistent for I want to say the first 30 days. And then I went to Brazil. I went to a sisterhood faith-based retreat with some amazing girls and there was always something going on but something good and the last thing that was in my mind was stretching and then when I got back the habit was just lost and an atomic habit which I keep talking about this book but it's so good if you haven't read it please go do so yesterday already he says that when you're trying to implement a new habit never go more than 2 days without doing it because if you do so it's going to be really really hard for you to go back and that's exactly what happened like I said I'm not giving up. The year is not over and I can still accomplish all my goals.
And my next two goals are personal achievements, not necessarily physical, but do we post on YouTube once a week and do we post on Tik Tok three times a week? I currently have 39 subscribers. I am hoping that in 75 days I will have 100. If I do, so I did post on YouTube every single week and as you guys saw, I have 150 subscribers now. I'm so happy. Day one, Emma would be so proud. I'm proud. When it comes to Tik Tok though, I definitely did not post three times a week. The thing is, I really enjoy doing YouTube and I really enjoy sharing experiences and talking about testimonies because I feel like I'm able to connect with people, but on TikTok, it kind of feels like a chore or it feels like a job that I have to get done. So, it's harder for me to do it because I don't enjoy as much. But again, excuses. I can still get it done though. It's hard to do both Tik Tok and YouTube when I have two jobs and I'm in school. But with the summer being here, I do have a little bit more free time. I should be able to dedicate a little bit more time to Tik Tok.
So, now that we're done talking to my old self, day one, Emma, I'm going to be talking about what this challenge taught me. Little disclaimer, 75 hard is not a health nor fitness nor spiritual challenge. It is meant to learn discipline. All the rules are meant to teach discipline. But if you do it right and you follow those rules, naturally, you're going to lose weight. you're gonna be leaner because you're moving your body so much, but it's not meant to be a diet challenge. And Dy Fcella, the man who created the challenge, has a podcast, which if you're considering doing this challenge, definitely listen to it. But he talks about the reasoning behind each rule and behind the challenge. And although I completed it and I'm proud and I don't regret it, I will never do this challenge again. But I will say that for next week's video because I don't want this one to be 30 minutes long. But I will tell you guys what this challenge taught me and it taught me a lot.
Number one, it taught me discipline. That's what the challenge is meant to do. And that's exactly what it did. That little voice in your head that you hear that's telling you, "Hey, snooze your alarm or don't eat the meal prep that you have in your fridge, but go to Taco Bell instead or you don't have to go to the gym today. You can go later tonight." When you know that you're not going to go to the gym after work, that voice is the voice holding us back. And don't get me wrong, I heard this voice before the challenge, definitely during the challenge and after the challenge. But now I acknowledged that this voice is the voice that's holding me back. And before every one of my decisions, I ask myself, is my next action going to bring me close to the person that I want to become, or is it going to set me back? And just acknowledging those thoughts that come through your mind and assessing them and evaluating them before you act on them has helped me so much. And it's helping me do the things that will help me become the person that I want to be and achieve all of my goals.
I also learned that the perfect time or the ideal time to start anything in life doesn't exist, that time is now. I started 75 hard on April 1st, which was 2 days before my birthday. My last cheat meal was crumble. I had the crumble Biscoff cake. And then on my birthday, I did not have cake because I had to follow a challenge. So, I had baked oats. And yes, I could have pushed it a week, but there was always going to be something. There was my birthday and then I went to Brazil and I did 75 hard while in Brazil. I have this project at my job next month where they're going to be feeding us. So, that would have been really, really hard to do 75 hard during that time. Then August is back to school. September, I'm going to Japan with my sister. There's just always going to be something and you're just going to have to make sacrifices. Like, that's inevitable. It's going to be uncomfortable, but that's what the challenge is about. A lot of perfectionists never do the things that they want to do just because they're winning on the perfect time, but that's never going to happen. Like, the only thing stopping you from becoming who you want to be is you. I know it sounds corny, but it's the truth.
Another thing that I learned is that it's okay to show up not at 100%, but a little bit. During those 75 days, the outside workouts were sometimes rough given that I started in April and I live in New York State. I did outside workouts in the snow, in the rain, in the heat, when it was windy because in the spring the weather in New York State is just up and down. But on those days, I still had to show up. And sometimes my outside workouts were just going on a little walk. Same with being on my period. I used to make a lot of excuses for myself. I would not work out and eat pretty much what I wanted for a whole week straight. My period were my excuse to just be lazy. And don't get me wrong, I do get heavy cramping. Like when we on our period, we go cramps. But on those days, even on the first day of my period, I showed up not at 100%. Some days it was 15 20%. And my workout was just going on a walk and then I would do stretches. I would do light Pilates at home. But proving to myself that I can do it not once, not twice, but three times. I got my period three times during the challenge. Just shows that it was just excuses. And honestly, I felt so much better after. Like, it actually helped with your preps. And I know that people have said that and I used to hear it and be like, "Yeah, okay." But no, it's true.
Another thing that I learned is that eating at home saves you so much money. One of my rules was to only go out to eat on special occasions. Before the challenge, if I got off work and I did not feel like cooking, even if I had a meal prep, even if I had fit in my fridge, I would still go to Chipotle, I would go to Cabba, and spend $20 on a meal. But by not doing that, I saved so much. And it's not even just takeout. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I will go to Duncan and get a refresher for what, $5, $6. I don't know when we normalized spending $8 on the coffee, but that's crazy. Or I would go to the bakery with my friend and eat a quason or something. I always treated myself like there was no restrictions on the amount of food that I ate outside. That's a habit that will not be going anywhere. I will definitely keep doing it just because one, I'm saving so much money, but two, I'm able to know what I'm putting in my body and I have a very sensitive stomach and I am lactose intolerant and every time I go out to eat, I will say 85% of the time my stomach hurts the next day. Throughout this challenge, I have not been feeling pain. My stomach is so happy right now that I really just don't want to go back to being bloated.
The last thing that I want to talk about that this challenge taught me is that your friends, your family, the people closest to you will not support you. And it's okay. It really is you versus you. You heard people say that, but during that challenge, it will be just you versus you and nobody else. Whether it's intentional or not, your closest friends and family will tempt you. I think it was a couple weeks ago, I went out to eat with some of my friends and they all know that my favorite dessert is tiramisu. And I didn't even hear my friend order it, but she ordered one for the table. And when this server dropped it on the table, I almost crashed out because I'm like, who the I'm like, who did this? Like literally, who why would you order a tiramisu? You couldn't order anything. I don't like chocolate. So I'm like, order a chocolate cake. They were like, oh, let's all do a little video where we all like dig in the tiramisu. And I'm looking at her like, are you serious? And she's like, oh wait, but you can just pretend. I literally took my fork and dug in my favorite dessert. And then I did nothing with that bite. I just left it on the plate. And right after I kind of felt like that was messed up. I'm like, "Wait, that's so inconsiderate. That's so messed up." But no, they're not doing the challenge. I am. They should not have to restrict themselves because I chose to enter this journey. The whole challenge is about putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. And let me tell you, that was very uncomfortable. That was really, really hard. But again, I did that to myself. They did it. So, it's not people's jobs to hold you accountable. And they won't. And you can get mad at them. And it's okay. Although people's support and help would have been great, they're not doing doing it. And a lot of people don't even understand it. The amount of people who told me a piece of cake is not going to kill you or eating French fries is not going to kill you, which is true, but that's not what the challenge is about. A lot of people think that it is a diet or fitness challenge. So they will tell you, oh, it's not really healthy to not have any cheat meal, like you should be able to treat yourself, which is true, but again, that's not what the challenge is about.
Despite that, I did receive some supports from those same friends who are encouraging me, sending me text messages. When I completed it last night, I got so many messages. Same thing this morning. And I also started 75 hard with one of my friends. We started together on the same day and we finished together on the same day. I don't know what I would have done without her. I'm kind of hesitant to say this because although I'm so happy we did it together, I did not rely on her. I still had to hold myself accountable. She was not there when I was taking my pictures every morning. She was not there when I was cooking for myself at night. Although it's nice to have someone, ultimately, it's still going to be you versus you. I'm so happy. I'm so proud of myself. I will never do it again though and I will talk about it in next video why cuz this challenge is not for everybody and it took me maybe 50 days to realize that it was not the challenge for me but at that time I was in it too deep and there was no way I was going back. But in my next video I'm going to go in details about the challenge and why I will never do it again but also why I don't regret it. So make sure to subscribe so that you don't miss it. I post every Sunday. And I also want to say thank you to the comments that I received under my 75 hard videos because it definitely encouraged me to keep going. So all this together helped me doing it and I did it. We did it. Did it.