75-day health reset results
75 days ago, I started a health reset. I gave my self 5 absolute rules to follow, as well as a handful of "bonus" rules - rules that I wanted to achieve on a daily/weekly basis but were not essential to the challenge.
Today is the final day - technically ending 23:59:59 EDT - but this is close enough for me to write up the results of my challenge. If you want, you can skip through the bulk of the post and go right to the results. What follows is a review of each rule and how I did.
The breakdown
1. Follow a 2,231 calories per day plan
Hmm. This is a tough one to measure (but it shouldn't be). Early on I decided I would make this a weekly goal, meaning that I had to make sure I was at or below 15,617 weekly calories. Meaning I could be over 2,231 a day or two, as long as overall I was meeting my target. I did well, but for sure there were weeks that I missed. There were also several days I didn't track anything, including everything since this past Wednesday.
Overall: considering I hit very close to my target weight, I'll give myself a pass.
2. At least 30 minutes walking (or 7500 steps) per day, AND additional 30 minutes cardio per week
I was very wishy-washy with this one, giving myself some grace on some days and being tough on myself for others. But my goal for this one was multi-faceted so I need to break it down in pieces.
Step goal: My daily goal was 7500 so that was the easiest target to reach; for the month of July I averaged 7,113 steps a day and August I averaged 6,644. According to Samsung Health I reached my target 12 of 31 days in July, and 11 of 31 days in August. Mixed results, because of the point below...
At least 30 minutes walking: This one was mainly a way to offset days I missed my target. Sometimes it would mean hitting my target because I made sure to get out 30 minutes a day, but other times it just meant getting out with my dog 3 times instead of twice. I think this one did offset the days I missed out on step goals.
Additional 30 minutes of cardio per week: Oof...this is the part I was extremely generous with. I think I ended up counting softball and personal training days in the mix.
Overall: passing grade.
3. Floss & brush teeth nightly
This one was easy. I occasionally missed some nights but almost every day I achieved this without fail. Overall: enthusiastic pass!
4. Read a few pages from any book each day
Another one I almost achieved every day. But I did very well with it, and I truly believe it helped me read more books than I otherwise would have. Between June 19 and today, I finished The Creative Act, The Wake, and A Commonplace book. I started Fahrenheit 451 and The Best Laid Plans last week, and am more than halfway through the former. The latter, I would be along sooner except I've decided to read it "in real time"1. Passing grade.
5. Take regular measurements
This one is barely a pass but I will take it. Other than a day or two I weighed myself diligently. This was meant to include regular physical measurements but I didn't do those. Oh well.
The other rules
I didn't really listen to any music albums, and many weeks I wrote in my journal once, or not at all. In fact until last night I went 2 weeks without an entry. Thank goodness these were "bonus" rules.
Results
Overall I give myself a "pass", I met the goals of the challenge I set for myself. I had a goal to reach 245 pounds by the 75th day; I started the challenge at 252.4 pounds, and as of this morning, I weighed in at 246.0 pounds. Just 1 pound shy of the target. According to Libra, my trend weight is actually 246.3 and it expects I'll hit my target by September 16th.
What I haven't kept up with is my physical measurements. I took them twice, I think, but haven't since. I think it's mostly because I wasn't seeing any results the second time around so I just stuck with the scale.
On the whole though, in the last few weeks of the challenge I fell behind with my tracking check boxes and completely gave up on calorie tracking (part of it is because I'm currently away from home, so it's harder to take "accurate" measurements).
Would I do this type of challenge again? Probably, but not in this exact manner with strict adherence to rules. I would probably treat it as I do with my yearly reading goals - a set goal to reach, but I won't be disappointed if I come up a little short.
Woops - did you want to read the full breakdown? Head on back up there!
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There's a journal entry at the end of each chapter, and I believe it runs daily; it's centered around a 39-day election campaign so I think that will track. I'm reading it sort of like Dracula Daily, one day at a time.↩