The 75 medium challenge is a more accessible alternative to the popular 75 Hard program. It involves five daily tasks that must be completed for a full 75 days, covering diet, exercise, water intake, reading, and documenting your body’s transformation.
Although the 75 Hard challenge is an incredible program for those with the time, energy, discipline, and fitness level to commit to such a rigorous feat, this 75 day challenge is often too aggressive and intensive for beginners or busy people.
The 75 Medium challenge is designed to be a more approachable and tenable alternative to 75 Hard.
In this article, we will discuss how to do the 75 Medium challenge and the differences between the 75 Medium challenge rules vs. the 75 Hard challenge rules.
The Honest Truth About The 75 Medium Challenge
The 75 Medium Challenge is a softened version of 75 Hard — one workout a day instead of two, a flexible diet, and less rigid alcohol rules — and the softening is the part that matters most. The behavior-change and sports-science literature suggests that this kind of moderate-but-sustained protocol outperforms its stricter sibling for most people, but only if the specifics line up with how habit, energy balance, and training adaptation actually work.
Is 45 minutes of daily exercise actually the right dose?
ACSM’s public health guideline is 150–300 minutes of moderate or 75–150 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week plus 2–3 resistance sessions, which 75 Medium clears comfortably at a single 45-minute daily workout.1Piercy KL, Troiano RP, Ballard RM, et al. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. JAMA. 2018;320(19):2020-2028.American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. 11th ed. Wolters Kluwer, 2021. The Lee JACC cohort of 55,137 adults found most of the all-cause mortality benefit from running appeared with even under an hour a week, and the dose-response curve flattens well before 75 Medium’s weekly total.2Lee DC, Pate RR, Lavie CJ, et al. Leisure-time running reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;64(5):472-481. The honest caveat is progression: novice exercisers who jump to 45 minutes daily from a sedentary baseline without a ramp-up are 1.6× more likely to hit an overuse injury in the first 8–10 weeks, which is the same window 75 Medium is asking you to commit to.3Nielsen RO, Parner ET, Nohr EA, Sorensen H, Lind M, Rasmussen S. Excessive progression in weekly running distance and risk of running-related injuries. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2014;44(10):739-747.
Why 75 days is a legitimate habit-formation window
The popular “21 days to form a habit” figure doesn’t match any controlled data. Lally’s UCL study tracked 96 volunteers adopting a new daily behavior and found automaticity plateaued at a median of 66 days, with a range from 18 to 254 depending on the complexity of the behavior and the individual.4Lally P, van Jaarsveld CHM, Potts HWW, Wardle J. How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world. Eur J Soc Psychol. 2010;40(6):998-1009. Gardner’s synthesis of habit research in primary care confirmed that automaticity — the point where a behavior runs without conscious decision — is the mechanism that keeps exercise going after the motivation fades, and it is strongly tied to a stable context cue and daily repetition.5Gardner B, Lally P, Wardle J. Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice. Br J Gen Pract. 2012;62(605):664-666. The 75-day structure is therefore not arbitrary — it sits near the middle of the empirical habit-formation window for a moderately complex behavior. Daily repetition with the same cue (same time, same context) is the part of the protocol that actually drives long-term change, not the specific workout or diet rules.6Wood W, Neal DT. A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface. Psychol Rev. 2007;114(4):843-863.
The diet side: what actually drives the results
75 Medium’s flexible diet is scientifically the stronger choice. Hall’s quantitative modeling of weight change showed that energy deficit — not a specific macro pattern — drives the weight loss, and that short-term water-plus-glycogen effects dominate the first 2–3 weeks of any dietary shift.7Hall KD, Sacks G, Chandramohan D, et al. Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight. Lancet. 2011;378(9793):826-837. Johnston’s network meta-analysis of 48 RCTs covering nearly every named diet (low-carb, Mediterranean, Weight Watchers, Atkins, and others) found all of them produced similar 6–12 month weight loss, and the single best predictor of outcome was adherence — which favors flexible patterns over rigid ones.8Johnston BC, Kanters S, Bandayrel K, et al. Comparison of weight loss among named diet programs in overweight and obese adults: a meta-analysis. JAMA. 2014;312(9):923-933. The National Weight Control Registry — adults who have maintained 30+ lb losses for 5+ years — reports relatively ordinary patterns of moderate calorie restriction, breakfast, weigh-ins, and daily activity, not extreme protocols.9Wing RR, Phelan S. Long-term weight loss maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005;82(1 Suppl):222S-225S.
When 75 Medium isn’t the right structure
The failure mode of any rigid daily streak is the all-or-nothing mindset that discards the whole effort after a single miss. Dichotomous thinking around food and exercise predicts drop-out and relapse in behavior-change trials, and rigid cognitive restraint correlates with higher disordered-eating scores than flexible restraint of the same magnitude.10Westenhoefer J, Stunkard AJ, Pudel V. Validation of the flexible and rigid control dimensions of dietary restraint. Int J Eat Disord. 1999;26(1):53-64.Linardon J, Mitchell S. Rigid dietary control, flexible dietary control, and intuitive eating: evidence for their differential relationship to disordered eating and body image concerns. Eat Behav. 2017;26:16-22. For postpartum, injury-return, illness-recovery, or high-life-stress periods, any streak-based protocol that punishes a missed day is likely to backfire; a “minimum viable habit” version — 15 minutes of activity daily, defined ahead of time — preserves the automaticity benefit without the all-or-nothing fragility. And for anyone with a history of disordered eating, the diet tracking side of 75 Medium should be discussed with a clinician rather than adopted wholesale.11Fairburn CG, Cooper Z, Shafran R. Cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders: a “transdiagnostic” theory and treatment. Behav Res Ther. 2003;41(5):509-528.
What Are the Differences Between the 75 Hard Challenge and 75 Medium?
Here are the major differences between the 75 Medium fitness challenge vs. 75 Hard challenge:
Rule 1: Diet for 75 Medium Vs. 75 Hard
The 75 Medium challenge rule for the diet is similar to the 75 Hard challenge, but there is more leeway for deviations.
The rule for the 75 Medium challenge diet is to pick any diet you choose, be it vegan, Mediterranean, Paleo, ketogenic, Whole30, Zone Diet, etc. The choice is yours.
The 75 Medium challenge diet rule is to follow whichever diet you have chosen 90% of the time. This means there is some latitude in cheat meals or days where you can deviate from your diet without starting over completely.
With the 75 Hard Challenge, no concessions are made for a single ”cheat” food or meal from your diet. Your daily routine of following the same diet must stay consistent throughout the fitness journey.
If at any point during the 75-day Hard challenge, you do not follow your chosen diet to a strict T; you are required to start the entire 75-day program from day one, even if you are well on your way through the 75 days, or even on the very last day of the challenge.
The 75 Medium Challenge rule for the diet is much more reasonable and in line with how most nutrition professionals suggest people approach their diet and eating habits.
Having a little bit of flexibility and a small amount of permissiveness to either indulge in special treats every now and then or eat something outside of your “permitted” foods gives people mental and practical grace that can ultimately improve dietary adherence.
If your diet is so strict and you cannot make a single concession without restarting the 75 Hard program, there’s a chance that you’ll feel defeated and abandon ship completely if something comes up and you do need to deviate from your usual fare.
This is certainly one of the benefits of the 75 Medium challenge vs. 75 Hard.
Following your diet, 90% of the time still requires discipline and dedication, and it’s important to be honest with yourself and not allow that 10% window to creep up and take on a more significant portion of your overall eating.
To help you stay honest with the 90% dietary adherence, you can think of the 90/10 split in terms of “cheat foods” with daily calories or a periodic “cheat day” during the 75 Medium program.
For example, if you eat 2,000 calories per day on whatever diet you are following, you can have 200 calories of “cheat” foods off your diet plan.
For example, if you are following a vegan diet, you might have a small Greek yogurt parfait. Alternatively, you can follow your diet perfectly for nine days, and then every tenth day of the 75 Medium challenge, you can have a cheat day and deviate from your diet.
It’s up to you, but try to be mindful that 90% adherence is still quite high, so stick to your diet as much as possible. The better you stick to your diet; the more impressive your results will be—physically and mentally.
As with the 75 Hard challenge, you are not allowed to drink alcohol during the 75 Medium challenge.
If social drinking is important to you, consider the 75 Soft Challenge, which does have leeway in the diet rule to allow for social drinking.
Rule 2: Exercise for 75 Medium Vs. 75 Hard
Another major difference between the 75 Medium challenge rules vs. 75 Hard is that the exercise requirement is half as intense.
You are to do one 45-minute workout every day12Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, June 2). How Much Physical Activity do Adults Need? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. of the program, no rest days!
With the 75 Hard program, the aggressive exercise rule stipulated that you have to do two 45-minute workouts per day every day.
Furthermore, although you can freely choose the type of exercise you do whether it be cardio, home workouts, active recovery, weightlifting or team sports, and at least one of your workouts must take place outside, no matter what the weather is.
Rule 3: Water Consumption for 75 Medium Vs. 75 Hard
With the 75 Hard challenge, the water drinking rule is to drink at least one gallon of water per day. This is the equivalent of 128 fluid ounces (almost 4 liters of water).
Depending on your body size, this can be significantly more water than the 75 Medium challenge rule for water drinking, which is to drink the number of fluid ounces of water that is equivalent to half of your body weight in pounds per day.
For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you would drink 80 ounces of water daily. This is the equivalent of 10 cups of water.
One of the benefits of the modification of the water drinking rule in the 75 Medium challenge is that it is scaled for your body size.
Drinking too much water can increase the risk of hyponatremia, so if you are a smaller person, aiming to drink half your body weight in ounces of water is a safer and more realistic alternative.
With that said, people who have a larger body size may end up actually needing to drink more than a gallon of water to adhere to the 75 Medium challenge water rule.
Essentially, because a gallon is 128 fluid ounces, if you weigh more than 256 pounds, you will actually be drinking more water during the 75 Medium challenge than you would be during the 75 Hard program.
Rule 4: Reading for 75 Medium Vs. 75 Hard
The 75 Hard challenge rule for reading is to read a minimum of 10 pages of any book, that is nonfiction, per day.
Although it is encouraged that you choose self-improvement or self-development books, you could choose a book on any topic, as long as it is a non-fiction book and not some form of literature, poetry, fantasy, etc.
Furthermore, you must read a physical book; listening to audiobooks does not satisfy the requirement.
The 75 Medium challenge rule for reading is to read or listen to 10 minutes of self-development content every day.
This can be a physical book about personal development (improving your financial status, mindset, forming healtheir habits, health, fitness, spirituality, mindfulness, well-being, relationship building, etc.), or you can choose to listen to an audiobook or podcast.
Other forms of media that you read also count (magazines, Internet web pages, etc.) as long as the content falls under the self-development or self-improvement umbrella.
Rule 5: Body Photos for 75 Medium Vs. 75 Hard
The 75 Hard challenge program places a strong emphasis on the physical transformation that you should experience over the course of the program, most prominently possible weight loss or improved body composition.
Although people who successfully complete the 75 Medium challenge also experience impressive before and after body transformation, the emphasis on documenting every single step of the journey through progress pictures is less of a priority.
Rather than needing to take progress photos of your body every single day of the challenge, the 75 Medium challenge rule for photos is just to take a photograph on day one of the challenge and on the final day, day 75.
This will give you a record of your “before“ and “after“ without having to obsess over the day-to-day minute physical changes that occur.
Rule 6: Meditating for 75 Medium vs. 75 Hard
There’s actually an additional daily habit rule for the 75 Medium challenge that is not present in the original 75 Hard challenge.
This unique 75 Medium challenge rule is to meditate or pray for five minutes per day.
As with the 75 Hard challenge, the 75 Medium challenge aims to get your mind in a healthy place and hone your mindset to be one of discipline, gratitude, and peace.
The thought is that meditating or praying will help get rid of the negative cobwebs or mental chatter that may bring you down and pollute how you feel.
How to Do the 75 Medium Challenge
You must follow the 75 Medium challenge for 75 days, completing each task every day of the 75-day program.
Here is how to do the 75 Medium challenge:
- Pick any diet you want and follow it 90% of the time. Do not drink alcohol.
- Do one 45-minute workout every day of the program.
- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day.
- Read or listen to 10 minutes of personal development content each day.
- Take a photo of your body on Day 1 and Day 75 of the 75 Medium program.
- Meditate or pray for 5 minutes a day.
Overall, the 75 Medium challenge is a great alternative to the 75 Hard challenge and can serve as a good stepping stone for people who have an interest in the 75 Hard program but don’t have the time or physical fitness level yet for such a rigorous and time-consuming challenge.
Successfully completing the 75 Medium challenge is still a super impressive feat.
It shows mental toughness and a desire to achieve healthy lifestyle changes while yielding fabulous benefits for your physical and mental health.
Plus, after you build the momentum, discipline, and healthier habits from the 75 Medium challenge, you will be that much more prepared to take on the 75 Hard challenge if you so choose.
You’ve got this!
If you think you can take on the 75 Hard Challenge, check out our next guide:
