As a young woman in today’s society, I have often felt immense pressure to “slim down” and to lose weight. For years, I would try diets and challenges, such as 75 Hard. And for years, nothing seemed to really impact my weight or how I viewed myself. Maybe there would be slight weight loss here and there, but nothing that greatly impacted my body. I found myself spiraling down a rabbit hole. Diet after diet, intense work out after intense workout, nothing was sticking. Then one day, I looked at myself in a mirror and for the first time, I felt like I truly saw myself. Not just my flaws, but what makes me beautiful as well. When I saw myself, I saw a sad girl who was exhausting herself trying to conform to the “ideal” body type. From that moment on, I promised myself I would change my approach. It was not about my weight but how I felt about myself. A restrictive lifestyle will leave you like a shell of yourself. As I moved forward, I scrapped everything I thought I knew about losing weight and started prioritizing myself. I stopped using my Apple Watch and working out two times a day. I stopped viewing foods as good or bad, but instead as something that keeps me alive. And just when I let the idea of losing weight slip away and started valuing my life, I started losing weight. 

What does that story have to do with the 75 Hard challenge? This challenge embodies everything that is wrong with diet culture. Starting this challenge is like signing up for the fast pass to restrictive eating habits and a degrading lifestyle.

Diet culture is like a drug, one that seems to consume every single thought. It is not a sustainable way to live. The 75 Hard challenge is just as toxic as a narcotic and is not a healthy way to lose weight. 

In a perfect world, this challenge would help people get on the right track, leading them to live a healthier life. That being said, we do not live in a perfect world and this challenge sets us up to fail. 

The challenge consists of strict rules: limiting your diet, two difficult 45-minute workouts a day, drinking one gallon of water a day, taking a progress picture and reading 10 pages of a book. There is one rule in particular that encourages a negative relationship with this challenge: There is no room for mistakes. You cannot make any alterations to this challenge and if you mess up, even if it’s a slight misstep, you have to start over entirely. 

Another issue that stems from this challenge is the comparison that occurs on social media. Many share their experience with this challenge on social media, including their body transformation. This encourages the toxic mentality regarding body image and eating habits. 

Don’t get me wrong, it is extremely important to live a healthy life. I do my best to exercise every day and eat well. However, going from zero to 100 is not going to make you healthier like the 75 Hard challenge seems to promote. A healthy lifestyle prioritizes balance and listening to your body, it is important to include rest days. 

Disordered eating and an unhealthy workout schedule is a dangerous path to go down. Once you start incorporating such unhealthy ideologies into your life, it gets harder and harder to stop. The negatives of this challenge outweigh the positives. 

Instead, we should challenge ourselves to live a healthier lifestyle indefinitely. The goal should shift from losing weight to feeling our best. We should not do two exhausting 45-minute workouts a day, but rather go for a long walk and do a Pilates workout. The 75 Hard challenge might reflect positively on your body but have a severely negative impact on your mental health. 

We must learn to take care of and not restrict ourselves. I believe that the 75 Hard challenge is toxic. As it rises in popularity, I worry how that might affect the mental wellbeing of many. 

Instead of subjecting yourself to this challenge, choose to slowly embrace a healthier lifestyle. Create a habit of walking everyday, eat more vegetables and drink more water. There are so many better ways to go about changing your well-being than this toxic, all-consuming challenge. Our bodies do not deserve to be punished for the insecurities that are seeded in our minds. Embrace what you have been given and work to better your overall health. Do not fall down that trap, as I once did, it is a waste of a life. 

Our health is so much more than just a number on a scale. We are so much more than a number on a scale. Our body is our home, and the 75 Hard challenge is a wrecking ball.

Eden Cottone, FCRH ’26, is a journalism major from Wilmington, Del.