75 Hard diet: how to choose one you can keep for 75 days

There is no set 75 Hard diet. The rule says only this: choose a diet, follow it every day for 75 days, with no cheat meals and no alcohol. What you eat is up to you. That freedom is the part people underestimate, because the diet you pick on day 0 is the one you will be holding yourself to on a wet Thursday in week eight, and a miss sends you back to day 1.

The diet is one of five daily rules. The full list, and what counts for each, is in the 75 Hard rules. You can tick the diet off each day, alongside the other four, in the free 75 Hard tracker. Still choosing a challenge? The 75 day challenge hub puts 75 Hard, 75 Soft and 75 Medium side by side, and 75 Hard vs 75 Soft shows how the food rule changes from one to the next.

What the 75 Hard diet rule asks

• A diet you choose. It does not have to be a named diet.
• Followed every day for all 75 days.
• No cheat meals.
• No alcohol, at all, including at weddings and birthdays.

That is the whole rule. There is no calorie target, no list of approved foods, and no requirement to lose weight. So the work is in writing your own rules clearly enough that, at 9pm, you can answer one question without arguing: did I follow it today?

Six patterns people choose for the 75 Hard diet

These are patterns, not meal plans. Each one is a kind of rule you can write down. None of them is right for everyone, and this page makes no claim about what any of them will do to your weight or health.

If you go for a target in numbers, the protein calculator and the calorie calculator give you a starting figure to take to a professional. The macro calculator splits a calorie number into protein, carbs and fat. All three give estimates, not prescriptions.

How to pick one you can keep for 75 days

The best diet for 75 Hard is not the strictest one. It is the one you will still be following on day 52, when you are tired, at a friend's house, and the only thing on offer is pizza. A restart on day 52 costs 52 days. A diet you can keep is worth far more than a diet that looks impressive on day 1.

1. Start from what you eat now. Change two or four things, not everything.
2. Write every rule so it has a yes or no answer. "Eat healthy" fails this test. "No fried food on weekdays" passes.
3. Plan for the meals you do not control: work lunches, family dinners, travel days.
4. Decide what happens at restaurants before you sit down at one.
5. Pick a rule you can check in under a minute. If checking it needs an app and a food scale, be honest about whether you will do that 75 times.

The cost of the easy-to-keep approach is that it looks less dramatic. A diet that only cuts fizzy drinks and takeaways can feel too small for a challenge called Hard. But the hard part of 75 Hard is the five rules together, every day, and the diet only has to hold its share.

What counts as a cheat meal?

Anything your own written rules do not allow. That is the only workable definition, because there is no central list. If your rule is no added sugar, a slice of birthday cake is a cheat meal. If your rule is a calorie target, the same cake is fine as long as the day stays under the number.

This is why vague rules cause restarts. With "eat clean", a protein bar, a flat white and a bag of crisps are all arguments, and you are the judge, the jury and the person who wants a snack. With a written rule, there is nothing to argue about.

One practical point: if you change the rule partway through, that is a new diet, and under the strict reading a new run. If you want room for one change, such as a higher target once training ramps up, write it into the rules before day 1. Unplanned edits halfway through tend to be cheat meals in disguise.

Alcohol on the 75 Hard diet

None. Not a glass of wine, not a toast at a wedding. Alcohol is banned on its own, separately from your diet, so even a diet that would normally allow it does not cover it here. Look at the next 75 days in your calendar before you start. A wedding, a stag or hen do, or a work trip in week five is easier to plan around now than to face on the night.

Sample days in plain food terms

These show what a day can look like under three of the patterns. They are examples of the shape of a day, not recommended amounts, and they make no promise about calories or weight.

High-protein

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast, with tomatoes.
• Lunch: chicken, rice and a big pile of vegetables, prepared the night before.
• Snack: Greek yoghurt with berries.
• Dinner: salmon or tofu, potatoes and green beans.

No added sugar

• Breakfast: plain porridge with a chopped banana and some nuts.
• Lunch: a homemade sandwich, with cheese or ham and salad, and an apple.
• Dinner: chilli with beans and rice, using a sauce you made rather than one from a jar.
• Drinks: water, black coffee, plain tea.

Eating window, 12pm to 8pm

• Before noon: water, black coffee or plain tea only.
• 12pm: a large lunch, such as a grain bowl with chickpeas, roasted vegetables and feta.
• 4pm: fruit and a handful of nuts.
• 7pm: dinner, such as chicken or lentil curry with rice, finished before 8pm.

A practical note on the eating window: 75 Hard needs two workouts a day. If one of them is early and the window does not open until noon, you are training on an empty stomach every morning for 75 days. Some people are fine with that. Some are not. Test it for a week before day 1 rather than finding out on day 3.

What I would do

Pick the pattern closest to how you already eat, write three to five rules with yes or no answers, and test them for one ordinary week before you start the count. If that week has a meal where you were not sure whether you broke a rule, rewrite the rule. That one week of testing costs you seven days on the calendar. A vague rule found on day 40 costs you forty.

What I cannot tell you is which pattern suits your body. That depends on your health, your history and your goals, and it is a question for a doctor or a dietitian, not for a habit tracker.