Life Lessons from 75 Soft: A Mom’s Perspective

It was mid September 2024, I was 6 weeks postpartum and I was finally cleared to workout by my doctor. I had been itching to get back into lifting weights again, but since I had a c-section I refused to pick up a weight until my doctor cleared me to do so.

When I was 4 weeks postpartum I started to slowly walk around my neighborhood with my newborn to get out of the house and get some fresh air. I started slowly with just walking back and forth on the sidewalk in front of my house for 15 minutes. This was very tough at first. I eventually worked my way up to an hour everyday around the neighborhood and some mornings we would visit a local park for our walks to get a change in scenery. This helped to not only clear my mind in the early days, help with my stamina, but also made me realize that I truly missed working out.

Now I knew that I was ready to workout, but I was unsure where to start. After doing some scrolling through TikTok I kept seeing videos pop up about 75 hard. I had heard of the program before and actually had thought about doing it, but was honestly was scared to fail(horrible excuse). I knew that I wasn’t ready for 75 hard, but 75 soft now I could do that. I decided that I would start the challenge on October 1, 2024.

Before pregnancy, I weighed 175 and had been wanting to lose 20 pounds for years. When I gave birth I weighed 220 pounds. Seeing that number on the scale was honestly hard even though I was pregnant. At my 6 week postpartum appointment I weighed 207 pounds which I was happy about, but the weight on my frame was so umcomfortable. I forgot to mention I’m only 5’3. When I officially started 75 soft I weighed in at 200 pounds.

Here were my rules for 75 soft.

Complete 6 45 minute workouts weekly
Drink 3 liters of water daily
Eat healthy & allow for moderation
Read 10 pages daily
Film my workouts and post them on TikTok

My first workout was honestly brutal. I wanted to cry and scream. In my mind I had the same strength and endurance I had before pregnancy. I was truly humbled and realized that 75 soft would indeed be a journey. Throughout the 75 days not only did I lose 14 pounds, but I also learned 4 main things.

Confidence comes from doing and keeping promises to yourself – There have been times in life where I have lacked confidence in myself. I felt like I wasn’t good enough or was not capable of achieving my goals. After some reflection and reading, I realized that I lacked confidence because I would set out to achieve a goal or tell myself I would do something only to let myself down by not doing or trying. After continually doing that your subconscious starts to believe that you cannot do these things and your confidence starts to go down hill.
I can do hard thing when I give it my all – You’ll be amazed when give it all you got and push yourself the things you can accomplish both mentally and physically. Mind over matter as the say.
Comparison is the thief of joy – Many times when we are looking to get motivated to lose weight, level up , get a better job , etc we look to others who have already achieved what we are striving for. So of course I did this when it came to postpartum weightless and completing the 75 soft challenge. I watched and saved so many TikTok videos I lost count. After awhile, I started to get discouraged because my progress wasn’t happening like “everyone” else. You mean to tell me there are moms who bounced back at 14 weeks and when I reached 14 weeks I was no where close to where I was before birth? I quickly realized this was my journey and no one else’s. If I continued to put in the hard work I would reach my goal when it was MY TIME.
Time is going to pass by anyway so you might as well keep going – Speaking for myself my patience at times can be low. Having two children has helped with that, but when it comes to working out I want to see the results ASAP! Now we all know that is not the reality to live in. Whether the weight comes off fast or slower the time will pass by anyway so don’t give up. A lot of times if we aren’t seeing the result fast enough we will dip and say forget it. But the days, months, and years will pass by either way so you might as well keep working towards that goal.

Currently five moths postpartum and I’m so proud of myself for completing 75 soft. The biggest win is that I lost 16 pounds postpartum and weigh 184 pounds. I’m still continuing my journey towards my final goal of 145 pounds, but in 10 pound increments to not get overwhelmed.