75 Medium Challenge Rules: The Complete 2026 Guide

You found 75 Medium on TikTok. Maybe a friend mentioned it after burning out on 75 Hard. Either way, you’re trying to figure out what the actual rules are before you commit 75 days to something.

75 Medium sits in the middle between 75 Hard (created by entrepreneur Andy Frisella in 2019) and 75 Soft. Same six-task structure most days, but with a 90/10 diet rule, no required outdoor workout, and a forgiveness window that lets you finish even if you miss a few days.

This guide covers every rule, why each number was chosen, and how 75 Medium stacks up against the alternatives.

What is the 75 Medium Challenge?

75 Medium is a 75-day lifestyle challenge that went viral on TikTok and Instagram in 2023. It pitches itself as the realistic middle option between two extremes: the all-or-nothing intensity of 75 Hard and the more relaxed structure of 75 Soft.

There is no single founder. The challenge came out of creators who wanted the discipline of a 75-day reset without the punishing restart rule that has drawn criticism from health professionals. Most versions you find online share the same six core tasks, though minor details vary.

The audience is broad: people recovering from 75 Hard burnout, beginners who find 75 Soft too loose, busy parents who can’t fit two daily workouts, and anyone who wants structure without perfectionism.

The 6 Daily Rules of 75 Medium

The challenge runs for 75 consecutive days. Each day has six tasks, and you aim to complete all six on at least 68 of those days. More on that completion threshold below.

Rule 1: One 45-minute workout daily

A single 45-minute workout per day, every day. Indoor or outdoor, your choice. Walking, lifting, yoga, swimming, cycling, hiking, group classes, whatever you’ll actually do.

The CDC recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week plus two days of muscle-strengthening for adults. 75 Medium asks for roughly 315 minutes per week, more than double the federal baseline. That’s enough to drive real fitness gains but low enough that most people can sustain it without overuse injuries.

If you’re brand new to exercise, build up. A 45-minute walk on Day 1 is a workout. You don’t have to crush a CrossFit session.

Rule 2: Follow your chosen diet 90% of the time

Pick a diet framework that fits your goals. Mediterranean, high-protein, low-carb, plant-based, your call. Then stick to it for roughly 90 percent of your meals.

The math works out to about one flex meal every 10 days. A birthday dinner. A slice of cake at your kid’s party. A pizza on a Friday night. None of that breaks the challenge. The 90/10 split is what gives 75 Medium its name and its sustainability edge.

This is the single biggest departure from 75 Hard, which mandates zero cheat meals and triggers a full restart for one slip.

Rule 3: Drink half your body weight in ounces of water

The popular rule is half your body weight in ounces. A 160-pound person drinks 80 ounces. A 200-pound person drinks 100 ounces.

One caveat: this is folk wisdom, not an official recommendation. The National Academy of Medicine sets adequate total water intake at roughly 3.7 liters (125 ounces) for men and 2.7 liters (91 ounces) for women, including water from food and beverages. About 20 percent of your daily water comes from food, not the bottle.

For most healthy adults, the half-body-weight rule lands close enough. If you’re significantly above or below average size, check your number against the NAM figures and adjust. Overhydration is rare but real.

Rule 4: No alcohol

Zero alcohol for the full 75 days. No exceptions for weddings, birthdays, or Fridays. This is the one place 75 Medium stays as strict as 75 Hard.

Alcohol disrupts sleep, slows recovery, dehydrates you, and adds calories with no nutritional return. Pulling it for 75 days gives most people a noticeable jump in energy, focus, and sleep quality within the first three weeks.

Rule 5: 10 minutes of reading or personal-development content

Ten minutes of reading per day. Books, articles, audiobooks, podcasts, structured courses, all count. 75 Hard requires 10 physical pages of nonfiction. 75 Medium drops the format restriction.

If you commute, this is the easiest task to stack onto an existing habit. Audiobook on the drive. Article over morning coffee. Podcast on a walk (which can also satisfy Rule 1 on the right day).

Rule 6: 5 to 10 minutes of meditation or prayer

A short mindfulness or prayer practice, between 5 and 10 minutes. Use an app, follow a guided session, sit in silence, or pray however you usually do.

The point is a small daily window where you aren’t reacting to a screen or a meeting. The science on regular meditation for stress, sleep, and focus is well-established. Ten minutes is enough to compound.

Optional: Progress photos on Day 1 and Day 75

75 Medium does not require daily progress photos the way 75 Hard does. Most versions suggest a Day 1 photo and a Day 75 photo, and that’s it.

This is on purpose. Daily photos can fuel body-image issues and pull focus away from non-visible wins like energy, sleep, mood, and strength gains. Bookending the challenge gives you a clear before-and-after without 75 days of mirror-scrutiny.

75 Medium vs. 75 Hard vs. 75 Soft

Here’s how the three challenges stack up side by side:

Aspect	75 Hard	75 Medium	75 Soft
Daily workouts	Two 45-min (one outdoor)	One 45-min	One 45-min
Diet	Strict, zero cheats	90/10 rule	Eat well, social drinks OK
Water	1 gallon (128 oz)	Half body weight in oz	3 liters (101 oz)
Alcohol	None	None	Social occasions allowed
Reading	10 pages, nonfiction, physical	10 min, any format	10 pages, any book
Meditation	Not included	5–10 min daily	Some versions, 5 min
Progress photos	Daily	Day 1 and Day 75 only	Not required
Miss a day	Restart from Day 1	Complete 68 of 75 days	Continue, no penalty
Outdoor requirement	Yes (1 workout)	No	No
Difficulty	High	Moderate	Approachable

Pick 75 Hard if you already train consistently, thrive on hard rules, and want a discipline test more than a fitness program.

Pick 75 Medium if you want real structure and visible results without an all-or-nothing diet or a restart hanging over your head.

Pick 75 Soft if you’re building a routine from scratch, returning from a long break, or have a schedule that makes daily structure tough.

Still on the fence between the strict and soft versions? Our 75 Hard vs 75 Soft guide goes deeper on the two original programs.

The Cheat-Day and Restart Policy Explained

This is the single biggest reason people pick 75 Medium over 75 Hard, so it deserves its own section.

The 90/10 rule in practice

You’re aiming to follow your chosen diet 90 percent of the time. Roughly speaking, that’s one flex meal per 10 days, or about seven flex meals across the full 75 days. The challenge doesn’t dictate which meals. You decide based on what’s coming up in your life: a wedding, a vacation, a tough week.

Some people batch their flex meals. Others spread them evenly. Both work. What kills the challenge is sliding from “one flex meal” into “I had pizza four times this week.”

The 68-of-75 completion threshold

You complete 75 Medium by hitting all six daily tasks on at least 68 of 75 days. That’s about 91 percent perfect, with a buffer of seven imperfect days.

This buffer exists because life happens. You’ll have a sick day. A travel day. A week where work blows up. 75 Medium treats those as expected, not as failures.

The “mess up, do your best tomorrow” mindset

Miss a meditation? Skip a workout because you came down with the flu? You don’t restart. You don’t catch up by doubling tomorrow. You just pick the six tasks back up the next day.

This matches what habit research actually shows. Phillippa Lally’s landmark 2010 study at University College London found that automatic habits take an average of 66 days to form, with a range of 18 to 254 days depending on the person and behavior. The study also found that missing a single day did not derail habit formation. What broke the pattern was sustained absence, not a one-off miss.

75 Hard’s restart rule directly contradicts that finding. 75 Medium’s 68-of-75 rule aligns with it.

The Science Behind 75-Day Challenges

Why 75 days? Why 68? Why daily, not three times a week? The numbers aren’t arbitrary, even if some of them are rounded.

Habit formation takes about 66 days

Lally’s research, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, is the most-cited study on habit automaticity. The headline finding: behaviors take an average of 66 days to become automatic, but the range is wide. Simple habits (drinking water with breakfast) automate faster than complex ones (a daily 45-minute workout).

75 days is a sensible round number that clears the average and gives some margin for slower-to-automate behaviors. It also creates a clean before-and-after window.

CDC physical activity guidelines

The CDC recommends 150 minutes of moderate activity plus 2 days of strength training per week. 75 Medium delivers about 315 minutes of activity per week, comfortably above the floor without crossing into territory where overuse injuries spike (typically 5 plus hours of high-intensity work weekly).

Habit stacking amplifies the effect

Reading and meditation are kept short on purpose (10 minutes and 5 to 10 minutes). That makes them easy to attach to existing cues: morning coffee, post-workout cooldown, bedtime routine. Stacking small habits onto fixed daily anchors is one of the best-documented techniques for making them stick.

Realistic results

Healthline interviewed trainers and coaches who note that 75 Medium emphasizes sustainable habits and can support weight loss when paired with a calorie deficit, without the restart-penalty pressure that has drawn criticism from health professionals.

Cleveland Clinic experts have specifically cautioned that 75 Hard’s daily progress photos and rigid structure can fuel self-esteem and body-image issues. 75 Medium was designed to keep the structure while removing those pressure points.

Typical results from people who complete 75 Medium include 5 to 15 pounds of weight loss (varies widely), better sleep, more consistent energy, a regular reading habit, and a daily mindfulness practice. The non-physical wins often outlast the physical ones.

How to Start the 75 Medium Challenge

Don’t start on a whim. The setup matters more than the motivation.

1. Pick a start date

Choose a date with no major travel, weddings, or work crunches in the first two weeks. The first 14 days are where most people quit, and an empty calendar makes Week 1 dramatically easier. Use our 75-day challenge calculator to map out your exact end date and milestone days.

2. Choose your diet framework

Decide what 90 percent compliance actually means for you. Write down 3 sample breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 dinners, and 3 snacks that fit your diet. You’ll rotate these for the first week so cooking doesn’t become a decision.

3. Set a workout split

A weekly template beats wing-it scheduling. Example: Monday/Wednesday/Friday strength, Tuesday/Thursday cardio, Saturday long walk, Sunday yoga. Lock it on a calendar. Adjust as needed, but don’t start without one.

4. Decide your reading and meditation cues

When and where will you read? When and where will you meditate? Attach each task to an existing daily anchor. Reading right after morning coffee. Meditation before lights-out. The cue matters more than the willpower.

5. Choose a tracking method

You have three options:

Printable PDF. Free, but easy to lose, and you have to remember to bring it everywhere.
Spreadsheet or notes app. Free, fully customizable, but you’ll build the columns yourself and there’s no streak feedback.
A dedicated app. Built for the job. The downside is most 75 Hard apps don’t natively support the 90/10 rule or the 68-of-75 threshold.

This is where Reset75 fits in. The app has a pre-built 75-day template you can customize for the 90/10 diet rule and forgiving completion threshold, with daily check-ins and streak tracking on your phone. No restart penalty unless you turn one on. Browse all our free trackers and tools before you decide.

A completed 75 Medium beats an abandoned 75 Hard every time. Pick the version of the challenge you’ll actually finish, set up your week so it’s hard to fail, and start Day 1. Download Reset75 →

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the rules of the 75 Medium challenge?

75 Medium has six daily tasks for 75 days: one 45-minute workout, follow your chosen diet 90% of the time, drink half your body weight in ounces of water, no alcohol, 10 minutes of reading or personal-development content, and 5 to 10 minutes of meditation or prayer. Progress photos on Day 1 and Day 75 are optional but recommended.

How is 75 Medium different from 75 Hard?

75 Medium requires one daily workout instead of two, allows a 90/10 diet instead of zero cheat meals, drops the outdoor-workout requirement, and does not force you to restart from Day 1 if you slip. You complete the challenge by hitting at least 68 of 75 days rather than every single day.

Do you have to restart the 75 Medium challenge if you miss a day?

No. The completion threshold is 68 of 75 days, which gives you a buffer of seven imperfect days. The mindset is mess up, do your best tomorrow, rather than back to Day 1.

Can you have cheat meals on 75 Medium?

Yes. The 90/10 rule means you eat aligned with your chosen diet roughly 90 percent of the time, which works out to about one flex meal every 10 days. The point is consistency, not perfection.

Is alcohol allowed on the 75 Medium challenge?

No. Alcohol is off the table for the full 75 days, just like on 75 Hard. This is one of the few rules 75 Medium keeps strict.

How much water do you drink on 75 Medium?

The popular rule is half your body weight in ounces, so a 180-pound person would drink 90 ounces. Keep in mind the National Academy of Medicine’s baseline is about 125 ounces for men and 91 ounces for women from food and beverages combined, so check your numbers against that.

Does the 75 Medium challenge work for weight loss?

It can, when paired with a calorie deficit. Trainers and coaches interviewed by Healthline note that 75 Medium emphasizes sustainable habits and may help with weight loss without the restart-penalty pressure of 75 Hard. Results depend on your diet, starting fitness, and consistency.

What is the best way to track 75 Medium?

Printable trackers work but are easy to lose and clunky on the go. A dedicated app like Reset75 gives you a pre-built 75-day template, daily check-ins, streak tracking, and a forgiving mode that matches the 68-of-75 completion rule.