75 Soft rules, plus 25 ideas to fill your 75 days

75 Soft rules list, written as goals you can tick

Here are the four rules as Cleveland Clinic lists them, with the workout rule split in two so the recovery day gets its own box.

• Eat well every day for 75 days, and drink alcohol only on social occasions.
• Exercise for 45 minutes every day for 75 days.
• Make one day in every 7 an active recovery day.
• Drink 3 litres of water every day for 75 days.
• Read 10 pages of any book every day: 750 pages by day 75.

75 Soft workout ideas and active recovery days

The rules do not say what the 45 minutes must be, or what active recovery means, so pick an easy day for recovery and mix up the other six.

• Make 2 of each week's workouts strength days: at least 20 by day 75.
• Walk briskly for 45 minutes on 3 days a week.
• Try 5 kinds of 45 minute workout you have never done, one every 2 weeks.
• Spend each recovery day on an easy walk, a slow swim or gentle yoga.
• Stretch for 10 minutes after every workout for all 75 days.

75 Soft reading ideas: pages and books to count

75 Soft lets you read any book, so the goal is pages, and 10 a day comes to 750 by the end.

• Finish 3 books of about 250 pages each by day 75.
• Read one novel, one book about a skill and one book a friend picks, all before day 75.
• Read your 10 pages before you open your phone in the morning, on 50 of the 75 days.
• Write 3 lines about every book you finish.
• Read out loud to someone at home once a week: 10 times by the end.

75 Soft diet and water ideas you can keep

"Eat well" is not a number, so these ideas turn it into counts you can tick, the way glow up goals turn a big wish into small daily ones.

• Cook dinner at home 5 nights a week: at least 50 dinners by day 75.
• Plan the next week's meals on 10 Sundays.
• Eat a vegetable with lunch and with dinner every day for 75 days.
• Fill a 1 litre bottle 3 times a day: by noon, by 5 pm and by bedtime.
• Pack your own lunch on 4 workdays a week.

75 Medium and other 75 Soft rule ideas

75 Medium sits between 75 Soft and the 75 Hard challenge, and Cleveland Clinic says there is no single official version of it.

• Do one workout of 45 to 60 minutes a day for 75 days, as 75 Medium asks.
• Spend 10 to 20 minutes a day meditating, journaling, reading or praying, for 75 days.
• Follow your food plan 90% of the time for 75 days.
• Try a 30 day soft version first, then decide on the full 75.
• Add a rule of your own, like 10 minutes of tidying, and tick it for 75 days.

75 Soft vs 75 Hard: what is a good 75 Soft goal?

75 Soft has no official rulebook. The four rules above are the version Cleveland Clinic lists, and the one this page uses. Cleveland Clinic points to 75 Soft for people who find 75 Hard too much: it keeps the 75 days and gives you more room. If you miss a step, its page says, you are not penalized and you do not start the 75 days over.

The 45 minutes a day is already a lot. The CDC says adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as 30 minutes on 5 days, plus 2 days of strength work. Six days of 45 minutes come to 270 minutes, nearly twice that minimum. If you are new to exercise, build up to it, and Cleveland Clinic suggests talking to a doctor or a trainer before you start.

Keep the goal on the habits, not on your body. In its page on 75 Medium, Cleveland Clinic lists becoming too focused on weight or body image as a risk. A good 75 Soft goal is 75 days of the four rules, not a number on the scale. If the food rule is the one you want to make sharper, a no sugar challenge turns it into one rule you can answer yes or no.

75 Soft tracker: how to count your 75 days

Count done days, not rules: a day counts when all four rules are ticked. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that recording it beat keeping it in your head.

75 Soft is a days challenge: 75 days, one tick per done day. Pages and litres are amounts, if you also want to count them. Start on 18 October and day 75 falls on 31 December, right inside a winter arc.

What a missed day means depends on the version you follow, and in the one above you carry on. Going back to day one for a single miss is one of the reasons people quit goals. A picture of 75 squares, one per done day, fills a square for each day you did.

Frequently asked questions

What are the 75 Soft rules?

In the version Cleveland Clinic lists, there are four, every day for 75 days: eat well and drink alcohol only on social occasions, exercise for 45 minutes with one active recovery day a week, drink 3 litres of water, and read 10 pages of any book.

What is the difference between 75 Soft and 75 Hard?

75 Hard asks for two 45 minute workouts a day and a restart after any missed day. 75 Soft asks for one workout a day and does not send you back to day one. 75 Medium sits between the two.

What happens if you miss a day of 75 Soft?

In the version Cleveland Clinic describes, you are not penalized and you do not start the 75 days over. You can set a stricter rule for yourself if you want one. Decide before day one, so a bad day does not decide for you.