🏥 75 Soft Safety & Medical Guide

While 75 Soft is designed to be gentler and more flexible than extreme challenges, it's still a significant lifestyle commitment. Your safety and health should always come first. Please read these considerations carefully before starting.

Important Disclaimer

This website provides general information and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with your healthcare provider before starting any new exercise, nutrition, or wellness program—especially if you have existing health conditions.

Before You Start

Consider having a conversation with your doctor if any of the following apply to you:

You have any chronic health conditions
You're currently pregnant or breastfeeding
You have a history of eating disorders
You're taking medications that affect hydration or metabolism
You have heart conditions or blood pressure issues
You have kidney problems (affecting water intake needs)
You're recovering from surgery or injury
You're over 65 or have been sedentary for extended periods

A quick check-in with your healthcare provider can help you modify the challenge safely for your specific situation.

Physical Health Considerations

Exercise Safety

While 45 minutes of daily movement is the 75 Soft standard, this should be appropriate movement for your body. If you're new to exercise, start slowly. If you have injuries or limitations, modify accordingly.

Warm up before workouts and cool down after
Don't ignore pain—there's a difference between discomfort and injury
Take the active recovery day seriously
Invest in proper footwear and equipment (see our recommended gear guide)
Stay aware of your surroundings if exercising outdoors

Safe stretching practice before exercise — Photo by Conscious Design

Pregnancy and Postpartum

Many pregnant and postpartum individuals have successfully modified 75 Soft with medical guidance. Key modifications typically include:

Pregnancy-safe exercises only
Adjusted hydration based on your provider's recommendations
Flexible nutrition that prioritizes nourishment, not restriction
More rest days as needed
Postpartum: waiting until cleared by your provider before starting

Mental Health & Eating Disorders

This is crucial: while 75 Soft is designed to be gentler than extreme challenges, any structured program around food, exercise, and daily rules can be problematic for some people.

Eating Disorder History

If you have a history of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, orthorexia, or other eating disorders, please approach 75 Soft with extreme caution—or consider skipping it entirely. The 80/20 eating approach, while flexible, still involves monitoring food choices. For some, this can trigger old patterns.

                            Signs to Stop
                                or Seek Help
                            Obsessive thoughts about food, exercise, or "being good"
Anxiety or guilt about flexibility within the rules
Restricting food beyond what feels nourishing
Compulsive exercise even when sick or injured
The challenge feels like punishment rather than self-care

                        

Anxiety and Perfectionism

Even without eating disorder history, some people find that structured challenges trigger anxiety or perfectionism. The no-restart rule in 75 Soft is designed to prevent this, but if you notice obsessive tracking, excessive guilt, or that the challenge is harming rather than helping your mental health—it's okay to stop.

Any wellness practice that harms your wellbeing isn't wellness—it's just harm with good marketing. Trust yourself.

Hydration Safety

While proper hydration is essential, more isn't always better. The 3-liter recommendation is general guidance and may not be appropriate for everyone:

Kidney conditions: May require limited fluid intake
Heart conditions: Excessive water can stress the heart
Certain medications: Diuretics, lithium, and others affect hydration needs
Size matters: A 5'0" person doesn't need the same water as a 6'3" person

Water Intoxication

While rare, it's possible to drink too much water too quickly, which can dilute sodium levels dangerously (hyponatremia). Spread your water intake throughout the day rather than consuming large amounts at once.

When to Modify

75 Soft is inherently flexible, but some situations call for additional modifications:

Illness

When you're sick, rest is medicine. A fever, stomach bug, or respiratory infection calls for recovery, not exercise. Skip or significantly modify movement, focus on nourishment and hydration as your body can handle, and don't feel guilty.

Injury

Exercising through injury often makes it worse. If you're injured, modify your movement to whatever is safe—this might mean upper body work with a knee injury, or only gentle stretching with a back issue. When in doubt, rest.

Extreme Stress or Life Events

Major life events—grief, job loss, family emergencies—may require you to pause or significantly modify the challenge. Self-compassion in these moments is more important than any daily checklist.

Listening to Your Body

The greatest skill you can develop during 75 Soft is intuitive body awareness. This means distinguishing between:

Resistance (I don't feel like it) — often worth pushing through gently
Warning (something feels wrong) — requires attention and modification
Emergency (pain, dizziness, distress) — stop immediately

Woman in restful meditation pose representing body awareness — Photo by Kari Shea

The Ultimate Rule

No challenge, no streak, no external goal is worth harming your health. The purpose of 75 Soft is to support your wellbeing—if it's doing the opposite, it's not working as intended. Give yourself permission to modify, pause, or stop.

Key Takeaways

Consult your healthcare provider before starting any new exercise or nutrition program
People with eating disorder history should approach with caution or skip entirely
Modify the challenge for pregnancy, chronic illness, or injury as needed
Hydration needs vary—more isn't always better, especially for certain conditions
Listen to your body and stop or modify if something feels wrong

TL;DR: Your health comes first. Consult a doctor before starting, modify for your specific needs, be especially careful with eating disorder history, and always listen to your body.

Now that you understand the safety considerations, explore challenge variations that might suit your specific needs, or return to the 75 Soft overview to understand the core framework.