Here’s why you might feel the need the fill your day with noise.
A person’s “hotness” typically gets determined by others, whether that’s a Y2K “hot or not” website, or Paris Hilton. However, a social media challenge called “75 Hotter” is helping redefine what hotness means: Could it be more about how you feel than how you look? The challenge is a play on the super-intense 75 Hard challenge, a restrictive fitness, exercise, and lifestyle protocol that went viral in 2022. This iteration replaces a strict diet and exercise regimen with daily goals of hydration, steps, socialization, eating more protein and greens, and positive self-talk.
“Growing up, I never felt hot, [because] I felt like I didn’t look like these ‘hot girls,’” 75 Hotter creator Jade Brandt, an Austin-based content creator, tells Well+Good. “Now, it’s like something from within.”
Brandt created the challenge in Fall 2023, but it’s blown up this January as Brandt kicked off a new 75 days on January 6, garnering over 1 million views on Instagram and TikTok. People continue to join the challenge, commenting that they’re “in” even after the “official” start date. “OBSESSED w/this!! This is the energy we need for 2025,” said one Instagram fan.
Here’s what to know about the 75 Hotter challenge—including things to keep in mind if you want to take it on and experts’ take on reclaiming “hotness.”
What is the 75 Hotter challenge?
At the start of 2023, Brandt undertook the 75 Hard challenge, which requires 75 days of two workouts per day, a strict diet, a prescribed amount of water, and reading self-help books. The program also states participants must start the 75 days over again if they miss their requirements one day.
Brandt couldn’t wait for the challenge to end. She even started resenting reading. “It was unsustainable,” Brandt says.
But come fall 2023, Brandt still felt like she needed some sort of reset. So she crafted the 75 Hotter challenge, which takes a simpler, self-care-oriented approach to health and wellness. It caught on: her original 75 Hotter TikTok explainer video has over 5.7 million views. The 2024/2025 version is slightly different based on community feedback about how to be more inclusive and avoid toxic diet culture; weight loss was one of Brandt’s personal goals in 2023, which she has since de-emphasized. But the overarching goal is consistent: being “hot from the inside out.”
The 75 Hotter challenge includes the following steps, with some additional parame