Alaya F recently revealed a deeply personal chapter of her life while nearing the end of the 75 Hard Challenge, a fitness and discipline programme she had decided to take on for the second time this year. For more than two months, she had kept her followers updated through short videos and photos, offering a clear look at her meals, workouts and even her current reading choices.
Just a day before completing the challenge, she posted a quiet, heartfelt video in which she spoke openly about the health difficulties she had been facing. Dressed casually in a white tank top, she explained that she had been dealing with a condition known as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO. She shared that this illness had caused persistent bloating, fatigue, inflammation, slow muscle recovery, reduced strength, nutrient absorption issues and brain fog, making her everyday routine—and the challenge itself—far more demanding than anyone realised.
In her post, she wrote that she initially hesitated to speak about it but felt it was important because the experience had taught her so much. She described how most people were used to seeing her looking a certain way, yet for much of the 75 days, she felt uncomfortable and unwell. What frustrated her most was that the condition had remained undiagnosed for nearly three months, and she had already been on antibiotics for more than fifty days.
Alaya also reflected on how different this round of the challenge had been compared to her first attempt. Previously, she approached each workout with the goal of pushing her limits and saw visible progress in her physique. This time, her focus shifted to simply showing up and completing the basic requirements, as her symptoms made it difficult to go beyond that. Instead of watching her body transform as it had before, she mostly saw the effects of the illness.
She shared that during her first challenge, she kept adding more structure, habits and intensity, but this experience taught her that sometimes doing just what is necessary—and accepting it as enough—is a powerful lesson in itself. She concluded that real discipline is less about intensity and more about steady, consistent effort, especially during times when nothing seems to be going well.
Through her honesty, Alaya offered her fans not just an update on her fitness journey but a reminder that growth often happens quietly, even when progress isn’t visible on the outside.
