'I lost 5kg with this free daily habit, here's how it changed my life'

A young Aussie who ran 5km a day for over 100 days has said it's changed her life in more ways than she can count — and is showing no signs of slowing down after her impressive achievement.

Nikki Potter initially planned to "jump start" a healthier lifestyle by running 5km a day for just 10 days, but when she reached that goal, she was surprised to realise she wasn't ready to stop there.

So she kept running and after 30 days, she continued again until she had consistently run 5km every day for a whopping 100 days.

"I just kept going," she told Yahoo Lifestyle of the impressive achievement. At first, she thought the only positive side effect would be physical with a bit of weight loss, and after managing to shed around 5kg, she realised that the benefits went far beyond that.

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What results has Nikki seen?

"I'm so much more proud of my mental strength and consistency compared to any physical impacts," she shared. "I proved to myself that I can find the time to exercise, which is something I hadn't necessarily been prioritising before that."

She now feels fitter, stronger, faster, and it's helped with her mental clarity and focus.

"I really thought the main change would be weight loss, but I can tell I'm a lot stronger in my legs, and I'm more lean," she said. "I also think it's made a difference to my cardiovascular health."

What inspired Nikki to challenge herself?

Nikki explained that after watching Aussie athlete Nedd Brockmann attempt to break a world record by running 1000 miles in just ten days in October last year, she was inspired to do a challenge of her own.

Nikki thought, "surely, if he can do that, I can do 5km."

She admits there were days when she woke up sore and felt like she couldn't be bothered, but she "pushed herself anyway" — even in the rain.

"There were a few days when I got absolutely bucketed on, which made things interesting," she laughed.

"Once I got into a routine, I just hated the idea of missing a day. I kept thinking, "I've come this far, I can't stop now," she said.

Unexpected changes during 100 days of running 5km

Nikki said one surprising side effect of running every day was that it forced her to stop drinking.

"It just wasn't worth waking up not at 100 per cent and trying to get through a run if I'd been drinking the night before," she said. So she decided to "totally cut it out", even over the Christmas holiday period.

Even now, Nikki said she's kept up the healthy habit of not drinking.

"I've noticed that it doesn't really change my life too much not drinking so it's been pretty easy to keep it up," she said.

Runner's advice to Aussies taking on big 2025 challenge

Since finishing the challenge, Nikki has kept up her healthy diet and exercising every day, but has decided to mix up her routine a bit.

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"Since the challenge has ended, I've still kept a personal goal to do something every day but I've added variety in," she said. "Whether it's a HIIT class, weights or a run, I still want to move my body consistently, but it's definitely been good being able to diversify from running."

Her advice to anyone looking to challenge themselves in 2025 is to not be "overwhelmed" by a big goal.

"Take it day by day because those small decisions all add up," Nikki said. "If something feels too hard, try to give it a go anyway because sometimes starting is the worst part and once you get over that hump things get easier."

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