Exergaming Journal #8: First major goal reached!

In all honesty, my exergaming for February was minimal when compared to other months, but the month still brought some very good news – I managed to meet my initial weight loss goal!

It was mid-March in 2021 that I began this journey and the GemuBaka journals that accompanied it, and, within one year, I was able to shed 50 pounds (22.68 kilograms) by gaining an interest in video games that provide exercises and overhauling my diet.

This initially began with Ring Fit Adventure on the Nintendo Switch and utilizing the Under Armor My Fitness phone app to track my calories. I quickly added in Fitness Boxing 2 on Nintendo Switch, and over time I became more active in playing Pump It Up XX and StepManiaX in arcades and also checked out Knockout Home Fitness starting in January.

I very much enjoy playing all of those exergames, and through that activity – as well as a lot of water, Crunch Fit snack bars, beef jerky, Arby’s turkey and Swiss wraps, yogurt and fruit that made their way into my diet of no more than 1,900 Calories per day – I reached a weight I haven’t been at since 2016.

Knockout Home Fitness had most of my focus in January, but in February, this focus switched over to traveling so I could play as much Pump It Up XX as I possibly could. You may recall from Exergaming Journal #7 that Andamiro recently saw an issue with its server that completely wiped the Pump It Up player data. The server was partially recovered last month and this prompted me to get extra games in so I could re-record my personal scores and work back my experience points and levels.

This was benefitted by Dave & Busters introducing a new phone app which offered a one-time deal of $15 in free game credit if you purchased $15. On each trip I was able to spend approximately six hours at the arcade (with one of those trips slightly sidetracked for my Time Crisis 5 video). The Pump It Up machine tends to have people adding extra credits to it trying to figure out how to play it, so February allowed for me to play a number of free games.

The game’s stat tracking showed an accumulation of approximately 3,000 Calories burned in those two sessions, so some good progress was made.

And then things took a little bit of a detour …

In prepping for my second trip to the arcade, I experienced issues with my vehicle and it turned out that when I stopped to fuel up, the gas pump dispensed a bunch of water into my tank instead of gasoline. This ran my schedule off the rails for a good week, and on top of that, I injured one of my toes (fully bruised, with the bruising extending slightly onto my foot).

As a result, I eased off the exergaming for the second half of February and reverted back to my household exercising repetitions. I am able to use a little bit of space in my home office to do repetitions with resistance bands as well as squats and sit-ups. When I resumed these repetitions, I started at 20 each, and I’ve built up to 40 each, with 50 likely to come soon. These are a little less impactful than doing the exergaming, but I can do them in 10-15 minutes and it still ensures I get some daily activity.

Additionally, I cut back my second meal eating a little. On my second-shift schedule, I am typically waking up around 2 p.m. and then I eat a dinner that ranges from 600-900 Calories. My revised second meal later in the evening now ranges from 400-500.

Again, my Calorie counting app scolds me for eating less than 1,200 Calories in a day, so I’m not skimping out on the food my body needs, but I’ve adapted so I’m not consuming the full 1,900 I am “allowed.”

Of course, on the days of huge Calorie burning, I eat more. Following my first Pump It Up session in February, I stopped at a grocery store and bought four containers of sushi for my dinner. One key of taking a weight loss journey is in realizing that diets are not punishments.

Hitting 180 pounds is a major personal achievement, but the journey isn’t over and the Exergaming Journals on GemuBaka aren’t finished, either. In reviewing a variety of indices, I’m pleased to know I am no longer consider overweight, but, on average, the suggested weight for my personal stats such as height is around 165 pounds. This means I have another 15 pounds to go before I’ve reached a “recommended” weight.

I’ll likely have to keep moving at this pace through at least March and April before I reach that point, but I’m going to have to make yet another decision as I approach this new goal. Part three of this journey will be based on a decision to build muscle or wholly focus on areas such as cardio and core strength.

Regardless of the future direction, it’s been amazing to see other support my journey. I’m sure there are accounts that are just picking up on keywords through WordPress, but I find it encouraging that the Exergaming Journal posts receive a good chunk of likes and follows from a variety of WordPress accounts. Coupled with increased interest in exercising and healthy habits due to the new year, the beginning of 2022 has been a really motivating time to be healthy.

We’re barreling into March, which will mark a full year since I started the exergaming push. Hopefully my schedule will be clear enough to do something a little more interesting for the next journal, but February still provided results and I’m pleased I was able to meet my goal.

Stay healthy and keep having fun with those exergames!