Wellness & Fitness

[ShiraNoMai]

Just thought I'd check in our members and see how we're all doing. Our gaming lifestyles generally tend to produce more sedentary, calorie-dense diets and routines because, why move when you can play more game? Hot pockets, a soda and a comfy couch is all we need right?

Been on a bit of a health grind lately myself to get myself feeling, well, more like myself. This pandemic has done major damage to me: physically and mentally. I eventually got real tired of feeling like complete dogshit, with no energy or care to do anything, so I began a bit of a journey to get back on track. First the mental to get motivation to get the physical going again. 

Now, I'm 15lbs lighter and down 1.5% body fat. Need to work in more movement time to get it going further but so far, tracking my eating habits and assuring I'm eating the correct amount of essential nutrients (see: macro dieting) is working out pretty good. It helps that I'm not eating things I don't like, so I'm not just eating like a rabbit and not enjoying myself, which definitely helps with the motivation to keep going down this track and avoid burn out.

Anyone else considering a lifestyle change, or in the process of doing so?

[Moonface]

I don't know if I'd say what I'm doing is a lifestyle change, but I have been trying to cut down on the amount of soda I drink. I try to keep to a single one a day, with two being the max, as opposed to a few months ago when I would easily get through an eight pack in like three days. It was pretty hard at first because of the craving for the sugar and having to adjust to a lack of caffeine in my system, but I'm gradually getting there. XD

[Mr EliteL]

I should be on some kind of lifestyle change but I'm just not at the moment. I used to be a lot worse but still not where I should be, which is eating more healthy food and doing correct portions, and if I want to keep putting more weight on as in muscle, more meals a day instead of a crap lunch or dinner full junk food. Also it's very easy for me to lose weight, only 8st today, didn't realise I'm still about where I was after I got ill. Work helps with exercise though, so that helps me not to sit around all day. I do some weightlifting but obviously I haven't actually gained anything recently so need to do more, and my whole body for that matter. Need to do walks again too, especially on my own but I usually don't have motivation to.

[ShiraNoMai]

@Moonface That is absolutely a lifestyle change. Anything that changes your way of life for the better is considered one, and I'm glad you're doing it

Motivation is definitely the biggest hurdle to overcome when it comes to caring about your wellbeing. That's the first step into moving forward, so perhaps looking into improving your mental health will start moving you forward towards those goals of yours

[Moonface]

It was mentioned briefly in UCT, but since it fits here and I actually started doing it with @ShiraNoMai, I took up playing tennis with her at least once a week.

We got some trial rackets a week ago and practiced with those to see whether we liked how those felt before actually buying anything, and today we went and bought our rackets. It just sucks that no matter what time you play you'll always sweat up a storm because it's Florida. x.x

[ShiraNoMai]

It hasn't helped that it's been very stormy and rainy during the day so the nights remain HELLA humid and trap all that heat in from the day. Hopefully our next night we try, it'll be a dry day and if we're lucky, a breeze will come through!

We did buy some very nice rackets, too. These Babolat Evo Drive Lite series ones are so nice looking, and the price wasn't crazy expensive compared to the rest of the stock the store had. Also they matched the demo rackets we had pretty solidly. Looking forward to breaking them in our next session for sure.

My journey so far has been pretty solid.



This doesn't show that I started at 191.5 (I used a different scale to measure), so I actually lost more than what's shown here, but this is great progress. Looking forward to seeing these numbers decrease more with time. 

I also find it amusing that literally all this weight gain was in literal fat. Not that I'd ever get to be (because that's impossible), but my fat-free weight matches what I used to weigh after high school 10 years ago  I really gotta burn all this off and I should be feeling and looking like how I would like again.

[Moonface]

Meanwhile 112lbs is what my regular weight was for years and only recently did I gain some weight: 6 whole pounds! *shot*

[ShiraNoMai]

I mean, you could start building muscle if you wanted to. I'd love to start seeing that process happen.

[Mr EliteL]

If I wasn't a complete idiot on Saturday and messed up my bank card one and a bit months before I'm due a new one, I'd have started spending a bit towards gaining the weight I want. Have to wait for Monday until I get my card working again then I can go out and buy the stuff I'm intending to get. Already got some of it before then but yeah I screwed up forgetting my PIN number and did three tries with getting it mixed up with my work's store number (they're similar and for some reason it was on my mind that day), should've waited I fucking knew it all along like I do right now. 

Last time I weighed myself I'm barely 8st and that's crap compared to what I was in 2020, around 8.7st. Aiming for 9.7st at the end of my er, "plan", maybe 10 max. Have my own dumbbells and have a book with exercises I can do with them all around my body plus a number of exercises I don't need equipment for too. Ideally I do want a mat and a bench for a bit more but of course my current house has little space for those.

Sport I'm not into at the moment, really wish I was though and it's awesome you both are taking up tennis. Yeah a shame for Florida's weather, yeesh makes it more of challenge but look at it as a good challenge instead. Tennis or badminton is what I would've been doing.
Oh no, Shira! But yes yes let them numbers come down, you've already got off to a great start though so shouldn't be a problem. Oh geez, I'd hate but also laugh to see what my numbers are on that app.

[ShiraNoMai]

If you use !scale in trihex's stream, you can also get the same stats with the scale we use! It's pretty handy, and I think decently priced for what it is ($20? I think).

I also think you should watch tonight's VOD. I timestamped a good spot where someone asks "Do you think the hardest part about going to the gym isn't doing the exercise, but actually going to the gym?" and it gets into motivation and what stops people from getting their foot in the door to start a healthier lifestyle: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1102069131?t=2h40m43s

I think you should bring all your equipment to an actual local gym, honestly. It'll get you out of your house, and you can have room to work out properly in. There's one called "Club W****am" in your town, it looks like. Should try it out!