video game health update world

[davemerrill]

For somebody who grew up in the Atari 2600 era and who genuinely loved spending the Saturday afternoon at the arcade pumping quarters into arcade games like everybody else my age did, I am not that much of a video game person now.

I had a 2600 and an Intellivision and a Coleco and a 5200 that didn't work and some other systems back in the 90s/00s when they were dirt cheap at thrift stores, but they have all since been sold (OK, I still have the 2600). I have the Nintendo that my brother bought sometime in the late 1980s; it still works and I use it to play import Japanese games for novelty value. I never really enjoyed game play on the NES. Never a big fan of the platformer games. This puts me at odds with the pop-cultural values of pretty much everybody ten years younger than me, lacking that deep love for Zelda or Mario or Megaman.

Anyways, I borrowed a PSX from Parker back in 2001 (?) and it was stolen, but I enjoyed playing those Medal Of Honor games on it. When we moved up here I bought a PS2 and I played a lot of MOH games and that Wolfenstein game, and I pretty much played those 2003-2008 games over and over and over, particularly when I was working third shift, I'd get home at 7am and play until 9am, then sleep until 6pm or so.

We have a Wii now, have had it for years. And I'm here to say that I have probably used it the most of any system I ever owned, and mostly because of the Wii Fit. Three days a week I have a 20 minute routine I go through that I've been doing for a couple thousand days now, that keeps track of my weight and gives me a baseline of where I'm at.

Back in October of 2011 I got the official speech from medical professionals that I needed to start actin' right; I was 85 kilos (that's 185 pounds). Shain and I started eating less at every meal during the week - we still eat "fun" meals & treats on the weekends, but during the week, portions are controlled - and I started eating less sugar and dialing back the carbs and I quit keeping alcohol in the house.

Anyway, having the Wii Fit was a big help in the "new healthy lifestyle"; "gamifying" the whole boring business of weighing myself, stretching, exercising. Some push-ups, some squats, a little running in place, nothing too crazy, a sustainable program that doesn't take too much time and can really show me what that second helping of Chinese food does to my weight.

My all time low was May of 2015 when I got down to 74.5 kilos - that's about 164 lbs. Right now I'm at 76 kilos (167lbs). I'd like to get back down to 74kg. After Thanksgiving I think I was up to 79kg, but I've been working my way back down. I have a pair of 34 waist Levis that I want to fit into and still be able to breathe, that's my goal.

I know they came out with a new Wii that isn't around any more. They came out with a classic NES thing that vanished. There's been a PS3 and a PS4 and a whole bunch of X-boxes that I've ignored. Most video games these days are either multiplayer things full of teens screaming obscenities at each other, or long, involved role-playing things that take five hundred hours to get through, and I want neither of those things. I still have the PS2 and I might just play some more games on it this weekend, if I'm not out riding my bike. But three times a week I'll be firing up the Wii and putting my little icon through his paces, that's where I'm at in the video game world.

Comments

[lusentoj]

I grew up with SNES (parents finally bought a TV and gaming system when my mom was pregnant with my little brother), some years later got an N64 and GBC. we basically had mario, pacman, (mario) tetris, a car racing game, and on the GBC it was pokemon. for the computer we had a bunch of random games that my dad got for cheap at a garage sale one time, but half of them (ex. Sim Ant, Echo the Dolphin(?)) didn't have working graphics so i actually tried playing them without being able to see anything. in general my parents were really against videogames and watching tv (though the computer was fine "because you at least have to read and write to use the computer"). with what's out there nowadays in both games and on tv, it's laughable to think my parents thought Lemmings was "too violent" and "only for adults to play".

but i never had zelda, sonic, shooter games ("guns aren't toys!" so no water pistols either) or a bunch of other stuff (never played atari, no arcades etc). i didn't grow up with disney either (aside from what was unavoidable just due to living in america in general). the only comics i had (on paper) were 50-60's donald duck and Mad magazines (which i couldn't understand but read anyway), i never really had an interest in any comics other than japanese ones (i don't even like chinese/korean ones).

hmm, if i remember right i weigh around 47 kilos... don't eat processed foods (no sugar, no white flour, no cooking oil etc), try to eat as many fermented foods (saurkraut, kimchi, natto, kefir, kombucha...) as possible, don't own a car (so even though i'm in no way an "active" person, if i want to get groceries i still have to actually walk there). i'm only 25 but i'm apparently already at the age where doctors are actually surprized that i'm so healthy; seems like everyone around me (younger or older!) is in really bad health, ex. tons of back or mental problems, no stamina whatsoever. really, the best thing you can do for those is change your diet... but people are addicted to food so they won't even try a small experiement on it. ex. i started this "diet" because i was just curious to see if it'd help me; if it didn't, well what's 3 weeks of not eating sugar out of my life if i can eat it for all the rest of my years? but now i've kept it up for 3 years without looking back.

[davemerrill]

47 kilos = 103 pounds. That's really thin! For my height, that would be underweight by about 20 lbs.

[lusentoj]

Yeah, I've always been a bit underweight, the doctors don't say anything about it though so it must not be in the "danger zone"...