Tim's 50 Day Challenge
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Week Six Check-In
Starting Weight: 180.4
Current Weight: 168.2 lbs
Waist: 37.0 in. (Down 1/2 in. from last week, 3 inches total)
Weekly Weight Loss: 0.0 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 12.2 lbs
% of Goal Completed (of 14.3lbs): 84%
Additional Weekly Data:
Total sessions of high-intensity VR training: 5
Total hours of high-intensity VR training (including warmups and cooldown): ~5:25
Average calories burned per session: 717 kcal. (Up 5 kcal from last week)
Weighted Vest: 17.5 lbs. (same weight as last week)
I lost no weight this week and really couldn’t be more excited about it. If that sounds nuts, well, here’s why. While it’s true I didn’t lose any weight, my waist still went down another ½ inch. The only explanation for that is that I lost fat and gained muscle; I’ve experienced the elusive process known as body recomposition. Very exciting!
Which dovetails nicely with a comment I received last week from /u/Hasuto:"The exercise is raising my resting metabolism, so I am burning more calories even when I'm not exercising"
I'm pretty sure this is a myth. You can't significantly alter your base metabolic rate. (I found this article about it http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/can-you-really-boost-your-metabolism but there are a lot of disinformation about this online, often in list form).
It's also been demonstrated that exercise actually doesn't lead to weight loss (
https://youtu.be/fCtn4Ap8kDM). But it is extremely important for general healthiness!
I would also think you are overestimating how many calories you are burning during your exercise. Granted I have little experience in calculating it myself. I don't think I burn that much an hour swimming at a fairly high pace and then im continually swimming with no breaks. But as long as you're losing weight that means you're at least at a deficit.
But hey, that just means you made the difference on your own! :-)
The phenomena I'm describing here is known as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption and is observed in interval training and intense bouts of physical exertion cycled with short periods of rest. https://www.acefitness.org/blog/5008/7-things-to-know-about-excess-post-exercise-oxygen
Here's an example of my heart rate in a recent workout. Note the spikes and valleys: http://imgur.com/OTjzmrV These are the ideal conditions which can achieve EPOC.
As you can see, I use a Polar H7 heart rate monitor, which is purportedly one of the more accurate, especially as compared to optical heart rate monitors found on most smart watches and fitness bands.
Another point here worth clarifying is “weight loss” vs. “fat loss.” Take two individuals, both overweight, who lose 20 lbs over two months. One individual is exercising 5 days a week, and the other individual is completely bed ridden. Granted, both individuals lost the same amount of weight, but the individual who exercised lost a greater share of fat vs. the other who lost a greater share of muscle due to muscle atrophy. Point being, with all things being equal, a person who is exercising will experience the greater fat loss compared to an individual just dieting, even if the total weight loss is the same.
Some other exciting news this week is that Jonathan Nafarrete - /u/DigSomeMore – posted a great write-up on all this on VRScout: Losing Weight In VR With This VIVE Workout Do check it out!
I’ve arrived at the final week of my 50 Day Challenge, and I’m still 2.1 lbs away from my goal weight. As Christopher Walken would say, “that’s intense!”
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Three more days left before my challenge is completed and I've been doing a lot of reflecting on the experience and planning for what the continuation of this journey will look like.
The most exciting part of this whole enterprise for me hasn't been my own results. While that's been great, what's been more gratifying for me are the people out there who have decided to challenge themselves to become more active using virtual reality themselves. I never did this solely to prove something to myself, I also did it to demonstrate to everyone that gaming can have a lasting impact on the quality of our lives. It hasn't just been me spreading this message either. People like Joe Rogan and Terry Crews have been raising awareness that VR gaming can be used for more than just a form of passive entertainment, but as a tool to better ourselves physically. Obviously, this is only one of the many possible implications of VR, but given the often sedentary lifestyle of many gamers, this could be a watershed moment.
I recently came across this article: Study: Average gamer is 35, fat and bummed. In the not too distant future, instead of associating gamers with heavyset, cheeto-stained, basement dwellers - as that CDC study does - gamers could be considered some of the fittest people on the planet! That's my vision for the future and I hope my little experiment - and the success of folks such as yourself - can act as a beacon to those very same individuals that gaming can be transformative. This is an exciting time and I'm honored to be sharing it with all of you on here.2 -
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50 days ago I decided to challenge myself to lose weight and increase fitness using nothing more than VR conducted at a high intensity pace, some walking, and good nutrition. That journey has concluded.
**Final Week Workout:**
> 10 min: Audioshield (Custom Difficulty Mod)
> 20 min: Sword Master VR (Novice Levels 6-10)
> 20 min: Bitslap (Normal Difficulty)
> 10 min: Fruit Ninja VR (Arcade Mode)
**The Results:**
> Starting Weight: 180.4
> Current Weight: 166.0 lbs
> Waist: Down 3.75 inches
> **Total Weight Loss: 14.4 lbs** (Down 2.2 lbs for the week)
> % of Goal Weight Completed (of 14.3lbs): 100.7%
**Additional Weekly Data:**
> Total weekly sessions of high-intensity VR training: 5
> Total hours of high-intensity VR training (including warmups and cooldown): ~5:25
> **Average calories burned per session: 796 kcal.** (Up 79 kcal from last week thanks to the new games!)
> Weighted Vest: 17.5 lbs. (same weight as last week)
**Links:**
[The Challenge](https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/4wtp3p/vr_fitness_50_day_challenge/)
[Week 1 Check-In](https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/4xua5b/vr_fitness_50_day_challenge_week_1_checkin/)
[Week 2 Check-In](https://dm.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/4z0vv0/vr_fitness_50_day_challenge_week_2_checkin/)
[Week 3 Check-In](https://dm.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/508kv0/vr_fitness_50_day_challenge_week_3_checkin/)
[Week 4 Check-In (Halfway Point)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/51ahdg/vr_fitness_50_day_challenge_week_4_checkin/)
[Week 5 Check-In](https://dm.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/52t6al/vr_fitness_50_day_challenge_week_5_checkin/)
[Week 6 Check-In]( https://dm.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/53jxjv/vr_fitness_50_day_challenge_week_6_checkin/)
**Media:**
VRScout Write-Up: [Losing Weight In VR With This VIVE Workout](http://vrscout.com/news/losing-weight-vr-htc-vive-workout/)
Geek & Sundry Interview: [CAN YOU LOSE WEIGHT PLAYING THE HTC VIVE? THIS GAMER IS ABOUT TO FIND OUT](http://geekandsundry.com/can-you-lose-weight-playing-the-htc-vive-this-gamer-is-about-to-find-out/)
**Final Perspective:**
I’m not gonna lie, this last week felt like a nail biter for me. For the first five weeks of my challenge I was ahead of the game (no pun intended) every week, until week 6, when I lost no weight. Everything came down to those last two pounds, but I guess I can rest easy now (for a hot minute).
I want to underscore that this was never meant to be a **weight loss** challenge per se, it was always intended to be a fitness challenge first and foremost. As it happens though it’s much easier to measure how many calories I’m burning than my VO2 max, and simpler to measure my waist line than to track my 1 mile run times, so that is the evidence I’m prepared to offer.
In the ensuing weeks many have questioned my calorie burn measurements, and so I do feel like those numbers have vindicated themselves. My daily calorie requirements in order to lose 2 lbs/week were 1350 calories, a dauntingly low number in my eyes. However, the VR workouts enabled me to eat upwards of 2200 calories daily, a much more reasonable amount that left my belly satisfied at the end of the day, and you better believe I ate every one of those calories back too. The proof in the pudding lies in the fact that had my calorie burn estimates been off, I wouldn’t have lost half so much weight, *if any at all.* **The numbers were solid.**
My journey doesn’t end here. VR has enabled me to reclaim much of the fitness I had lost when life threw a curve ball at my family 10 months ago and I was forced to turn my attention to more immediate concerns. In the time since, stepping back into the gym arena as a novice held little appeal to me, and so I did nothing. Almost eight straight months of sedentary living and incremental weight gain led to the man you see in that ‘Before’ picture. 50 straight days of high intensity virtual reality gaming led to the man you see now. ***kitten*. Yes.**
I can think of no better way to return this incredible gift than to share it with as many people as I can. Our VR Fitness Group now numbers over 40 members. New VR fitness challenges are starting to crop up and people are seeing results. In the future, I believe that gamers will be some of the fittest people on the planet. The future starts now.
If you want to see more, or start your own 50 Day VR Challenge, you can join the MyFitnessPal group here: [VR Fitness (50 Day Challenge)](http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/115454-vr-fitness-50-day-challenge)
It is a private group, so you will need to open an account and request to join, but it's a simple process.
Thank you /r/Vive, thank you Reddit, and praise GabeN!
To our health!2 -
well done 0
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Congrats!
What was your daily goal for caloric loss?0
