Gamification of Health and Fitness

dykask wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

dykask wrote: »

* You can't know from day to day if you have a calorie surplus or not.

That may or may not be true. Let's assume for the sake of discussion that it's absolutely true. That still wouldn't support the idea that exercise causes people to gain weight. Only a calorie surplus causes weight gain in the sense that we're concerned about, and that's true whether you measure the calories or not. Exercise burns up (opposite of provides) calories, so it cannot cause weight gain.

Exactly.

What does the ability to measure the calories from exercise have to do with whether exercise burns calories?

What does burning calories have to do with building lean body mass? Both are just side effects of exercise.

Let's recap:

This thread is about whether gamifying exercise is a good thing and helps more people make exercise a part of life or whether it is not (as you might not exercise when it's no longer a game or the game gets boring). It is assumed that exercise is a good thing, and I think that's a pretty indisputable thing -- it is good for health, it also can help with weight loss, according to the doctor I saw talk recently, it even helps prevent Alzheimers. Yay, exercise.

You jumped in and said that exercise shouldn't be assumed to be good because it may cause weight gain.

Setting aside the rather absurb claim that one could be gaining weight from exercise when at a calorie deficit (you could add some muscle depending on the circumstances, but not enough to offset the fat loss and gain weight -- you aren't that efficient), even if that were true, it doesn't support the claim that exercise is not a good thing. (1) adding muscle is normally good for health, and (2) if you don't want that side effect, it's easy to prevent.

Therefore, I think we should respect the OP's request and get back to talking about the gamification of exercise.

My own question, above, is whether the game approach is really any different from other ways of motivating yourself, like training for a race? I don't think so, and I think often the initial hurdles (your mind telling you it's not fun, the fact that you are out of shape at first, which makes it less fun) are the hard ones, so things that help get over that can be beneficial in helping people form lasting exercise habits.

The only really useful thing about measuring workout calories it to make a game of it. However, it can also be harmful because that can encourage people to over train or to do the wrong kind of training too. It really depends on the goal, doesn't it?

I don't think anyone is discussing measuring workout calories as the sole or even major way to do gamification. I don't do it myself. (I think you brought in this red herring to claim that people didn't know their workout calories and North Cascades challenged you on that.) I do do some things I'd call "gamification" such as training programs, races, MFP themed challenges, even Crossfit or group classes or Computraining with a specific course.

I don't mind the tracking because it is fun. But sometimes it is a lot smarter to lose a competition and take care of your health. So the game aspect is good for getting people to start but maybe not always a positive thing.

I don't think this is specific to the game aspect -- people can go over board even without it. I was talking to my dad last night, who has been training for a half marathon, and this was actually good for him since he realized that to do it (at his current age and in his current condition, which isn't bad) he had to slow way down and is now enjoying running again. He had been frustrated since he was trying to run at speeds less embarrassing to him (he's 72 and used to be into marathons and all sorts of racing stuff but has been mostly biking in recent years) and was always feeling sore after and frustrated that he couldn't do it. Now that he had to back off to get the distance off he's turned the corner to seeing the run as more for fun and not goal-based, and not even looking at his speed.

canadianlbs wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

[I don't see what's wrong with boutique gyms, or having a mani/pedi after your workout.

you know what i want? a gym that is also a laundromat.

i would KILL to belong to something like that. why has nobody ever come up with that?

I built my own world in The Sims 3 when I played regularly. My proudest feature was my gym / laundromat / coffee shop , with on-site daycare.