Any former WoW and/or videogame junkies?

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Vaanja
Vaanja Posts: 163 Member
I’ve been fairly overweight all my life, and could never really focus enough to make a serious attempt at dieting.
Last September, I had a sudden epiphany and cold-turkey broke my 4 year addiction to World of Warcraft,
which I’d played at least 8 hours of every day. I’m a 34 year old, 5’2 woman and at this time I weighed 174 lbs.
October 5th, I was diagnosed ADD and prescribed a daily 30mg dose of Vyvanse. In the month between ending my WoW addiction and seeking psychological help, I’d somehow dropped down to 169 lbs. The first three days of Vyvanse obliterated my appetite, so I decided to make a hobby of tracking my eating habits and caloric intake to make sure I wasn’t hurting myself – I didn’t see much good in working on my ADD if it was only going to land me in the hospital with malnutrition. I had a ton of excess energy from the drug, and decided to start taking walks along the rocky, unpaved, hill-dotted roads of my very rural area, and I also decided to start raiding my housemate’s never-used Power Yoga dvds just because I’ve always been kind of smug about my relatively high level of flexibility and I realized I would be rather upset if I lost that as I age. Also, because a side effect of Vyvanse is dry-mouth, I totally gave up my habit of 4-6 cups of coffee (with 3-4 tbs creamer per cup) and started drinking a ton of water and unsweetened sun tea with lemon – I average about 3 liters of water/tea per day now.
At the end of my first week on Vyvanse, I was down to 161 lbs.
When I started seeing a record of every single thing I ate, it made me want to clean up my diet, and start seeing fresh veggies and whole grains making up my diet instead of microwaved taquitos and frappucinos, so, I started shopping for healthier foods.
Today, after 40 days on my medicine, I am 150 lbs. The appetite suppresant side-effect of my medicine has completely worn off, and I’ll usually eat 3-5 times a day. If I am hungry, I always eat. If, 20 minutes after i am done eating, I am still hungry, I’ll eat again. I’m not lactose intolerant, but I have always loved soymilk simply because it tastes so good to me. I love cucumbers, and tomatoes, and baby spinach, and chicken and whole-grain anything. I am trying to get down to my goal weight of 127lbs (that might sound kind of heavy for 5’2, but I’ve always had round hips, relatively muscular thighs, a large bust and strong, broad shoulders).
I feel great, my clothes fit me so much better, the chronic headaches I got when playing WoW all the time have disappeared. My problems with insomnia disappeared and I get exactly 7.5 hours sleep every night. I never get heartburn or gassiness anymore. My chronic fatigue is gone, my patience is way up, and I always have the focus and energy to get everything done around the house. My husband is loving my increased desire for spontaneous sex. Also, I’m learning conversational Swedish just for the hell of it and my native swedish friend/teacher has been most impressed with the progress I’ve made in aquiring a vocabulary of about 300 words and memorizing a handful of grammatic rules, in just a few weeks.
The downside is - my husband is sick of hearing me prattle on about dietary fiber, healthy fats, and caloric intake and thinks it's ridiculous that I was exorbitantly proud of having my BMI go from 'obese' to simply 'overweight'. The female half of the married couple we've very-communally housemated with for a few years has increased her interest in cookie-baking and high-fat, high-calorie, sugar-laden and delicious coffee add-ins (my ultimate weakness...oh god, why did i decide to start losing weight right before the seasonal pumpkin pie spice and peppermint mocha coffee creamers came out? whyyyy??!). Aaand, my ex-WoW-guildmates who I have remained good friends with try almost daily to tempt me back into the game and a sedentary lifestyle.
I would <3love<3 to hear from anyone who can relate, either from the 'geek' perspective or the 'being surrounded by saboteurs' perspective.
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Replies

  • ChristineMarie89
    ChristineMarie89 Posts: 1,142 Member
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    i still love my videogames but remember moderation instead of zombiefied in front of a screen for hrs only about 30 min. . . good luck to you :)
  • afigueroa_pr
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    Heck I can't even get 30 minutes a day once you become a parent!
    Wouldn't trade it for the world though!
  • withervein
    withervein Posts: 224 Member
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    I still manage to get my WoW in a few times a week, I don't raid, and never have (might give it a go with the new Raid Finder). But I level alts and run dungeons and help my guildmates with stuff they are working on. I still have time for kickboxing twice a week, walking the dog nearly every day, going for a jog. It's a matter of balance. You don't have to be out of Azeroth to have a healthy lifestyle, you just need to find a middle path.

    I keep water at my desk when I game, and I tend to keep things like chips, cookies and other one-hand foods out of the house and definitely out of my desk area.

    It sounds like you have gone cold turkey on a lot of things recently and unless your doc says no, I see no harm in allowing some moderation.
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
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    I play lots of video games (still), BUT first I make sure I have hugged my kids, done my work, eaten healthy foods, cleaned my house and worked out. Then I let myself play wow or eq or mess around on MFP or FB. First things first and if you take care of priorities, you can still work in some gaming. Sort of like ice cream or potato chips. Just a little....in moderation.
  • emaline614
    emaline614 Posts: 86 Member
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    since i've started MPF... i haven't played any video games... i swear i have cravings for them like i do with certain foods though! all things in moderation i suppose. I'm really not cutting much out of my diet that i like, so i decided not to cut out gaming either...but i have cut it back... 2 or less hours a week (mostly weekends). i set a timer and everything... lol.
  • Loko_Ino
    Loko_Ino Posts: 544 Member
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    I did WoW for 5 years..loved it but gave it up because I wanted to do other things..
    Now I do Xbox which better agrees with me. I can turn it on and off with no issues, dont have "raids" and such to do or help guildies level or something like that responsibility. I also dont allow myself to play until I have done my workout or finished my meals for the day, on non workout days. Get the important stuff done first then play.
  • Vaanja
    Vaanja Posts: 163 Member
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    That's the problem...I can't do it in moderation >.<. I hyperfocus on it and have to make sure I've done my max daily quests, I'm locked out on every raid, at the honour point cap even though I've got full pvp gear...tbh I think it's an effect of the ADD (inattentive variety). I couldn't pay attention to anything that just didn't grab me immediately, but when something Did interest me it sucked me in like heroin (I also once watched both seasons of Dead Like Me in under 48 hours >.>)
    So, my only recourse is to avoid it entirely.
    Thanks for the well-wishes though :)
  • _Peacebone_
    _Peacebone_ Posts: 229 Member
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    Former WoW addict (more than 4 hours a day)... I finally quit about a month after Cata release because I got bored with it and started trying to live a healthier lifestyle. I'm still looking for a decent game to play casually. Good luck!
  • determinedcrystal
    determinedcrystal Posts: 75 Member
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    I <3 video games!!!! :D
  • Ajaay
    Ajaay Posts: 70 Member
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    I used to raid 4 nights a week in EQ2 but tbh, I just got tired of it taking up so much time. I play a little Aion now, but nothing serious. Ask yourself if you really want to give up what you have now for gaming. Tbh the best part about it was chatting with people that you became friends with. A few of my buddies also play Aion and we chat a bit, but we are all finished with raiding. It sounds like you need to get some more supportive friends. You can lead the way for those around you to find a healthier lifestyle, but you will probably have to walk the path without them until they start seeing the benefits.
  • woou
    woou Posts: 668 Member
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    I used to love playing RPGs. Now it doesn't seem like I have an interest in them anymore. :noway:
  • SusanneWhittington
    SusanneWhittington Posts: 339 Member
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    in my real active time of WoW I played at least 8 h a day and was skinny, no time to eat or shop for eating, but smoking 5 packs a day and living on diet coke. talk about unhealthy... After I quit smoking I ate everything I could find, from fingernails, the skin around my fingernails, pencils and each and every food that was close to me, dislocated my jaw by chewing chewing gum like a crazy person. I played a lot again, gained weight, no exercise, my legs were hurting bad. I tried exercising again and eating healthy, still gained weight, went to different doctors was diagnosed insulin resistant and thyroid problems. After that I finally started to feel better and did not have that much time anymore to play, because exercising and being outside walking the dog was so much more fun. Also after the expansion after Lichking it just was too time intensive, where you could do an inni in 10 to 15 min before you suddenly needed 1 1/2 hours, people got more and more rude and all was about gear score, no fun anymore. So when I made getting healthy again my priority I started MFP and quit my account of WoW and spend 1 or 2 days a week with 2 or 3 hours of play time in free games now like LotRO.
    I'm now 45, started MMORPG in 2000 with Everquest, was at that time 130 lbs, since then my highest was 260 lbs from fall last year till June this year when I started MFP. I am now at 217 and hope to get somewhere between 145 and 165 and stay there. But I guess I will never grow up totally, I love my online games way too much, but from now on I will try to keep it like I do since June, in moderation.
  • Moronar
    Moronar Posts: 7 Member
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    I quit back in April or May because the game started to get boring to me and raiding started to feel like a second job. I noticed right away that I stopped the epic levels of snacking because I was no longer zombified by the game. Now I play TF2 and find that I can take 2 hours of that at the max before I start to get bored or the server I'm on starts to clear out, so that helps me keep my time playing down. And now that I'm no longer raiding I find I can get to bed at a reasonable time, so my energy and mood levels during the day are much more balanced.
  • aa1440
    aa1440 Posts: 956 Member
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    Empty nest here. Kids are grown. The wife and I have the house to ourselves. And I love PS3. NBA 2K 12 and Modern Warfare.

    I work 12 hour shifts. 2 on 2 of with alternating weekends, 3 days. This gives me a lot of free time for the wife and our "games" and for PS3 and working out.

    5k this weekend in Greenville, SC and another one in Inman SC next weekend.
  • Celinya
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    I am a recovered Everquest addict :)
  • unmitigatedbadassery
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    I was a long-time WoW player but I switched over to Rift a few months ago. I don't play as much as I'd like to since I hace a son but I enjoy it.

    If you happen to play on the Guardian side of Gnarlwood then look me up!

    Mentalmidget - mage
    Strokeface - cleric
    Fartboxx - Rogue
  • unmitigatedbadassery
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    Also after the expansion after Lichking it just was too time intensive, where you could do an inni in 10 to 15 min before you suddenly needed 1 1/2 hours, people got more and more rude and all was about gear score, no fun anymore.

    the gearscore focus left a lot of good players out of randoms and raids because their GS wasn't high enough - instead inexperienced players that were carried for purples got in. Very much part of the reason I left. After 85 if you didn't raid there was nothing to do.
  • lmartioski
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    i am a video game junkie but i have been putting things off again i had lost 100 pounds put 30 back on so here i go again my goal is to lose another 100 to be at my goal weight
  • BigDaddyBRC
    BigDaddyBRC Posts: 2,395 Member
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    I play...but not like I used to. Just had up some of my PVP toons last week...

    FOR THE HORDE~
  • Vaanja
    Vaanja Posts: 163 Member
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    I played feral-dps druid (resto off) in the core group of my raiding guild, I was also a top officer and class leader. About 10.4k achi points, full top notch epics for both pve specs and for resto pvp 9avg ilvl 378)...on top of an incessant non-combat pet obsession (142 pets without any blizzstore or collector edition pets). I was raiding 4-5 times a week, and it seemed like the rest of my time was spent agonizing over guild drama, poorly-performing kitties and trying to make sure people were geared and on-time for raids.
    It finally dawned on me that the bulk of my char-pride came from being on top of most people, and that if I walked away for a healthier life I'd be back on the bottom in no time...I also realized that I was overweight when I started WoW, and had gained another 20 lbs in the four years I'd been playing. My family's health history is rife with cancers, heart disease, and cholesterol issues.
    I didn't want "26k dps, maxxed professions and 142 vanity pets" engraved on my tombstone before i turned 40. >.<
    These days, if I'm sitting on my butt I'm playing Resident Evil 4 for giggles or watching Mad Men and thinking "10 more lbs, and I'm getting some spanx on one of those 'Joan' wiggle dresses!" xD