VR vs Fitness and Fat – 21 Days and Counting
Hope’s Thoughts
| Day 1 | Day 7 | Day 14 | Day 21 | Day 28 | Day 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight (kg) | 83.6 | 81.9 | 82.4 | 82.5 | 82.3 | 82 |
| Waist (cm) | 82 | 82 | 82 | 81 | 79.5 | 79 |
| Upper Thigh (cm) | 68 | 69 | 68 | 68 | 68 | 68 |
| Chest (cm) | 104 | 100 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 102 |
| Bicep (cm) | 33 | 33 | 33 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| Resting Heart Rate (BPM) | 74 | 74 | 73 | 68 | 70 | 70 |
Numbers are hard.
They’re so hard that when I weighed myself yesterday (when I was supposed to) I purposefully pushed my weigh in back by another day. Yesterday I was clocking in on the scales at between 85 and 86 kgs. Today when I got on the scales, I’m back to 82.5.
I knew that the higher number was an anomaly but I also know that my body can do that. Still, it sucked after my first week of relative healthiness to see that when I looked at the scales.
It still sucks to see myself up but up by 0.1 is much nicer than up by 3 or 4 kgs. The good news is some of my measurements are down slightly. My pants felt a bit looser, I feel a bit stronger. This is hard. I don’t think I trust numbers.
Before I mentioned relative healthiness and I will say that I was not a perfect human. I VRd as per usual but I still fell victim to a few poor eating habits. However, this was on the scale of one day of eating badly rather than a full week. Relatively speaking I did quite well.
I am noticing a bit of a wall with VR as a method for getting exercise. Box VR, for instance, can only really make me sweat now through squats. When I punch in that game now it feels like I could Captain America that shit and do it all day. It feels easy. I remember when a ten-minute workout used to kill me and now I can do three fifteens in a row – squats depending.
Similarly, Beat Saber isn’t getting my heart rate up as high as it used to. I am starting to try to play songs on Expert+ because they’re still challenging enough to be worth the effort. The problem with Beat Saber is the step between levels is huge so I’m still terrible at this and it’s not always fun, yet. It also makes my arms really tired quite quickly, which I suppose is a good thing.
To take a positive out of this, I absolutely have to be fitter – or just better at VR.
I think I am a little bored of VR – which makes total sense when you consider I’m using the same two programmes every day. I caught myself weirdly thinking something along the lines of ‘ugh can’t I go for a run instead?’ which if you know me, is super out of character. I am curious when this experiment is over to see if my perceived increase in fitness can carry over into real-world activities.
As far as mental health and motivation are concerned, mine is abysmal. I really wanted to get in regular cardio to help my brain meats but it doesn’t seem to be. If anything, I’m probably worse but I don’t think VR is the cause. I think this is just the way I am.
Matt’s Thoughts
| Day 1 | Day 7 | Day 14 | Day 21 | Day 28 | Day 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight (KG) | 148.4 | 145.9 | 144.2 | 143.4 | 141.9 | 140 |
| Waist (cm) | 142 | 139 | 137 | 133 | 131.5 | 129 |
| Upper Thigh (cm) | 75 | 72 | 70 | 66 | 66.5 | 65.5 |
| Chest (cm) | 132 | 130 | 129 | 127 | 128 | 127 |
| Bicep (cm) | 39.5 | 38 | 39 | 40.5 | 40.5 | 40 |
| Resting Heart Rate (BPM) | 69 | 68 | 71 | 66 | 67 | 67 |
After reading Hope’s comments, I have to say I have mixed feelings. The reason I say that is, I once again had a great week. I didn’t lose as much weight as the last two weeks (I still did lose nearly a kilo though) but my measurements and heart rate have both shown noticeable improvement. What’s more, I am looking forward (most days anyway) to my workout. I haven’t looked forward to exercising since the last time The Smashing Pumpkins had a top ten hit.
I also recognise that everything isn’t for everyone and it is also worth pointing out that I have a LOT more excess weight than Hope does so it makes sense that I am going to lose more and see greater benefits. I have noticed that my fitness has improved significantly, each night I am now doing full 30min workouts on BoxVR and I am chasing down that Platinum trophy.
So while it makes sense that Hope is struggling a little to show improvement, it also makes sense that I am losing weight and centimetres at quite a solid rate. I will say my old body has started to give me a little trouble. My notoriously dodgy knees are beginning to give me a bit of curry, so I have to make sure and give them a good rest after a workout that features squats. I also went and saw a sports therapist today to help relieve my back and shoulders. Nothing to worry about, just a little achy after doing 21 days of fitness activity without a break.
In all, I am enjoying my time with BoxVR, Creed and Beat Saber. At this stage I see myself continuing after the 30 days. I am getting results and I am having fun, two things that make the exercise that much easier. As we get into the final week it will be interesting to see if that trend continues.
