Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Road to Being a Healthier Gamer: October Update!


It’s not a sprint…it’s a marathon.

Try as I might to deny it, we’re coming up on the 1 year mark of me actually trying to get my health in order.   November’s Update will be that 1 year mark, even if I didn’t start these updates until January of this year.

Holy cow.  It’s been a year.

Let’s go ahead and get the weight update over with, shall we?  Looks like last month I ended at 243.  Last night I weighed myself and…

243

Huh.  Well, nothing was gained at least?

Actually, that’s a lie, and that’s kind of my point for this month.  I changed quite a bit this past month, and while my weight didn’t alter in the slightest, my habits, exercise and health have.  It’s like that in the hobby sometimes, isn’t it?  We can get so focused on wanting to change one aspect of our hobby (see the correlation to my weight here), that we can ignore the progress we’re making in other areas of our hobby.

How?  Well, what happens when we are struggling with learning a new rules set, like Infinity for example, and we keep running into things we either don’t know, get wrong, or forget every game for months?  It would be easy to become frustrated and say that you just can’t learn the rules, right?  What if I told you to take a step back and actually evaluate what you do know after those months of play?  I guarantee that you actually know more than you think you do, you are just getting frustrated by the things you don’t know, even while learning them!

And this is just one example.  The same could be said for learning airbrush techniques, new blending techniques (I’m looking at you, 2-brush blending), and many other aspects of the hobby as a whole.

See, when I weighed myself, I didn’t feel poorly about my lack of weightloss.  For the first time since I plateaued, I might add. Why not?  Because I’ve been working my tail off for the past two weeks to get up earlier every morning and work out.  I’ve been specifically working on certain muscle groups, resistance training using my own body weight, and throwing at least 100 kicks every morning.  I’m pushing myself, and I’m actually seeing results.

That’s point of all this, right?  To see results?

I saw my doctor last week and she was thrilled with my progress on my health and weight.  She said to me “Remember Tim, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon”.  And she’s right.  I still have a ways to go, and I’m okay with that.  I’ve proven to myself that I’m truly committed to running this marathon, and nothing is going to stop me now.

- Tim

PS:  Yup, I'm a week late with this update, I know.  October was a heck of a month, and November isn't shaping up to be any easier, work-wise.  Let's see me get back on track a bit though!

2 comments:

  1. Def a Marathon. Having been overweight for nearly the last decade or so, it takes a LOT of time to convince your body this is how it's going to be from now on. Eventually you'll reach your goal, then find your happy medium of healthy/fun (and then optimize the amount of time necessary to keep yourself in that window!).

    Keep it up Tim! You are doing awesome!

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    1. Greg!!! You and I have much in common good sir. Your support and encouragement mean much and I thank you for them :)

      AdeptiCon next year...first drink is on me :)

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