fitness – Whole Heartily

Thank you Ring Fit Adventure, I’ll Take it From Here!

In my Ring Fit Adventure Challenge – Reboot post, I posed the question: Can playing a video game really help you and I get fit? More specifically, can Ring Fit Adventure help you and I get fit?

For three months now, I have played 30 to 40 minutes of Ring Fit Adventure a day and my conclusion is: yes, but it takes a lot of time.

Ring Fit Adventure was released Saturday October 18th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. It comes with a squeezable pilates ring to hold and an elastic leg strap for leg movement. It piqued my interest because the main part of the game is a story where you need to travel across maps and defeat monsters to get to the boss who you also have to fight using different work out moves. The more you experience you get, the more you level up and acquire new workout moves to complete your journey. It is delightfully entertaining, adding plot and challenges or battles to cleverly distract the player from their workout, but if you’re looking to get down to business and workout quickly and efficiently, this is not the experience you’re looking for.

If someone were to play this every day for a long period of time they could make progress, I have lost six pounds since May and the exercises have become easier to perform and sustain, but the amount of time spent playing does not equal the amount of time spent exercising. When I say I played for 30 to 40 minutes a day, that equaled out to about 10 minutes of active workout time (which the game will track for you). The rest of the time is spent going through setup, menus, preparation, and story dialog. Calculating from my experience, you would need to play about 3 hours to reach 60 minutes of active workout time. Unfortunately a lot of people do not have the time for that, including myself.

I want to thank the game for its ingenuity and beauty, and for getting me started. I believe it inspired me to get up and get moving, but now I feel I would be more effective working out on my own.

Have you played Ring Fit Adventure? How is your progress? I would love to know!

Ring Fit Adventure Challenge – Reboot

Can playing a video game really help you and I get fit? I believe Ring Fit Adventure can and I’m going to test it out!

Ring Fit Adventure was released Saturday October 18th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. It comes with a squeezable pilates ring to hold and an elastic leg strap for leg movement. It piqued my interest because the main part of the game is a story where you need to travel across maps and defeat monsters to get to the boss who you also have to fight using different work out moves. The more you experience you get the more you level up and acquire new workout moves to complete your journey. It is delightfully distracting and entertaining!

As you might have gathered, I am not the epitome of health I would love to be, and to speak plainly, I haven’t been for a long time. This is uncomfortable for me to tell you, but I currently weigh 170 pounds. I feel heavier and far less graceful on my feet than I ever used to, and I want movement to feel easy and comfortable instead of a chore. When I was a teenager, I was more active and fortunate enough to have a good metabolism; I weighed 110 pounds and, at 5’2” tall, I felt comfortable in my own body. Since then I have put on more and more weight as my metabolism has slacked off and my bad habits have grown. Now I am a freshly minted, new mama and I’m looking to get back into shape and lose my baby weight plus a little extra! I’ve indulged myself for a little too long and it’s time to get back on track!

In addition to the game, let’s talk about my variables:

I’ve been practicing up to 20 minutes of yoga daily.
I’ve been taking my daughter out in her stroller for 30 minute walks daily.
During this shelter-at-home order, I’ve started intermittent fasting and only feel like eating 2 large meals a day.
I am making an effort to drink at least 78 oz. of water a day.

Confession time: I started this challenge back in October when the game released, and I dropped the ball. Months went by and I started doing my daily yoga and walks. This has made me feel better than I have in a long time (being pregnant and having a baby is no joke on your body) and with a stronger foundation, I wanted to give this challenge another try!

Let’s do this! Follow along with me on here and Instagram!

30 Day Yoga Challenge Results

The 30 days in my 30 Day Yoga Challenge are up and as you can see, I did not complete the challenge completely. Bummer!

I was able to practice Yoga 26 of the 30 days and I am satisfied with that. I feel more relaxed and more limber than before, but less so than when I’ve practiced yoga in the past. I believe this may be due to cutting down on my sugar intake during these past 30 days too, and the effect that has had on my body as I detox has not been enjoyable. In fact, some of the days I didn’t practice I was feeling extreme fatigue and/or suffering from headaches.

Moving forward, I do feel confident that I’ve broken in a new habit. I fully intend to keep practicing yoga at least 3 to 4 days a week! Who’s with me!?

Yoga Challenge Update

Alright, I am about halfway through my 30 Day Yoga Challenge and I decided to check in and let y’all know how I’m doing…

I missed a day…blargh! It was a Saturday. The day went by and before I knew it I was crawling into bed, dozing off and jolting awake when I realized I’d neglected my yoga! Part of me feels terrible, but I do realize I want to create a lasting habit out of this challenge and some days will be missed. I didn’t use it as an excuse to give up and I won’t give up!

Giving up energy drinks and sodas

Growing up, I remember when fast food was a treat we were bought every other week or so and I remember when I wasn’t allowed to drink any soda with caffeine in it, not to mention energy drinks. If I was allowed soda at all, it had to be something caffeine free.

As I grew up I was given more allowances and I was allowed to start making my own decisions. I was introduced to caffeinated soda and still maintained a healthy distance.

As an adult I’ve started an office job that is relatively stressful, but not painfully so. I started buying caffeinated sodas and eventually graduated to energy drinks to “treat” or “reward” myself during the work day, but it’s become too frequent. I can feel the negative effects of the sugar and caffeine in these drinks on my mind and body, but I still crave them anyway! As we plan on starting a family I think it’s time to find some healthier “treat” or “reward” options and get back to my healthier habits. As of last Friday, I’ve stopped drinking sodas and energy drinks. It’s definitely rough while my body is figuring out how to cope without all the sugar and caffeine, but it’ll pass!

30 Days of Meditation

Yesterday I posted a challenge to myself to complete 30 Days of Yoga; no excuses, no exceptions. Today i’d also like to throw some more fuel on that fire and give myself another challenge to complete 30 days of meditation.

Sometimes I think about things a little too intently and I build up a lot of pent up anxiety about a wide variety of mostly meaningless topics. I think taking the time to clear my head and focusing myself each day will do a lot of good in my life.

To get myself started, I downloaded the Stop, Breathe, and Think app on my iPhone/iPad which provides different focuses of meditation based on how you’re feeling. You can either complete their self assessment exercise and they will recommend meditations for you or you can select your own without the assessment.

30 Day Yoga Challenge

Once, long ago, I was in the habit of practicing yoga every day. During that time, I felt better physically and mentally than I had in a long time prior. I miss that feeling and I want it back. The problem is, I’m lazy. I start again for a few days, then get bored or make excuses and fall off track.

So here it is, I’m going to do 30 days of yoga; no breaks, no excuses.

I use an application on my iPad called Yoga Studio.

Yoga Studio provides several “classes” per competency level, lasting different lengths and focusing on different goals. Just as an example, I can take a class for beginner strength lasting 30 minutes or mix 15 minutes of beginner combination with 15 minutes of beginner flexibility, depending on my attention span and how I feel.

Individually each of these practices are powerful in their own right and each serves a particular purpose. When practiced with intention and consistency, they develop stamina, strength, energy, flexibility and inner peace. Yoga has numerous health benefits including improvements in cardiovascular, musculo–skeletal and mental health.

At the end of my 30 day challenge, I will have (hopefully) created a good habit and continue practicing yoga without the need to create a challenge like this.

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