DDR Weight Loss Advice

[DrewMG]

First, an introduction.

Hello, my name is Andy. I'm a 24 year old male from Omaha, Nebraska. I've been a casual DDR player for about 2 years. I first picked up the PS1 version (after playing it at a party once) in the spring of 2001. I never did get great at it, but I didn't completely suck either.

I sold my PS2 last year, and got an Xbox. For Christmas, I received DDR Ultramix, and after playing it quite a bit for the first few weeks, it sat in a box and never left.

I am about 5'7, and weigh around 220 pounds. Ideally, I'd like to be around 180, I think. I don't think 40 pounds is too much to ask from the DDR Workout.

I work in an office, 7:30-4:30 5 days a week. I sit on my butt all 8 hours of that workday, and I usually go out to eat every day. I'm a big fan of Chinese food, so I usually have that 2-3 times a week, and the other few days I split up evenly between Subway, Pizza, Boston Market, Burger King, and Taco Bell.

Last night, after I ate Taco Bell for dinner, I decided to go play DDR to work off my dinner. I played in Workout mode for like, 31 minutes, burned (according to the game) 350 calories. I felt good about it. I was pretty exhausted.

I then made the "mistake" of going to tacobell.com and looking up how many calories my dinner had consisted of.

1410.

WOW.

SO I promised myself that it's all got to change. NOW.

So here's my plan:

1) DDR every day for at least 45 in-game minutes. (IE, by the game's counter, not including time I use picking the songs)

2) Subway, 4 times a week. 6 inch sub, no cheese. No Chips. Diet Coke. (I made the switch to diet soda 3 years ago. Lost 15 pounds by doing so!)

3) Buy a nice water bottle, like a Nalgene bottle. It seems silly to spend money on something to hold water, but the effect is all psychological; if I spend MONEY on a water bottle, I will actually USE it. I will fill the bottle up at the office water cooler during the day, so I am less inclined to snack while I am at work.

So my question to you guys is this: What do you think of my plan? Do you think it has much chance of success? How would you change it if it was you? How long do you think it will take me to acheive my goal, ballpark estimate?

Wow, that was long.

[abrannan]

Personally, I think you'll get bored with eating only Subway, so you might want to develop some alternatives that you can fall back on if you just don't feel like eating Subway. 45 Minutes=~30 songs of DDR is a good healthy time, just make sure you're playing at a level that will allow you to work up a sweat. Water is always a good thing to drink, but as with all things, don't overdo it. It's been poitned out that chugging water to stretch your stomach is how the speed eating champions train. 8 glasses (64 Ounces) per day should be sufficient.

It's always easier to reduce your caloric intake than burn it off through exercise, as your Taco Bell experience showed you. Keep track of how many calories you eat each day, you may find yourself shocked and appalled (as I was) by how much you eat in a day. You need to make sure you reduce your caloric intake below your metabolism. Dropping from 3500 to 3000 calories a day is good, but if you're only burning 1800 calories a day, you're still going to gain weight.

I find that cooking at home I eat far fewer calories than by eating out.

Provided you can get your eating under control, and you stick to the exercise regime, you should be able to drop the weight in about 6 months, give or take.

[DrewMG]

I probably will get tired of eating at Subway. I need that hour away from the office though, so bringing my lunch is not an attractive option. After some road construction clears up between work and my apartment, I may be able to start driving home for lunch.

Any idea how bad for you Chinese food is, compared to my other options, such as Taco Bell, BK, Subway, and Pizza?

Right now, I'm able to consistently play well at songs with difficulty of 4/5, with an occasional 6.

For the Xbox version, any idea what the difference between playing the songs in Workout mode is, versus playing in regular mode? I noticed that the songs weren't as difficult. I played a 7, and it was really really easy.

Also, what is the "Level of workout" option change? It has three options, 1, 2 or 3, but when I put it from 1 to 2, all I noticed was that it knocked the difficulty of one of my favorite songs down a tad. Hmmm.

[abrannan]

Chinese food, particularly fast chinese food, is a bit of a mixed bag. Ever hear the saying about how you're hungry an hour after eating Chinese? That's the bad. Between the rice and the MSG (WHich is made from beets) there's a pretty high sugar spike (worse with the sweet sauces) which gives you a sugar buzz. The problem is that once you come down from the sugar buzz, your body craves a higher level of sugar in your bloodstream, so it sends signals that you're hungry. If you stay clear of the fried foods, and the MSG, and moderate your rice consumption, you can do okay, but that isn't always easy to find.

As far as workout mode goes, you've answered your own question. The "level of workout" option modifies the steps of the songs to further adjust the difficulty, level 3 should give you the same songs as game mode, with the possible exception of the freeze arrows, which will have to be turned on in the options screen for songs selection.

[DrewMG]

Thanks a bunch. I've been playing on level 1. No wonder I thought I had been getting SUDDENLY WAY BETTER at DDR.

[orangina]

I agree with all Abrannan said.
After reading your post my immediate reaction is to say to you go buy a calorie book (Corrine Netzger makes a good one..calorie king makes a nice simple one) and just take a look at the calories you have been eating. I AM NOT SAYING TO CALORIE COUNT..just be aware of your intake. Armed with knowledge you can then cut back.
At the dietsite I work for we say 3 things..

EAT LESS
EAT THE BEST
EAT AT MEALTIMES

in other words..cut back on your portions, eat real food (not processed junk) dont snack alot..( I usually eat something at midday.)

Sounds like you are making some great changes!

[orangina]

Naturally EXERCISE is important too!

[DrewMG]

I'm gonna try calorie counting for a day or two just to get an idea of how much I really am intaking.

For lunch today, I went to Subway and had a Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sub (370 calories) and a diet pepsi. If I can keep my dinner between 500-600 calories (should be easy) then I am under 1000 on the day, and if I DDR for 45 mins or so, then I think I will be off to a good start. I might start getting some veggies to snack on while I work.

Thanks for your help, guys.

[SSC]

One thing I see many people do that bug me is drink pop. People are unaware of how terrible pop is for you. Not counting the calories, which isn't SO horrendous, but all the other things that happen to you. First off, it's the fattiest form of liquidation more or less you can drink, second it makes you dehydrated due to high amounts of sodium, third, it rots your teeth, which is something no one wants, and fourthly, it gives you kidney stones!

Drinking pop is an underrated way of unhealthiness.

[orangina]

One important thing is to eat real food. If you eat fake foods then you dont feel satisfied. So its better to eat one square of delicious real chocolate (and the best chocolate is high cocoa low sugar) than to eat a ton of cheapie chocolate filled with junk.

Eat a few nuts, or some cheese if you get hungry. Just small portions.

I think hardcooked eggs are EXCELLENT! If you eat for example some pretzels or chips for a snack..you will get hungry most likely ..eat some protein with it.

SCC is right on the soda..ASPARTAME can cause weight stalls and also sets your taste buds up for MORE SUGAR.
If you get in the water habit you are better off

Just because something is low calorie does not make it good for you if its filled with fake chemicals.

Let us know how you do.

[abrannan]

SheScreamedClaudio said:

One thing I see many people do that bug me is drink pop. People are unaware of how terrible pop is for you. Not counting the calories, which isn't SO horrendous, but all the other things that happen to you. First off, it's the fattiest form of liquidation more or less you can drink, second it makes you dehydrated due to high amounts of sodium, third, it rots your teeth, which is something no one wants, and fourthly, it gives you kidney stones!

Drinking pop is an underrated way of unhealthiness.

Want a real shocker? Go to 7-11, pick up a 20 oz bottle of Coke, and a 20 oz bottle of the "fruit" juice of your choice (Tropicana Twister, etc). Now, compare the sugar and calorie content.

[DrewMG]

Unfortunately, on day 2 of my plan, it's a "theme" day at work, and they're throwing all kinds of food at us.

I did good on day 1, though. Let's see how this sticks.

I got my nalgene water bottles and my brita pitcher.

Explain how aspartine can cause weight stalls...

I'm not sure I'm entirely ready to give up diet soda, but I definately want to cut down.

I DDRed for probably about 70 minutes yesterday, and I was exhausted. I'm so out of shape. I trust it gets easier once one gets endurance.

[Laura Moncur]

I really need to leave the office at lunch, too, but I just can't find healthy alternatives that really fill me up at fast food restaurants.

What I do is bring my lunch and eat it at a local park. Then, I'm eating healthy, but I also get out of the office. If I need to heat up my leftovers, I heat them up and take them with me to the park, steaming.

Winter is coming, so you might think it would make my park experience less enjoyable, but I actually like it. I just sit in my heated car and watch the birds and snow outside my windshield. I actually like winter a little better because there are less irritating things at the park during the winter.

[DrewMG]

You know I've tried that, and I just don't find it particularly enjoyable. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

[SSC]

abrannan said:

Want a real shocker? Go to 7-11, pick up a 20 oz bottle of Coke, and a 20 oz bottle of the "fruit" juice of your choice (Tropicana Twister, etc). Now, compare the sugar and calorie content.

One word = Water.

[abrannan]

SheScreamedClaudio said:

One word = Water.

I think you may have missed my point, but that's okay.

[SSC]

Oh, I definitely got it, i'm just basically saying that people probably don't need the Fruitopeas [sp?] and the pop, etc.

[DrewMG]

I've been drinking diet soda for years, and when I started doing that, I lost 15 pounds.

But I still recognize that while it's not as fattening, it's still not GOOD for you, so I've been trying to stick to water lately.

I love my Nalgene bottles.

[DrewMG]

Just a quick update.

I've managed to stick to my diet pretty well so far. Aside from a small smores outbust this weekend, I've had very little food that is bad for me over a two week period. I've had no fast food (nor any desire for it) for two weeks, and I've become very familiar with the Subway menu.

Not sure if I've dropped any pounds yet. I didn't weigh myself to start out with. I weighed myself on Sat. night, and I was at 212 in full clothes and shoes. I think that probably means about 210. Since I was under the impression that I was starting at around 217-220, that either means I've lost 7-10 pounds, or I was just wrong to start with.

Anyway, my DDR routine, thus far, consists of 50 minutes on the in-game timer of Ultramix workout mode. I usually play about 10-15 minutes on light to get warmed up, then play Standard. I'm still not good enough to play the songs at the end of the list. My favorites are Dive, Healing Vision, Drop the Bomb, Candy Heart, Sweet Sweet Heart Magic, Kind Lady, and Hysteria.

I've also added some very minimal weight lifting to my postDDR workout. Just some handweights, about 10 times. Not sure where I'm going with that.

Anyway, I just wanted to update.