Just a newbie saying hi

[kc]

Hey guys,

My wife found this site last night and I've been encouraged reading how so many of you guys have lost weight and got healthier due to DDR.

After reading some of the articles about it earlier this year, we joked about getting into doing this, but it was all jokes...until now.

In January of 2001, I weighed 295 lbs. After some serious dieting, by October 2001, I was down to 215. I had lost 80 lbs. and was feeling great. I still had more I wanted to lose (I'm only 5'8"), but I managed to only gain about 10 lbs. or so back after slacking off the diet. I worked out of my home for about 2.5 years after that, but after losing some major clients, had to take a job working overnights. Well, that really messed me up. I was eating poorly and my weight started going up. I changed jobs, but not my eating habits, and here we are back up to 275.

I've got an amazing wife (beautiful, too...I somehow lucked up and married a dancer - not the exotic kind...don't know if I'd feel "lucky" if that was the case) and two great kids and I really want to be around for them. I just turned 30 in June and I've been miserable with my weight. I've struggled with a fatigue disorder (still am from time to time) and I've got digestive issues, but I think I may have found my salvation (well, weight-wise) in DDR.

We picked up the 2 pads & DDRMax2 on Ebay and started playing tonight. I have only played in Beginner mode (gotta get my bearings straight), but had a BLAST. I've probably played for 3 hours tonight already. I hope my enthusiasm lasts and I can really make some headway with this thing. I hate working out and exercising in any and every way, but DDR is a blast.

Glad this site (and all of you guys) are here. And I hope I don't freak you out, since I seem to be the oldest person here...which would normally be weird, but I worked with teens for almost 6 or 7 years, so not too weird, I suppose. Be cool to know if anyone else on here is over drinking age :-)

Thanks for reading my long-winded post.

-KC

[sly rax]

Nah, you aren't the only one that is drinking age here. It is not weird at all.

Anyway, the best part about DDR is that you will achieve goals in both your weight and excercise. You will just be like, "Whoa, I pulled off that part of that song!" DDR keeps you motivated by preventing you from becoming bored.


Here is a tip: Go to the Options menu. Go to Controllers, then Dance Play. Turn the controllers OFF. This will make it so that stepping on the corner buttons during the game will not have any effect (they have arrows mapped to them now, so if you stand on the one that has the up arrow, then try to hit up, the button won't work when this option is ON). Then, go to Gameplay Options and turn Event Mode ON. This will make it so that the credits don't play at the end of your last song, and the game returns to the song selection wheel. Of course, you don't need to do this if you are just playing in Workout Mode, but otherwise it will be helpful. Workout Mode is good, but you can keep track of playtime just as well yourself.

[kc]

Thanks for the input, Sly. I actually set it on EVENT MODE last night after doing some snooping around the game.

I've already played 2 hours today and I've got to step away to get some work done. :-)

Anybody have any surdier pads they could recommend as I see this becoming more and more of an addiction and I don't know if the ones I have now will hold up for much more than a few months (if that!).

-KC

[Laura Moncur]

Sturdier pad: Red Octane. I've been playing on it since April of last year (almost every day) and it still works great.

I'm 35 years old, so I beat you age-wise. Don't worry about it. This game knows no age barriers.

[kc]

Yeah, the RO pads look really nice...pretty expensive, though. I may have to just break down and look at it as an investment in my health, huh?

You use the foam pad or the metal pad?

BTW, glad to know I'm not to old to play. Although, I do think most popular music these days still sucks...of course, I thought that back when I was much younger as well, so that's not much of an indicator, eh?

Thanks for the input.

[abrannan]

KC said:

Yeah, the RO pads look really nice...pretty expensive, though. I may have to just break down and look at it as an investment in my health, huh?

You use the foam pad or the metal pad?

BTW, glad to know I'm not to old to play. Although, I do think most popular music these days still sucks...of course, I thought that back when I was much younger as well, so that's not much of an indicator, eh?

Thanks for the input.

Levelsix.com has Ignition style pads for about half the cost. I've used them (I'm 28, btw) for about a year + at this point, and they're still going strong.