How To Set Yourself Up To Lose 500-1,000 Calories Per Day Playing Video Games (No, seriously)

I know what you’re thinking… OMG! Another click bait title!
Yeah, maybe a little bit, but actually no! The title is accurate, even if it sounds too good to be true.

You can burn 500 - 1,000 calories every day just by playing video games. I have been doing this for the last year or so, and other people have been doing it for a much longer period. This is with 1-2 hours/day of playing video games, if you put more time in or choose to play more intensive games, you’ll burn more calories. (If you’re scratching your head thinking “But, wait! How can I lose calories by playing video games, that is how I got this belly in the first place” - keep on reading, everything shall become clear in a few minutes.

You can do it today (if you have a store nearby with the needed items) or within the next few days if you’ve got yourself an Amazon prime subscription. Or if you’re among the Amazon peasantry with no prime or would rather buy the items from another retailer, let’s just conservatively say, within a week you could be beating up zombies, fighting alongside famous boxers and wielding a powerful lightsaber while shredding off the pounds at the same time.

I will say, there is one caveat - it’s not free. But it IS affordable for a lot of people! And it is often a lot more affordable than other options such as getting a gym membership or buying other expensive workout equipment, which goes unused most of the time, wrapped in the cellophane cover eating dust somewhere in the attic. And let’s be honest, what are you more likely to do, go to the gym every day or play video games at home?!

Alright Luke, stop beating around the bush and tell me what this mysterious video game is that I can play and somehow become a more healthy person?

Ok, ok. Here’s the low down, I’ll explain it all in basic terms and give an overall impression, if it sounds good, check out the rest of the article, if not, you can close the tab and go back to doing your homework, writing up that report for work or looking at cool Indian people building swimming pools (Those guys are neat tho, right?)

The Gist Of It

The main key element to being able to play video games and burn calories is…

Virtual Reality!

If you’re not clear what virtual reality is, first of all, I’m glad you recovered from that coma ;), and secondly it’s essentially video games but instead of sitting and looking at a screen and playing from the outside, you are INSIDE THE GAME. Sounds pretty futuristic right? Well, the future is here!

To understand more what virtual reality is, I’ve collected a few examples of various virtual reality games being played. Watch at least one or two of these videos before continuing, but also bare in mind, watching virtual reality is NOTHING like being in it. It’s all flat on a screen, in real life, everything is in 3D and you can interact with your environment in very natural ways. It really does feel pretty close to reality but with loads of added cool stuff that would never be possible in the real world (i.e lightsabers and having a pet dinosaur).

Disclaimer: What you are seeing here is Mixed Reality - i.e a camera filming someone in real life playing a virtual reality game, and then plopping them into the game to make it seem like they are “in” the game. I chose this as the first one because it does a good job of displaying what it feels like to be in the game, but you wouldn’t be seeing this while playing, you’d be seeing the first person perspective, like below.

Okay, I’m starting to waffle again, here’s the real gist of it.

1. Get a decent virtual reality headset unlike those clunky, cheap ones like Google Cardboard from yesteryears.
2. Get games
3. Play games (and in turn burn calories without even thinking about it)
4. Be healthier

As with any topic, you can go into a lot more detail than this , and for sure, it’s often worth it. But it is the basics. If that’s enough for you, feel free to go ahead and rush out to get everything you need, but if you’re still burning (no pun intended) with questions such as:

• How do I know how many calories I am burning / will Burn?
• Do I need to enjoy video games normally to do this? Is it video game beginner friendly?
• Do I need an expensive gaming PC to play in virtual reality? (The answer is no, you can actually do it without a PC at all)
• What is the cheapest way to do this? I got bills to pay D:
  • What is the cheapest headset that isn’t completely rubbish and useless
  • Is it worth it to get a more expensive headset? In what scenarios?
  • Is there a way I can get games for cheaper than retail price?

Please feel free to subscribe to my blog for further updates where I will be posting blogs on all these subjects and plenty more. I will update this blog with links to those blogs as they come out and you can also follow me on your social media platform of choice!

If you have questions that are unrelated or you’d just like a quicker, more concise response, please do feel free to comment below! I strive to answer all questions as best and quickly as I can, but please do keep in my this is a hobby blog and I may not be able to answer straight away