Keep moving

It's been on my mind since I finished college and got a new job. Now that I have much less free time than I used to I have to figure out what is important and what I can do without. Obviously I have to work, otherwise I won't be able to pay for my monthly WoW fee. I also am not giving up on WoW, just in case you thought that is what this post is about.

One other thing I refuse to cut out of my life is exercise. I've seen how we all tend to end up later in life. Exercise becomes less of a priority as you get older. You can't exert as much energy as you used to, and just the thought of it makes you tired. I don't want to end up like that.

I used to only have classes four to five hours a day, leaving a lot of the day free to do anything. It was easy to find an hour to work out, or go on a bike ride, or maybe play some basketball with friends.

Now that I have a full time job, which requires me to sit at a desk in front of a computer most of the day, I find the need to exercise even more important. If I just came home, ate dinner, and played WoW the rest of the night, where is the physical activity?

In order to not gain weight we need to burn off as many calories as we consume, but sitting at a desk all day, then coming home and sitting doesn't burn much. In the past year an a half that I've had this job I've put on 15 pounds, and I'm not happy about it. I try to eat healthy, but it's not enough if you can't burn off those calories.

That's something I think most people don't get. Just because food is healthy doesn't mean you can eat as much of it as you want. I will see people walk into one of the lunch places around where I work with a Jamba Juice in hand and order a full lunch.

What they don't understand is that a Jamba Juice has a meal's worth of calories, so while it might be considered healthy, they end up eating two meals instead of one and then they wonder why they aren't losing weight.

My point is that I think WoW is a great game, one of the best I've played, but we need to play it in moderation and make sure not to put it ahead of more important things. If you notice yourself putting on some extra weight, maybe you should cut back a little and use some of that free time to run, bike, lift weights, or do some kind of physical activity that will get your heart rate up and burn some calories.

I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't let the the shift to the working world cause me to gain weight as I see happen to so many other people. I thought it would be a lot easier, but right now I'm losing the battle.

I usually come home and flop down on the couch for a while to watch TV, but now maybe I'll work out while watching TV instead. I can get two things done at once, and it really doesn't affect how much free time I'd have because I would just be watching TV instead anyway.

Don't let WoW turn you into the stereotypical gamer like the one on that South Park episode I'm sure we all saw. Eat healthy, keep moving, and realize that the key to losing weight is burning more calories than you consume. It's as simple as that, finding the time is the hard part.