How did I get into gaming and fitness?

People are usually afraid of living a healthy lifestyle. They think it requires commitment and a lot of extra work that you didn’t have to do before. Some even say it’s expensive.

But you know what’s expensive, too? Medicines.




Living a healthy life can be scary for the first sight because all you see is that you have to give up a lot, eat food that has no taste, sweat and pant publicly. But you don’t change your lifestyle in a day’s time. Noone does. 

You take the baby steps towards it and you can take as many of them as you please. Each step takes you further from pain, medicines and limits.

So I’ll frequently publish diet and exercise tips on my fellow Women of Warcraft admin’s new page for gamers’ fitness. I find it important to show people what little tricks it takes to live healthier - and look better.
I’ll also show how I built these into my gaming/webdesigner lifestyle.

Being fit without doing aerobics?

Very few knows that I have scoliosis. If you don’t know what scoliosis is: it’s when your spine has an S shape. When viewed from the front.
Doctors don’t really know what causes it therefore they can’t fix it. They can treat it.
One way of treatment is Schroth exercises that yielded exceptionally good results. However my spine is no longer bent sideways, the vertebrae remain twisted. It means I mustn’t do any aerobic exercise because if they get pushed against each other while jumping or running, it can cause a serious injury.

But by doing yoga, bellydance, Schroth exercises and other strengthening exercises I have no problem with keeping fit. It keeps my backbone in “shape”, letting me sit in front of the computer for long hours, without feeling any pain. However due to the lack of aerobic exercises there's more emphasis on my diet.

A lifetime diet?

Don’t get scared, you don’t have to eat carrots for the rest of your life.
Many fail with their diet because they just jump right into an extremely strict one. Which, of course can’t be maintained for long. And then they’re back to their old eating habits, probably gaining more weight than they had before the diet.
It’s going to sound weird but don’t start a diet unless told so by your doctor.

Instead, find the flaws in your current diet! How?

1. Eating snacks? Reschedule them to the first part of the day.
2. Eating quick? Chew for longer.
3. Not having breakfast? DO.
4. Not drinking at least 3 litres of water a day? DO.
5. Drinking dehydrating stuff (tea, energy drinks, soup, sugary drinks, coffee)? Make sure you compensate them with water.
6. Eating empty calories? Replace huge meals with actual nutritions: wholegrain, meat, cheese, yogurt, oat, nuts, fruits, vegetables.
7. You eat twice a day? Eat more times throughout the day so you won’t get hungry by the evening.
8. Not drinking milk? DO.
9. Not sleeping before midnight? DO.
10. Eat fibers. A lot. They speed up everything :)

Taking up one or two healthy habits is easy and they are easily maintained during stressful times. Also, if your body is not exhausted by malnutritioning, you can put up with stress better. And it's just a happy spiral.

Fun fact: Ever since I’m living healthier I feel sick from McDonald’s food. Like, I’m literally sick for two days after eating a cheeseburger.

What motivates you?

I’m motivated by the peace of mind exercises give.
The fact that I can play video games for 8 hours straight without back pain.
That I can take 20 kgs of cat litter home without having to ask for help.

I want to be there when my kid graduates and I want to play with my grandchidren.

My dad had a huge impact on me. He studied biology in uni and has given me advices throughout the years, while showing a good example. He’s over 50 and he goes to Croatia by bike because he can. He’s usually never sick nor he is stressed - even though he lives a really stressful life.

He also told me about how he laid down the foundations of his health. He says it’s like a house: if the foundation is well built, the house will stand strong for a long time. If the foundation is weak, the house will stand for a while and collapse very soon.
Young people have a few years to establish a good physical state and then we start aging. The level of physical well-being where we start aging from is crucial.

Putting effort into your health now pays off later.

Wouldn’t it be great to play video games like a teen? Just sitting there for 10 hours without having to stretch your legs…