My story.

[forestersg6]

Hey, everyone.

 

TL;DR: grew up without games, got games at the age of 18, played games alot, got fat, hated myself, made new friends, found other things to do instead of game.

 

So, the long version.

So, here's my story. I just joined the site today. I'm currently watching / listening to the Stefan Molyneux interview as I type this. Growing up, I never had gaming hardware. Sure, dad had a computer that had some defaut games. But, to give you an idea how long ago that was, I remember my dad had a brand new Commodore 64 computer. I was born in 1986. I grew up in the Golden Age of video games. But, I think growing up poor really played a big factor in why I didn't have a SNES or SEGA or whatever. 

I grew up in Detroit. My parents weren't on welfare, rather surprisingly, but many families around us were. So, any money their parents earned, to avoid losing their government aid, would spend it on things like Gaming systems and such. So we were the only family on the block, it seemed, that didn't have a games system. I was teased for it my entire childhood. I didn't mind, though. I was outside all the time.

Later on, I would go over to friends houses and stay up all night playing video games. I can remember going to my friend Josh's house for a week in the summer, and playing Gran Turismo 2 on the Playstation for more than 13 hours on end.

I had other friends that had some Need for Speed games, or some simpler puzzle games like Chips Challenge or Ski Free (I know, I know... I'm old.) We would have tournaments to see who was the best.

Fast forward to High School Graduation. As is common in my area, my parents held an open house for me to celebrate. I got about $1,100 in gifts, which I spent on a computer. Another gift I got was a collection of 5 games. From that point, every free minute I had, when I wasn't working or sleeping, was consumed by video games. I quit riding my bike, I put on alot of weight, and was generally unhealthy.

Back in 2009, I started hanging out with a local car club, and started going to weekly car meets, and some weekend car events, but otherwise, I still spent many, many hours gaming. I bought my first game console when I was 23, and my second at 24. From that point, the minute I got home from work (6:30pm) to when I went to bed (usually between midnight and 1am), I was sitting at my desk, or on my bed playing games. Some games offered easy routes to progress in the game. So, in order to progress, I spent, over time, a large dollar amount on in game purchases.

What really made me start playing less and less was when I did a health screening at work. Now, before I say what I learned my weight was, I need to preface that I didn't grow up in a health-conscious home. My parents are overweight, my sisters are overweight, and, obviously, I am too. Now, back to the screening. I learned that I, all 6 feet 5 inches of me, weighed in at 395lbs. That made me realize I needed to get out and be more active. So, about that time, I bought a DSLR camera, and started taking pictures of cars at car meets and car shows. 

I had a co-worker who offered to let me use the "Bring a guest" feature of his Planet Fitness Black membership, which I agreed to try out. I went to the gym a few times, and, eventually, got my own membership. But, like with many people, when I didn't see results in the first month, I quit going. I fell back into gaming, but figured I'd cut out Soda. That right there helped me drop 20 lbs, but left me with a mouth full of cavities.

About that time, I switched jobs, and met another friend who dragged me to the gym 2 days a week. About that same time, I couldn't stand seeing myself in the mirror, because all I saw was a fat guy. And, (please, hold the "Fat Shaming" or "Fat Hate" or "Healthy and Any Size" BS) I started to notice that fat people aren't attractive. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I hate seeing a fat guy in the mirror, and I find fat repulsive, so everyone else probably feels the same...(obviously not the case....for the most part). 

But about 2 years ago, I started hitting the gym 3 times a week, taking up an hour and a half of the time previously spent gaming. The rest of the time was spent working on writing content for my Blog (Car photos and car culture), writing fiction (Zombie Horror) and listening to music / watching youtube videos.

Now, I'm to the point where my PS3 doesn't get used. I powered it on last week to reformat the hard drive so I can sell the console. I also tried playing a game, and got bored after 5 minutes. (Which is great when you are trying to quit gaming.)

I have uninstalled all the games on my PC, I've uninstalled Steam, and even removed all of the games on my phones and PC other than solitaire.

All of my free time now is spent editing photos, writing and editing what I've written. I just started a new Job in the field I went to school in (8 years after I graduated from the program), and, due to the layout of the company campus, average 9,000 steps a day by the time I leave work.

I'm down to 325lbs now, 2 pant sizes, a shirt size, and considerably more muscle mass than I had in June of 2013, when I had that health screening.

Video games are awesome. Way too awesome. I realized that all of my joy was coming from Video Games. I played GTA5 so much, I knew the Map of San Andreas better than I knew the map of my own city. It got to the point where I looked forward to escaping work just to screw around in San Andreas. Or Gran Turismo 6. Or Skyrim. Or whatever the in-game land in Minecraft is called.

So, if all that wasn't enough, I have 2 cousins who, for lack of a nicer way to say it, are lazy, fat, disrespectful 30-year-old man-children living in their mothers basement for free. They sleep all day, game all night. When they game, they drink and smoke weed. The younger of the two has had jobs on and off for the last 3 years, but nothing for more than a month at a time. The older cousin is morbidly obese, diabetic, and has crippling social anxiety. No doubt caused by a combination of an abusive father, who went to prison 15 years ago for assaulting my aunt, and the fact that my aunt let him do whatever he wanted to do, which turned out to be play video games all day.

At one point, he was complaining to me that his computer was really slow lately. I was telling him how I kept my system fast. He asked me to see if I could speed his up. I got his system home, and started running my maintenance apps...part of his problem was that his 4TB hard drive was FULL of Porn. Mostly Hentai and animated "Rule 34" stuff. He wanted some of it backed up, but I wiped the entire system, reinstalled his OS and core apps, and gave it back to him.

The entire family sees this, and just lets it go. Sure, they complain, but they won't say anything. I decided I didn't want that to be me, and a change had to be made.

Now, I'm not saying i'm 100% game free, but I'm playing so little, I might as well be.

Thanks for your time.

-Phil

[WorkInProgress]

Thanks for sharing. Seems like you are on a great way being constructive and changing your life to the better. Congratulations to this!

[Cam Adair]

Thanks for sharing. Grateful that you've joined us here. 

[Regular Robert]

That is a great story of change you share with us and honestly, I love it. You have a great and interesting way to write and I believe, you also have something to say. Regarding the topic about obese people and attractiveness, I believe I can understand what you feel. Generally spoken: I don't find obese people attractive either. But it is not really the body fat that drives me away, but rather the fact that to get to a point, where you have so much volume that it actually hurts you in many ways, one has to close his or her eyes to many things. Being obese does, in most cases, not just happen. Nobody wakes up one morning and suddenly, he or she looks in the mirror and sees a completely different person. One has to let it happen. And that is what drives me away. That a human person just closes his or her eyes and lets the downfall happen. You on the other hand, you express a lot of spirit. Your current weight does not reflect your current mindset, but the continuous loss of weight and the continuous change shows that to are willing to take care of yourself. You do not let happen, you do to make change. And that is an attitude I really love.

Anyway, Phil, keep up the awesome work, stay strong, keep your focus and concentration and do what you feel you need to do! You got this under control.

[giblets]

Welcome Phil! I look forward to following your journey!