How Much Weight Can I Lose Playing Beat Saber?
I’m always looking for ways to turn exercises into something fun, and I’ve found Beat Saber is a game worth playing for burning calories. Even on the normal difficulty, 20 to 25 minutes of gameplay can work up a sweat.
Gamifying fitness helps to keep your mind engaged in health. A lot of people look at certain exercises such as jumping jacks, squats, or push-ups like mundane activities and wind up losing momentum after a week or two. But when you make it something fun, you’ll find yourself eager to “play” more often.
I’m not saying that all bodyweight exercises are boring. Some people enjoy them, and there are even people out there who love running every morning. But some of us need a bit more motivation to get going. That’s where gamification comes into play.
Starting Weight: 243.6 Lbs
I am starting this week at 243.6 pounds. Based on my previous records, because I’m a dork and keep track of everything in a spreadsheet, I should cut that down to about 240 pounds by the end. I know that I can lose about 3.5 pounds per week just based on my diet plan.
After all, it’s how I lost 80 pounds thus far, and I know what I’m capable of handling. I’ll go over my diet plan here in a moment, but it’s what works best for me. It’s not overly restrictive and relies heavily on physical activity.
If I stick with playing Beat Saber to dial up the activity and reduce the carb intake a tad, I should lose more weight throughout the week. But I’m not going to risk my health. Being prone to hypoglycemia, I need to keep an eye on my blood sugar.
What the Challenge Entails
In reality, seven days really isn’t a lot of time to figure out if something is worthwhile. Proper health and fitness are more about playing the long-game and sustainability.
Nonetheless, there are people out there who want to see near-instant results. So, I suppose I’ll play along and provide an answer as to how much weight I can lose playing Beat Saber for the week.
So, what am I using for this week-long challenge?
Oculus Quest 2 & Beat Saber
I have an Oculus Quest 2 and Beat Saber ready to go. I know, it’s a bit of an older VR unit, but it still does the job. I’m broke folk and can’t afford the latest and greatest goodies…yet.
In any case, all I’m worried about is the game at this point. It doesn’t matter what you have Beat Saber on, as it should have a similar effect when playing.
I’m also playing on the normal difficulty. I am keeping track of the calorie burn through the different modes of play. That means that I’ll have some data in a few months regarding the calorie burn of the different difficulties and whether they’re worth playing from a fitness standpoint.
Routine: 2 Sessions per Day
The idea is to play twice per day: once in the morning and another round in the evening. Then, I should get a few steps here and there from normal activities, such as a nice 15 to 20-minute walk once or twice.
When all is said and done, I should hit around 42 minutes or so for the entire day.
I have a saved playlist of my favorite songs in Beat Saber, so I have a general idea of how long it takes me to play a single session. It’s usually about 23 minutes or so.
Fitbit Charge 6
I am using the Fitbit Charge 6 to track calorie burn. I’ve found that Fitbit devices work quite well across a variety of personal case studies. It just sucks that Google is doing everything possible to kill the brand.
In reality, it doesn’t matter what fitness tracker you use. Even if the numbers from the Fitbit are different from the Apple Watch, it still demonstrates elevated heart rate and movement.
Net 600 Calorie Diet
I created the Net 600 Calorie Diet some time ago, and it’s helped me lose 80 pounds thus far. It’s a diet that focuses on increasing activity while reducing caloric intake. That’s because I want to be more physically active as I get older.
Once I get below 220 pounds, I’ll have to re-evaluate my strategy as cutting calories at that stage would be somewhat dangerous and prevent proper muscle development.
The Data
I’m a geek with a spreadsheet. Let’s track the progress using Google Sheets.
The white numbers (if any) represent estimations, while the purple-highlighted fields are the days when data was recorded. Depending on when you read this blog post, the seven days may have already ended. In that case, all the numbers should be in purple.
Ending Weight: 241.4*
According to my 100-Day Fitness Challenge, I will hit 241.4 pounds by the end of the week. But that is a rough estimate, considering I haven’t finished playing the Beat Saber for seven days.
I’ll update this post as soon as I’m done.
Final Results
The week-long case study is currently active. So, I don’t really have much to say about the final results. This post will be updated as soon as I’m done with the challenge.
How Do You Gamify Fitness?
Beat Saber is just one game out of many that can help you burn calories by playing it. I’m currently working on a list of calorie-burning games that I hope to expand on in the near future. But for now, Beat Saber and Fruit Ninja are two of my favorites for physical movement.
If you really want a grueling workout playing the games, add hand or wrist weights. Even at one extra pound per hand, you’ll feel the burn in your shoulders and biceps.
The bottom line is that you should never underestimate gamifying fitness. There are all kinds of ways you can make it fun, depending on your interests.
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