How I discovered fitness in virtual reality using the Oculus Quest 2
My journey into health and wellness started in September 2020, several months after the pandemic started. I had gained so much weight after the coronavirus pandemic hit, eating all of the quarantine snacks, ordering out food (constantly, almost 3x a week), and not moving or going out much. I was living a very sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle.
It was just a chaotic time where I didn’t even care to focus on myself. I realized I wanted to change my lifestyle so I can live a better and healthier life. During this time, I changed my diet and lifestyle to eat better and start working on the foods I eat, and developing a healthy relationship with food. I started to lose weight slowly during September through December, using a plant based flex diet, practicing intuitive eating and following an intermittent fasting protocol.
However, my journey into fitness actually started in January 2021. I hit a plateau with just my lifestyle and food changes, and needed that extra push to get my heart rate going. In 2020, my only form of exercise was taking small walks daily until winter hit. Once the snow and below freezing temperatures hit, I became stagnant for two months until I was at my brother-in-law’s house and saw that he had been playing games on Virtual Reality using the Oculus Quest 2 headset. He let me try it and showed me the ropes of VR.
I’ve always heard so much things about VR gaming and was so excited to try it for the first time. I’ve seen all the videos of people playing the famous game Beat Saber, and I knew that was definitely a game I wanted to play. It just looked like it would be so fun and boy, was I right!
Once I put the headset on, I was transported to the VR world. It felt so real. I was in the world of Beat Saber with two lightsabers in my hand ready to slash some boxes! I started on easy mode and at the time, I was sweating from just my first time playing it.
From that moment, I realized that fitness in VR is actually legit. You’re moving, you’re sweating, and your heart rate is going up. This is a legit form of cardio! The same results that can be produced on a treadmill were being produced right inside a 6ft x 6ft dimension of space defined by the Oculus guardian, as I was achieving my goals and objectives through playing a game that not only worked out my mind, but my body too!
After trying it for the first time, I knew I needed to buy a VR headset of my own. This was going to be my breakthrough to climb out of the plateau I had from December to January!
The next morning I woke up and turned to my husband and told him, “We need to get our own VR headset!”. He was definitely excited because he ended up loving the games he was playing on his brother’s headset.
We went to Best Buy and purchased our own Oculus immediately the next day. We had to look around and travel a bit because it was still sold out at a lot of stores at the time, probably because it was right after the holidays but it was worth the travel time to finally get my hands on my next cardio routine (and game system)!
The best part about VR fitness is that it was all in the comfort of my own home, without having to be in a gym surrounded by other people, or having to wear a mask to work out. I could breathe freely and build up a sweat. Gyms were not an option for me that I felt comfortable with especially during the pandemic, so I was going to be a VR fitness gamer.
Once I acquired my own Oculus headset, I went down the rabbit hole looking for the best VR workouts. There were so many fitness games I couldn’t believe it!
I ended up getting FitXR and two months later, found Supernatural.
With just having FitXR and Beat Saber, I broke not only a sweat, but broke my weight loss plateau. From January to March, I dropped 15lbs once I started my fitness routine in virtual reality (in coordination with my flexible plant based diet I’ve been on for the past six months).
In 6 months I dropped 55lbs, and I couldn’t be happier. There’s more fitness games I’d like to try out in the near future too, like Eleven Table Tennis, and Synth Riders and Audio Trip.
Right now there’s just so much content in the (3) fitness games I have, I want to focus on them first.
In my next fitness article, I will break down my honest reviews of the three fitness games that have helped me get back into health and wellness again.
Feel free to read in detail on my favorite VR Fitness Game Review!
