Mel B – Week 2 Update (Driven)

Wow. I have actually exercised 14 days in a row; first time in my 40 years of existence that I can remember accomplishing that feat. Certainly for the first time in my adult life!

It is not that I am Daisy, a girl who is fat and lazy; or anything like that … I’m not one to hit the gym or work the weight room. I run when my pants start feeling a little too snug because with running I am typically able to drop a few pounds fairly quickly.

I wanted to give Mel B a go to see if I could actually lose weight from the comfort of my living room instead of braving the 95+ degree temperatures encountered when running around the park. In other words, screw the heat and bring on Mel B!

After another week of getting fit with Mel B, I am holding fast at 175 lbs., which is OK, because to be honest, my diet sucked in week two. That’s right, too much beer and too many chips; my gluttonous weakness. Add in the bad eating at the Falcons game Friday night, a really nasty (in a good sort of way) breakfast at the Marriott Saturday morning, and Mellow Mushroom pizza washed down by some not so light cold ones Saturday night, and I’m actually happy I’m holding even. If I could ever put down the beer and salty chip snacks, I would certainly be well on my way, but that would not be very fun.

Of note, I only ran once in the last week (afternoon of Day 8), which means that all calories burned and no weight gained are attributed to Mel B.

Going forward, I may just follow up with an update of calories burned to date and Trophies gained (nice benefit to Mel B – get fit and gain Trophies). I do plan to keep with Mel be for the rest of the month, but I doubt I will do religious daily workouts, then again, I am now actually in a routine and am looking forward to seeing some progress.

Day 9
I did a 15 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone workout which was good for 106 calories. Yes, I did the needful and purchased a 2lb set of wrist weights (1lb per cuff) and a set of 3lb ankle weights (1.5lb per cuff). Holy crap; I would have never expected pain and suffering from 1lb weights. I was thinking about going with a 3lb and 5lb set; while I could have handled more weight on my ankles, not so much on my wrists. I can definitely see Mel B getting me toned; if my arms do not fall off first!

Get Fit could really be improved by showing how much extra calories were burned, tracking how much you lift by day, etc. All that extra resistance has to be good for more calories, right?

Research shows that the use of extra weight on the arms or legs while walking (no studies on running could be located) can add to the calorie expenditure. In one study of walking with walking sticks, calorie expenditure increased by an average of 23% compared to walking without the sticks. In a similar study where subjects walked on a treadmill with arm levers, calorie expenditure increased by 55% above walking without the levers.

Although opinions seem to be mixed on using weights, with plenty of articles warning not to add in ankle and wrist weights to workout sessions; I have no desire to add them to my runs.

I followed up my Pump ‘N’ Tone workout with a 15 minute Combat session, which was good for 102 calories. Of all the exercises Get Fit offers, I really like Combat the best.

Day 10
Today I added in Step fitness (purchased ‘The Step F1011W Original Health Club Step’); call me ‘all in’ with losing weight with Mel B. 20 minutes; 143 calories.

I believe that Get Fit could be significantly improved if the game tracked and showed overall step count. For that matter, it would be nice to see reps and calories by all exercise types.

After my Step workout, I added a 15 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone workout, which according to Mel B, was good for 113 calorie expenditure. It was also good for spaghetti arms!

Day 11
Today started with a 15 minute Dance workout; 97 calories burned. I really don’t like the Dance stuff; besides looking stupid (as previously noted in past Mel B updates) I know I am not coordinated (or graceful) enough to pull off the moves correctly. The camera + Move does not seem to care. In some cases, just coming close enough makes Mel B happy; for some of the routines there is never any satisfying Mel B.

After dancing like a dumb ass, I took up a 15 minute Advance Cardo session, which burned 95 calories.

At this point the Trophies are becoming increasingly scarce; many of the remaining Trophies are repetition based. For full disclosure, I have to admit that I have “cheated” twice – there are two hidden Trophies that require you to work out between 12AM – 2AM (dance aerobics), and 5AM – 7AM (fitness). F that noise; I did the needful and manipulated the PS3 clock in order to make my workouts trigger these Trophies. I rule. All other Trophies have been earned the right way – with my own sweat and suffering.

Day 12
Today I did a 20 minute Step workout, which was good for 158 calories, and interesting enough the Step Trophy ‘Going up?’ for climbing the equivalent of the Empire State Building? Probably. I thought this one would come much later. Turns out Mel B has counted more than 1,860 steps from yours truly. Shocker!

How many steps are there to the top of the Empire State Building?

There are 1,860 from street level to 102nd floor.

After Stepping, I was brave enough to add in a 20 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone session, which besides making my arms burn, was good for 153 calories. I also hit Step Level 80, who knew I could Step like a mofo – I earned the ‘Semi Professional’ Trophy. I am at Level 75 on the other workouts, except for Advance Cardo and Fitness, both of which are tracking at Level 50. I am not sure if I can improve these with more repetition, or if due to a few camera + Move tracking issues, in-game improvement will never be credited.

After Day 11 I mentioned that the Trophies are starting to get scarce; this time I mean it. Most of the ones left are based on completing 20 workouts of a certain type or based on fitness level increases. Still going for the ‘Driven’ Trophy (exercised every day for two weeks) just to prove a point with Mel B.

Day 13
Since I was heading up to ATL in the early afternoon for the Falcons first preseason game, I did a quickie 20 minute Fitness workout around lunch, which burned 153 calories, and also earned the ‘Pizza’ Trophy at ~2700 calories. I thought this Trophy was awarded around 5K calories, but I will take what I can get.

On a personal note, I really needed to burn 500 calories to make up for all the bad food and beer I am about to consume! The good news is my overall fitness level does seem to be improving; I could have easily put in another 20 minute workout.

Day 14
During my 30 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone workout, the Silver ‘Driven’ Trophy popped! This was one of my main goals when I started – be ‘Driven’ enough to workout two solid weeks. I also burned 221 calories, which was a nice bonus for being brave enough to take on a 30 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone session.

Looking Forward …
My next workout will put me over 3K calories burned with Mel B. Who would have guessed that I would burn in excess of 3K calories with this game? I am now at 46% complete (29 Bronze and 1 Silver Trophies) for my efforts, which is a nice haul since I needed to exercise anyway.

I mentioned several times that Trophies should be few and far between now that most of the basic ones are out of the way. I think I am actually inclined to go Trophy whoring – not cheating mind you – really trying to get good enough to earn some of the remaining goodies that are yet to be earned.

Now that ‘Driven’ is out of the way, I will probably start trying to tackle Fitness to see if I can get my level to increase; I want to be fit, that is the goal. I will also try some of the challenges, which I have not attempted yet – Combat first because that one is fun and rewarding.

Share

2 thoughts on “Mel B – Week 2 Update (Driven)”

  1. getting closer and closer to buying this. i keep going and looking at games, and to be honest i dont think 2011 has been a good year for games. keep seeing this one and thinking of my wife recording me on the dance steps and posting them on facebook (she would). She actually wants ea active next month after she has the newest addition to the familly – maybe i can get her to believe the game will be for her

  2. Tell her that not only is the game for her, but you may want to try it (you have an online buddy giving it a go) and she can try recording you for a 10K America’s Funniest Home Videos deal …

    My wife actually wants to try this now … except for the stepping stuff because she had to replace her ACL a couple of years ago!

Leave a Reply