Poll: are you a fat gamer?

by Vladimir Cole { Mar 3rd 2006 at 3:00AM }

Maybe the CDC is really onto something here. Maybe gamers really are fat. Maybe we really do need to rest our thumbs and get out to play more. Sounds like an opportunity for a quick survey.

This is a two-part process. First, take this BMI test. It'll give you a general sense of just how svelte or stout you really are. After completing the test, reward yourself with a cheeseburger for completing that grueling ordeal. You'll need the energy for the next part of the challenge.

Feeling rested? Good. Here's the a poll question. Do your best to read it and respond to it before fatigue overwhelms you. I had to take like five naps and several two-liter sodas just to be able to finish this post.

Technical mumbo jumbo: this is not a scientific or rigorous poll and is only intended to capture the general consensus of Joystiq readers. Results will be posted approximately one week after the poll is opened for votes. Sure, you probably could hack this poll if you worked at it, but it’s more fun for everyone if poll results accurately reflect the opinions of all readers, so please refrain from tampering with poll results.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

robotplague @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:06AM

Seriously, what would fall under "other"?

glitchy @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:10AM

Big but not fat, I work out, hell before games and all I was a flabby little kid.

Joby @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:15AM

I'm not fat - i'm rubenesque

Jaunty @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:15AM

23.1 :D Healthy bishes

drake @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:21AM

Honestly before I got into games I used to be a lot heavier, I'm at a healthy weight now because I lost a lot of weight. When I got into gaming (only been about a year or two now) I discovered a lot of gaming podcasts and I find it a lot easier to actually work out and be physical while listening to these podcasts on my ipod. Before that working out never really interested me, but now it's a lot funner. I'm not really into music, but I found this to be a great alternative.

vc @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:23AM

When I first started gaming I was about 90 pounds. Now I'm twice that weight. Clearly, gaming has been horrible for me.

Matt @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:30AM

I'm 340, but I'm trying to get it off.

Vincent @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:35AM

Hah, Joby, that's how people in my drawing/painting classes always describe the models who are overweight. A little too many REUBENS, perhaps? Get it? Ehh? EHH?! HAR!!

...mmm, Reuben sandwiches...

...In high school, the kids that played games had a pretty normal weight distribution--maybe 10% of us were overweight. And now, among my friends and I (all of us gamers), we're all healthy.

The fat little kids that you see running around with GBAs at the mall are not overweight because of games. The CDC is scapegoating, just like everybody else (violent videogames, anyone?). They're fat because their parents never give them the impetus to exercise or eat anything but processed foods. I'm all for getting kids out and exercising--my mom never let me stay inside when I was little, if it was sunny out--but to make the generalization that all gamers are fat is incorrect and propagandistic. Videogames share equally the weight of other methods by which parents easily distract their children to occupy them for just ten more minutes (like television or junk food), while they do parentey things (like drink). They're a tool of distraction, because that's how parents use them, NOT because that's what they're meant to be--and they're certainly not the reason kids get fat.

I just find it rather annoying that I play videogames rather frequently, and I'm not overweight. My brothers all play videogames, and they're all fit. My friends, who are 20- and 30-somethings and play videogames--yep, fit, normal young people as well. If the CDC wants to blame something for obesity, they need to blame the culture of malaise we've developed, and the dependence we have on processed, readily available foods. We have a very unhealthy nation in general. Videogames are the very least of America's problems.

dinobambino @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:44AM

Be careful with that BMI index, I never liked them. I am 5'11'' and weigh 195. I work out, so I am kinda a big guy, but that index doesnt take into account muscle. So I have the amount of fat of a 160 pounder, with the rest just muscle, and this thing calls me fat.

In comparison, Troy Palamalu of the Steelers has the same height and weight as me. Is he fat?

In other words, I find the BMI only to be true for people who do not lift weights.

Bassam @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:48AM

As of 12:46am PST, 52% of game players are healthy...
So, in America, where over two thirds of us are at least overweight, and about a fifth are seriously obese, you are telling me that gamers are healthier than average person?!?

I call complete BS.

Skylar Bohan @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:49AM

Well, I'm 6'4" and 250. CDC says I'm obese. This calculator obviously just assumes that any weight over "normal" must be fat and can't be muscle. Rather silly I think. I guess I'm not really even a gamer anymore, I just play GBA while on the train/bus.

LaughingTarget @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:27AM

5'9", 160

Lets just say if someone made a jogging game for the 360, I'd be pretty high up on the leaderboards for that one on Live. Can sustain a 7 minute mile average for around 3 miles.

Guess I am a slovenly gamer that is dragging this nation's health levels down so low that it is clogging our hospital arteries (pun intended) with an overabundance of triple-bypass surgeries, buring our health system in excessive cost.

neale @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:28AM

im skinny, and no matter how much i eat i never gain any weight. luck of the draw i guess. im from the uk and i eat so much shit its crazy.

not to get at america or anything, but your small portions are our large portions. like said before, its not games fault

Spence @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:33AM

Bassam congratulations, you've found the flaw in the poll.. some people lie about their personal appearance out of want.. it's rather easy on the internet and we found that when Joystiq polled people if they had adopted HD technology.. no coincidence that the site was plastered with HD television adverts..

A ridiculous amount of people said they had one already.. to the extent where it was clear many were voting out of want over truth.

I think this is an impotant issue and is something that's going to take a bit more control over the next 5 years with next generation consoles.

Gamers typically have one of the worst lifestyles going I guess, those who spend their days sitting on a chair, perhaps in an office, school or university come home, sit down.. watch TV and play games. Probably allowing little to no time for exercise or cooking.

It's quite amazing that in 10 years our generation of children will be growing up on frozen food packaging and an extreme minority will have cooking skills.. it's going to be a vicous cycle.

I'm happy Nintendo are releasing a cooking game which teaches an almost old fashioned art of cooking, I wish it the best of success but more importantly couch potato lifestyles have to stop.. it's amazing how many people join gyms but never go.

Good poll Joystiq, perhaps you should do a campaign on healthy snacks that gamers can enjoy whilst battling on xbox live.. you could do a cooking class!!

Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:36AM

BMI is a pretty crappy test for judging whether people are over/underweight or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index

From wikipedia:

"comparison of a bodybuilder and a sedentary or obese individual of the same weight and height would produce similar results, which would be designated obese; regardless of the body composition of either."

In layman terms this test cannot tell between muscle and fat. It's a pretty crappy way to find out how healthy you are.

TaiZ @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:36AM

Well, seems I'm healthy. I always thought I was underweight by a bit, but I'm just in the healthy area. 19.2!! Yay for eating big meals!

Pal @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:45AM

I'm healthy, 5'5" 116lbs or so :)

So...parents would be SO HAPPY if kids read books all day, right? I mean, it's learning! It's less work though, that's for sure -- you're not even regularly moving your thumbs.

Gee, CDC, why don't you start attacking books too? What about Chess players? Idiots.

N @ Mar 3rd 2006 5:05AM

Pal, you idiot. Books at least have an intellectual payoff for being sedentary; video games? Not so much.

Alkaiser @ Mar 3rd 2006 5:07AM

Conrad: And that there is the fatal flaw in the large BMI = teh unhealthy theory.

The most accurate way of determining one's body fat percentage is through bioelectric impedence, where a low voltage current is run through the body, and then the machine detects how much current comes back. Assuming the resistances of the various organs and muscle, it's expecting X amount of current. Fat would affect the current in certain ways.

According to the BMI I'm slightly overweight. According to the bioelectric current method, I'm average. I'm going to guess the all numbers are equivalent numbers is the incorrect method here.

Rob @ Mar 3rd 2006 5:37AM

22 years old, 6'2, 155 lbs. 19.9 BMI, just into "Healthy" :D

Jay @ Mar 3rd 2006 6:13AM

I'm healthy. I do marathons and all that. Used to go to the gym and work on my upper body but I just don't have the dedication there, I don't see what benefit it's for in my line of work and study. I was brought up a sprinter, now I'm long distance.

9.10 stone, 5'11.

Sockatume @ Mar 3rd 2006 7:13AM

The BMI's actually a better indicator than you'd think. Far more people are obese than are heavily muscled in industrialised nations, and a heavily muscled person doesn't exactly need to figure out whether they're in shape or not.

MATT @ Mar 3rd 2006 7:45AM

UNDER WEIGHT I GUESS

5'8, 92lbs

DCSimian @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:00AM

6'1 175 lbs. Pretty slim.

And yes...as others have mentioned before...the BMI is not a very reliable test, as it doesn't account for muscle mass or fat mass. I don't know why it's still being used.

Workout about 3 to 4 days a week, although yesterday I ate 3 cheese pizzas, a philly cheesesteak, and a double whopper with fries...so much for the running...(of note...that is not my usual cuisine for the day...)

White Rose Duelist @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:25AM

Overweight, but formerly obese and headed towards healthy thanks to the "exergaming" ou decried.

DG @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:39AM

An Internet site dedicated to video games and 50% of its audience is fit? Suuuuuure....

That said, when I play video games, I'm not eating while doing so. I don't like getting my controllers nasty and I don't see the need to pause just to stuff my face.

Paul @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:41AM

6'4" 230lbs

I got a 28 on that test, a nice overweight score, but I'm in pretty good shape, i go to the gym 3-4 times a week. I also think that gamers nowadays are in better shape because it has become a much more competitive thing and more people who find themselves liking and playing sports also like and play video games because it feeds that competitive nature they have.

Also, I pwn noobs.

macidiot @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:49AM

I was a fat gamer. A year ago I weighed 310 pounds. Now I weigh 165 pounds. I play video games while working out, and I stick to my diet (weight watchers). Works great and I still play way too many video games.

Doug the Aquacell Guy @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:50AM

I'm not gonna take the BMI test because I work out at the Y but I'm reasonably fit. I consider myself to be like Zach Braff on Scrubs this week..."sponge-y physique".

My thumbs, however, are ripped.

Madskils2 @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:56AM

I'm 20 pounds heavier than I was when I graduated high school but I can still run 1.5 miles under 13 minutes.

brian @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:58AM

The BMI hasn't been used widely as a measure of fitness for fifteen years. Like the instructions on the linked page said, bodybuilders (defined fifteen years ago as someome who lifts weights regularly) shouldn't take the BMI test--which brings me to two points:
1. Since the percentage of people lifting weights (and I'm not talking actual bodybuilders, here) has increased in the last fifteen years, it's time to put the damn BMI to rest already.
2. Despite evidence touting games' promotion of problem-solving abilities, games still can't instill in people the ability to read directions. Look at the comments of people who say they work out (but took the test anyway), and ask yourself, "maybe being overweight isn't the typical gamer's most immediate problem?"

JodyAnthony @ Mar 3rd 2006 9:23AM

I'm overweight, but it's not because of games. its because i'm lazy. there are plenty of times that im not playing games that i could be out excercising, but i dont have the willpower

Kye @ Mar 3rd 2006 9:25AM

24
6"2
78 kg (172 lbs)
BMI 22.1

Always been skinny, only into the "healthy" catergory the past several years.

I work out alot (martial arts). But even when gaming I (sometimes) set myself targets, like:

I'll do pushups non-stop until this loading screen finishes (PS/PS2 owners use caution).
I'll do 10 squats between each round.
30 push ups if I loose or whatever.

Might sound silly but it all adds up & it works. Plus I either don't game for as long or get really good at what I'm playing :)

??? @ Mar 3rd 2006 9:26AM

I'm not sure which is the worse affliction of the two-the beer-bellied beanbag clown gut developed by console gamers,or the Kwazi Moto hunchback appearance adopted by the PC players.lol lol lol!

Jeb @ Mar 3rd 2006 9:27AM

5'9 175 pounds of pure... cheetos.

Seriously though - How does playing games have anything to do with health? Most people I know who are gamers (25-35 yrs old) have jobs and other things going on in their lives. It's not like I sit around playing on the couch 10 hours a day every day - it's more like 1-2 hours a day if I'm lucky.

I spend much more time sitting at work. Healthy living is all about finding time to get up and move around for 20 min here and there or going to the gym several times a week. Most of the overweight people I know would be overweight regardless of how they spend their freetime - they just won't take time to exercise.

The1 @ Mar 3rd 2006 9:30AM

Heck NO!!!!!!!!! I go to the GYM everyday.

Dan @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:26AM

Healthy, but getting up there. I need to get back to the gym before the summer anyway...

riffgod @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:57AM

This is an interesting topic. One of the generalizations that always comes up about gamers is their health and weight with the events we partake in. It also a reason a number of very unsuccessful games or games with mediocre appeal have been released. As well as most peripherals.

The Nintendo Power Pad, the Eyetoy, the DDR mat. All of these are to get us off of our, alleged, "fat asses".

While posting a poll on a gaming site like this is a good place to find people in the demographic we're looking for, the poll is majorly flawed. First there is no comparison. There is no control group. Secondly there is no standard, all the answers are based on perception. Finally, I like anyone reading this has read many of comments to topics discussed here. You may have noticed, like I have that many of those answers are comical. There is no way to tell that anyway is lying about their true physical condition.

Still it is good to hear this topic from the gamers side for a change.

Nath5000 @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:07AM

Bad choice of wording on the poll. Every joe/jane is going to think that he/she is healthy or not exactly know if they are overweight until the day comes when they realize that eating no fat crispy snacks and diet soda *doesnt* mean that you are healthy and they start having agnia (heart related chest pain) at age 40 and are stuck on a cholesterol and blood pressure pill for the rest of their lives.

Today its hard to know what being "healthy" is because the majority of people are overweight and most would consider that majority "healthy" and they would just consider the people who are actually fit "too healthy"... Especially with this whole "free to be you and me" of the 70's turned 21st century where its "free to feel comfortable as an unhealthy fat ass", which I'm sure has some psychological benefits, but it isnt going to save any lives. Dont get me wrong I'm not *for* teasing fat people, but I cant help but shake my head in light of their ignorance. It is MORE than genetics, genetics can play a part in metabolism but people are always just looking for an excuse. If anything its going to guarantee the future sucess of drug companies who thrive on the growing unhealthy population who is manipulated by marketing to think that walking from your car at the far end of the parking lot and eating "low fat" or "trans fat free" chips all day is going to somehow guarantee your health, no matter your weight, which it wont.

You shouldve included a link to a website where a person can type in their age and their weight and height and get a Body Mass Index measurement that actually (at least by the government) can tell if someone is at their healthy weight, but it isnt a perfect tool because someone might be "overweight" and have a low bodyfat and tons of muscle, but generally the BMI works because *Most* people are far from lower bodyfat and high muscle.

ALSO, someone can be thin and be VERY unhealthy. Someone can eat crappy food and fast food and soda their whole life and have a high metabolism and end up thin but end up with the same problems as an obese person later in life...

Healthy weight is better wording for the poll. "I'm Healthy" is something everyone wants to believe, so its obvious why its the leader in the poll...

Nath5000 @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:20AM

Also I wanted to mention that going to the gym and doing martial arts and all that stuff IS a great way to get in shape and increase your health, but its more than just fitness that makes a person "healthy". Nutrition is probably even more important. If everyone ate perfectly, no cholesterol, the amount of calories they ate is the amount they burned in a "normal day" and got all of the nutrients that the body needed, we probably wouldnt need to go to the gym to "burn fat" or
"get into shape" but we could go to actually strengthen our healthy bodies. Nutrition and fitness really go hand in hand but I think that while many people are determined and spot on in the gym, there are a lot more people who still eat wrong, because eating is a pleasure, something we instinctively want. Our bodies are telling us to eat eat eat because we evolved as humans who were always living to find their next meal and now in modern times we are overloaded with opportunities to get food. Eating is really a science. "We need to eat to live, not live to eat" which I think was said by Bill Phillips... The purpose of eating is so we can fuel our bodies to keep it alive, not so that we can feel the sensation of something tastey 3 or more times a day...

Health, nutrition and fitness are really complicated and hard to stick to because our bodies werent designed for this world, we want to eat, and society and marketing are telling us to eat and that the drug companies can solve our problems later on.

If anyone has any questions they can email me and If you think im trying to be a know-it-all then I'm sorry, Im just hopefully trying to spread what I know and trying to avoid talking about the things I dont.

Erik Novak @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:30AM

This might've been mentioned before, but the BMI isn't an accurate scale for people who excersize and/or lift weights regularly. I'm very athletic and work out 5 times a day & have a semi-strict diet, and I weigh 195 at 5'10''. Muscle weighs more than fat, and even if you don't pump iron that includes lean muscle, so BMI is only a good indicator for the sedatary.

WindPower @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:34AM

I'm underwieght...
Eating too many proteins and not enough sugar...

Angrylawman @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:44AM

Body fat percentage is probably the best indicator of fitness. And yes, the poll is flawed because people will intentionally lie, and others aren't really lying because they've fooled themselves into thinking they are healthy.

I have quite a few buddies that think they are still fit or healthy just because they played sports in high school. Several years, and several pounds, later, they still think that they are fit.

However, gaming is no more to blame for people being overweight than television is.

Michael @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:48AM

Healthy, but I spend a lot of time at the gym so it's not quite accurate - muscle weights more than fat.

Gonzo @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:51AM

I find that allot of nerds take a great interest in martial arts. You don't see too many gamers in a gym because (besides the fact that they don't usually have wifi access) nerds like to exercise their mind with their body instead of staring vacuously in the mirror.
I've been studying martial arts (mostly within the structure of Jeet Kun Do with added Kali and Chi disciplines) for several years and I couldn't imagine going out to the gym just to work out on a treadmill.
At least not without some very strong psychotropic substances

Nath5000 @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:54AM

Angrylawman, true bodyfat percentage is a better indicator of healthy fat levels in the body but neither BF% or BMI are accurate overall indicators of "health". Someone may have a low bodyfat and a high metabolism and be sucking down processed, trans fatty, micro-toxic, hormonal, chemical additive diet that could slowly be contributing to an overall worse health situation. I know people who go to the gym and think that since theyre muscular and have low bodyfat that they can eat refined foods and processed pre-packaged foods and think that they are somehow immune to their effects because they arent getting "fat"... None of you really have mentioned healthy eating, probably because its impossible not to be a hypocrite when it comes to healthy eating because not only is it harder to figure out and stick to than fitness, the science field hasnt even completely figured out nutrition to this day! They're too focued on quick fix pills that dont improve health, but alleviate problems and/or mask them.

Ross Miller @ Mar 3rd 2006 12:30PM

I tend to disagree with Gonzo, I started working out last year for the same reason everyone works out (but doesn't usually admit it)--to look good naked. I do Tae Kwon Do 3 days a week, and then I do go to the gym 3 days a week to run on a treadmill/lift weights. I do have a respect for TKD, but I guess my initial intentions (the whole "looking good naked" thing) do allow me to do both.

And yeah, just to reiterate what everyone else has said, nutrition is equally important. Even if it is something small such as taking carbonated drinks or caffeine out of your regular diet, that tends to help much.

Pal @ Mar 3rd 2006 12:45PM

"18. Pal, you idiot. Books at least have an intellectual payoff for being sedentary; video games? Not so much."

Well well! I used Final Fantasy V as a learning tool when I moved from Japan when I was in the third grade as a way to keep up on my Japanese! I've learned more kanji from video games than I ever have through a book. I haven't taken any more classes in Japan since I left Japan, but I can read the Japanese newspaper with absolutely no problems -- thanks video games!

Who's the idiot now?

HiroProtagonistak @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:30PM

Well being a Ninja I don�t have to be in shape because I just kick ass all the time. I play so many games that some times I don�t eat or drink for Hours even days so that keeps me slim and trim.

If you are fat and play games you should try the Coffee and Cigarette diet, not only will you drop the pounds, but you can stay up for hours doing the only thing that really matters in life. That�s right GAMING some day I hope to try sex, but until then GAMING.

Did I mention that 18 lbs of my girth in is my pants?

It�s where I keep my snacks.