It was summer 2016, Pokemon GO fever had just started to grip the planet and I’d recently cut out all carbonated drinks in favour of water, this is where I unknowingly lost around 3 stone. I hadn’t weighed myself properly for a while but I was around 13 stone a couple months prior to the release of Pokemon Go, by the turn of the year I was down to around 9 and a half stone. I’m not too sure if either of those are healthy considering I’m a 5 foot 3 guy, but hey ho!

I downloaded Pokemon GO on 7th July 2016 and didn’t really look back from there, I was hooked. I didn’t have my driving licence at this point so if I wanted to play it was public transport and on foot. I found myself walking roughly 8-10 miles a day, most days in the aid of catching Pokemon on my phone. I had a loop I’d do every single night after work. I’d walk down my street past one Pokestop, down to the train station to another stop, up the main road past 2 Gym’s, up towards another two stops, take a right to one more then double back and go towards the left at the junction I’d just turned right on towards another 3 stops; this became my nightly routine from around 10:30pm until the early hours of the morning. My days off consisted of walking through the trails into the next two towns over to a big park and then the reservoir. I had never done so much walking in my entire life and I was loving it.

I didn’t even really realise I was losing the weight, it was coming off naturally and subtly. I can’t remember exactly when it was that I noticed the weight loss, I think it was somewhere between 6-8 months later. Where I work I’m usually wearing a lot of layers so it was always hidden from those around me. One day I was working without the layers and just in a t-shirt, it was at this point a lot of my colleagues started noticing the weight loss and remarked about whether or not I was Ill as it had seemed like such a sudden occurrence. I think it was around this point I started noticing it myself, I was proud of it.

A year apart at the Castlewood Cup 2016 and 2017.

If it weren’t for Pokemon GO I don’t think I’d have lost that weight and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t manage to keep it up for longer than around a year before I let myself go. I haven’t put the weight entirely back on but I’ve put a big chunk of it back on through a big mixture of mental health issues, getting comfortable in relationships, passing my driving test thus walking less and even quitting Pokemon GO. I’m not entirely happy with where I sit weight wise currently, nor how my body looks but that’s on me to change it. Writing this is my way of putting it out there in hopes it will lead me to find some form of motivation, I guess.

I still played through 2017 and 2018 but it gradually got to a point where I’d only ever open up the game to see what would spawn near my house. I did go out a few times towards the end of 2018 on my own for the community days, I think it was Beldum and Cyndaquil. I quickly realised it had lost its spark and that paired with the fact I had lost contact with the community that had formed around my towns was ultimately what led to me once and for all putting the game down. I don’t really think I’m ever gonna be a consistent player again in all honesty. I guess I need to put in the work in a real gym outside of the Pokemon world to be healthy from here on out, hey? Screw that! I am gonna start walking again, but this time I’m gonna do it without the need for my phone. I want to appreciate the nature and scenery around me rather than staring at my phone screen for hours on end.

I simply lost the enthusiasm to play, I guess I outgrew the nostalgia involved. I still play Pokemon on the 3DS and Switch from time to time, but the idea of Pokemon GO is something I’m no longer enthralled by and it’s a shame. I’ve started to cut out carbonated drinks and energy drinks again, not only for the sugar but also for my anxiety as caffeine is a killer in those respects. I’ll work my way to a healthy mind and a healthy body through 2019 and come out the other end happier for it.

Feel free to give any stories you have of how Pokemon GO helped you, whether it be physically, mentally or otherwise. I’d love to read them!