Let me start off by saying I’m very new to the Xbox club. I’ve only ever had a PS1 and a Wii. I was quite nervous at first, but as soon as I saw the UI, I fell in love instantly. I’m still discovering new things on the Xbox One and it is incredibly easy for me to navigate through from the moment I picked up the controller.

I really wish the Xbox One came out before I decided to throw away 50 bucks a month on a gym membership. Don’t get me wrong, my gym is amazing. It’s enormous, has every piece of equipment you could want in a gym, tons of free classes, a pool, hot tub, and sauna. It’s well worth the $50 a month. However, I’m the type of person that needs to be pushed. I’m glad when I do it, but it can take a bit of bs excuses before I finally agree to it. I’m grateful that my parents pushed me when I was younger to keep active. They enrolled me in many different sports (some I loved, some I hated) but it kept me in shape (I eat junk food constantly) and I met some amazing friends that I still have to this day.

When the Xbox One came out, they automatically gave the customer an Xbox Live Gold trial for 14 days. A very smart move indeed. I had Netflix already, but used the Roku to access it, and the Roku is great, but going into Netflix from the Xbox (Gold) was a whole new experience! My boyfriend, his son, and myself all use Netflix. His son is 6 years old and 99% of his shows are cartoons. So, when we’re looking for a movie or show to watch when we’re alone, we have to scroll through a plethora of “suggested” or “recently watched” cartoons. With the Xbox Live Gold account, they allow you to separate your “accounts” within Netflix (meaning, it’s all hooked up to one account, but you can sign into Netflix with different names). Basically, if I sign into my name on Netflix, all of my shows are there with no need to scroll through anyone else’s.

Another fun feature with the Gold is the Xbox Fitness. Of course, if you don’t have the Gold account, you can still access this app, but you would need to buy a work out separately. However, with the Gold you have access to ALL of the work outs (all of them! Including P90X) and you can also filter it (i.e. Under 20 Minutes, No Equipment Needed, Under 10 minutes…etc.). Being that the Xbox has a camera that detects where you are and how you’re moving (and if you’re one of those people who thinks you’re being “spied on” then I’m wondering what you’re doing with that smart phone or laptop), it can detect if you’re half-assing the work out or not. It can also tell how hard you’re working out. I had the Wii along with the Wii Active before. It was a good work out, and fun too, but if I was feeling lazy or tired, I could not push myself as hard and it wouldn’t know the difference. With the fitness program on the Xbox, you earn points with how hard you work out and with each video you’ve completed (there are tons to choose from). Even if you do the same videos every single day, you work up quite a sweat, even in just the 10 minute ones, and more than likely still get better results than running on a treadmill at the gym.

Today, when I went to put on an ab-blaster work out, I was informed that my 14 day trial was up. I was unable to access Netflix and the amazing free work outs I had been doing were now unavailable and I had to pay upwards of $10 for. This is why I say that Xbox was smart in putting the trial on straight away instead of offering it up as an option because now that I had a taste of it, I couldn’t go back. Immediately I wanted Gold back. It’s $10 a month if you pay separately, or $60 for 12 months ($5 a month!!!! That’s less than a fancy latte at Starbucks!) Without even hesitating I purchased the Gold account and now it hurts me to walk around my apartment (I was very, very out of shape).

I had taken some side and front view pictures of myself, focusing on stomach & thighs, and am going to keep a log of my results over the next 6 months (not posting the pictures of myself until the 6 months are up). I won’t post every single day, and even if I did, I don’t think there would be THAT much of a change on a day-to-day, but every couple of months I’m going to post an update of what the Xbox Fitness has done for me. I still do have my gym membership, so, I will be going on occasion, but my main focus is to do the Xbox Fitness at least 3-4 times a week. I won’t be crazy dieting either; I’ll be eating normally (although I will be trying to eat a little bit better).

Wish me luck!