A Year With Wii Fit

On Monday, I celebrated one year of using Nintendo's attempt to get gamers off their butts. I've used Wii Fit pretty diligently for the past year, weighing in at least 4-5 times a week except during vacations. And that's practically all I ever did. Given all of my time with Wii Fit, the majority of time was spent weighing in and testing my Wii Fit age. Generally, I only did a couple yoga poses or strength training twice a week for 10 minutes at most.

Over the past year, I managed to lose 11 pounds. I think, although I have no scientific proof, that some of the fat was replaced by muscle. My pants are noticeably looser and I have seen considerable improvement in my weight training, doubling the amount of weight I use in most cases. Had I not encountered a few bumps along the way in terms of eating habits, I likely could have hit 15 pounds or more.

How much of that had to do with Wii Fit? I would say very little. Wii Fit did not motivate me. I know the programmers mean well, but making Wii Fit chastise folks isn't helpful to their motivation. I made myself work out because I wanted to lose weight. Wii Fit just helped provide an accurate weight and helped me manage my goal electronically. Being able to see the tenths of a pound lost is a good thing that I didn't have with a regular scale.

The problem with seeing those tenths of a pound has made me become a little obsessive about my weight. I'm not eating disorder obsessed, but I get mad if I notice that I gain a pound over the week. Seeing the little weight gain over time makes me more conscious of what I eat. I start avoiding dessert and eat a little less if I don't work out one day.

I'm not any sort of workout fiend though. I try to workout 4 times a week, Monday - Thursday. Over the past year I have worked out about 124 hours. That equates to a little more than five days of the past year. A person exercising 30 minutes every single day of the year tallies about seven and a half days of exercise.

So, is Wii Fit worth the price? The distraction in the beginning is nice. The newness definitely wears off after a month or so and it starts collecting dust unless you force yourself to use it. If you aren't motivated to work out, I don't think Wii Fit is going to help that. For as little as I've used Wii Fit for the exercise, a $90 price tag is a bit high. I hope Nintendo makes more games other than skiing that use the balance board. I hear Punch-Out!! with the balance board is really fun.