I’ll be honest here: for the last couple of years, I really haven’t been pleased with what I saw when I looked in the mirror. Because looking back at me was someone who was out of shape and yet not motivated enough to actually do anything about it. I could remember when I liked how I looked, and I missed those days. Days I haven’t seen since college, at least.

I’ve tried my share of remedies – eating a little less, biking a lot more, situps here, pushups there… heck, I was even going to the gym for awhile. But there was no discernible difference, no matter what I did.

So I’ve approached Nintendo’s Wii Fit with cautious optimism. I’d seen lackluster reviews from some of the gaming sites but also some positive real life experiences. I figured I’d keep an eye out for it and maybe pick it up if I got the chance, but I didn’t approach it with the same tenacity that I did when looking for the Wii or other hard-to-find items.

But the time finally came at Best Buy last month, and as I walked out with Wii Fit in hand, trying not to let too many people see it, I found myself wondering if this was really a good idea.

If I could call myself back then, the answer would be a resounding yes.

Day 1

Setup is relatively straightforward, as expected. You register one of your Miis to your account, put in your height, and when it weighs you it scales your poor avatar accordingly. I prepared for the worst, stepped on, and…

BMI: 28.69 / Weight: 216.5 lbs

Well, that’s kind of depressing, but not as bad as I had worried. You see, I have actively avoided weighing myself for the better part of five years. Maybe that had something to do with the motivation.

At the same time, the BMI (Body Mass Index) numbers provided by Wii Fit have been the cause for some contention throughout the internets, and the reason for this lies entirely in the hardware: the balance board is just a scale with some extra sensors. All it can do is measure your weight and determine what quadrants your weight is being placed on. It does not have the body composition sensors that some of the nicer body monitoring scales have, which means that it has to use a fixed table (similar to this one) by cross referencing your weight with your height. The problem here is that people with greater than average muscle mass may still be labeled as “overweight”, when they are in fact quite healthy.

But I digress. Wii Fit has four different types of activities: yoga, strength, aerobic, and balance. Yoga is pretty self-explanatory, strength consists of exercises like pushups or jackknifes, aerobics included running and boxing, and the balance category is home to some games that get old fast.

My major problem with the game (if you want to call it that) was that they really don’t tell you what to do. It’s helpful in that it will tell you what the results of each activity will be, but there isn’t any kind of recommended regimen for weight loss, or for strength training. Quite honestly that’s the one feature I feel they really omitted.

Routine

Over the next week or so I gradually unlocked all of the activities and started to establish a routine that I felt was working. In the last 31 days I’ve spent just over 27 hours on the various activities, which averages out to about 54 minutes per day (I missed a day when I was out of town). That 54 minutes generally consisted of:

  • Free Run – 10 minutes
    Run in place for a set number of minutes. I can do a little over 2 miles (according to the game, so take that with a grain of salt) in that time, which should give an idea of my pace.
  • Advanced Step
    Some step aerobics. A nice cooldown after the run.
  • Super Hula Hoop – 6 minutes
    Easily my least favorite activity. Swing your hips around until you die!
  • Pushup / Side Plank – 10 reps OR Arm & Leg Lift – 20 reps
    Just some generic arm/core exercises.
  • Jackknifes – 30 reps
    Abs. Actually I find this really relaxing.
  • Tricep Extension – 20 reps
    Lift a thing up and down, up and down.
  • Basic Run – Long
    Instead of being timed, this has you run for a set distance. “Long” is actually quite short – about 4 minutes.
  • Rhythm Boxing – 10 minutes
    I was really bored by this one, actually. I wanted to like it but it’s so slow and feels like I’m not accomplishing anything so I started doing more step aerobics instead. However, it seemed to be getting results so I’ll probably start doing it again.
  • Free Step – 10 minutes
    Like Free Run, it’s timed and you step on and off the balance board for that amount of time. I do about 1300 steps in that time.

Overall though, it seems to be going pretty well. I’ve felt better about myself even if I don’t find the results particularly noticeable. Speaking of which…

Day 31

When I weighed in today it made me wish I hadn’t eaten the fried chicken from Texas Roadhouse but WOW it was so good this time. That reminds me of another point – weighing every day has a way of making you much more aware of what you’re eating. I still eat mostly the same stuff, but I’ve been trying very hard to eat less of it. I’ve also cut out some of the unnecessary trimmings (mayo, syrup, etc) and I don’t really miss them. Also no more full packages of cookies (this makes me saddest of all).

But it has its benefits, as my final numbers after a month were…

BMI 26.27 / Weight 198.2 lbs

That adds up to 18.3 pounds and 2.42 BMI lost! I am pretty proud of that – it’s been a long time since my weight started with a one, and I intend to keep it that way. I’m still not at ideal BMI (that would be sub-25) but I am well on my way and it’s suddenly become a very achievable goal.