Is Wii Fit Helping Me Get Fit?
by Denise

For me, the answer to that question is, heck yea (or it was until it got struck by lightning and died.) Will it help you get fit? It might but there are a lot of things to consider before you shell out the money for the game (or the system if you don't already have a Wii.)

One of the first things I think you should consider before buying the Wii Fit is how you'll feel about the weigh in and the BMI components of the game. I'm anti-scale in general and I take issue with being "forced" to use the scale and/or BMI tools in order to do the regular check ins.

The Wii Fit doesn't recognize "growth spurts" in teenagers or "early puberty" issues at all. We have a child who Wii Fit considers obese but if we change her birth date to that of her older sister's, she's in the healthy range. She is a well developed girl who is troubled by puberty and she didn't need the Wii Fit calling her "obese". Blogher member Jenny74 blogged the problem with Wii Fit and children. Nintendo needs to change the game so that parents can set up parental controls on that piece of the game or offer you the ability to turn down the weigh in/BMI check in but still stamp your calendar and use the journal tools.

If you don't like to weigh in and you feel you might be negatively effected by a BMI tool that consistently calls you overweight or obese, you might consider skipping that part of the game entirely. Unfortunately, you'll miss the fun calendar stamping activity if you do this. You could also skip the Wii Fit and just go with active games like Wii Sports, Wii Boogie and Wii Dance Dance Revolution.

Like all exercise plans and programs, the Wii Fit will only work for you if you actually use it regularly. (And by "work for you" I mean help you get fit, since that's what this post is about.) You also have to challenge yourself by increasing repetitions and/or duration as your strength and stamina improve. A 30 minute Wii Fit workout might be great for you today, but after a couple of weeks of consistent workout, you must challenge yourself.

A few months ago, before the lightning strike, I was using the Wii Fit everyday. I had created my own workout plan and schedule. My plan was to do Yoga and Aerobics every other day and Strength Training and Balance every other day.

This is another area where the Wii Fit falls short. It does recommend a set of exercises as you're moving through Yoga or Strength moves but it doesn't offer you specific workouts or allow you to create personalized workouts and save them to use as you wish. The game would be vastly improved by both of those tools.

My plan was working great and I was about to the point where I needed to increase either the length of my workouts or the repetitions. Darn lightning. When I get my Wii fixed, I'm going to have to start all over again.

I had hoped by now to be able to tell you whether I was able to stick with my Wii Fit workout schedule or whether I'd become bored with it. I'll let you know, eventually.

While you wait for me to send mine off to Nintendo for repair and start all over again, you can check out posts by folks using their Wii Fits to get fit.

  • How I lost 10 pounds in 7 weeks with Wii Fit
  • It's shocking, we're pissed, Wii Fit sort of works.
  • Geek Sugar: Wii Fit Journal (at the bottom of this post are links to all of the journal entries)

    Do you have a Wii? A Wii Fit? Share your stories so I can live vicariously through you as I await the return of my Wii console. Please. Withdrawals. Need Wii fix!

    ~~Denise
    Flamingo House Happenings

    • Submitted by Denise (view blog) on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 13:57

    Comments

     

    My Wii Fit is a judgemental jerk.

    I wrote a tongue-lodged-firmly-in-cheek piece of hate mail to our Wii Fit here:

    http://houseofclams.com/?p=183

    Tracy

    www.houseofclams.com

    Submitted by House of Clams on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 11:44
     

    Judgmental jerk

    Hah. Imagine what mine will tell me when I finally get it repaired... we haven't signed on since late June! I'm thinking the little wii fit board guy is going to curse me!

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 12:00
     

    dance dance revolution

    all i can say is i am so happy to have had an excuse to buy 'dance dance revolution.' it comes with a dancepad and my two sons love it. it is somewhat hilarious/disturbing that they now like all these '80s songs on it. it starts off easy and gets progressively harder. what we have does not make you weigh yourself....but i think wii fit is next on our list.

    www.lifespearliscast.blogspot.com

     

    Submitted by courtenayr on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 13:30
     

    I know what you mean

    We don't actually have DDR but we have Wii Boogie and we have Wii Guitar Hero (well we did have GH but left it with Michelle when we moved because it is technically her game) and it's amusing to hear the kids singing the oldies.

    They also have some American Idol game at their other house and a lot of those songs are apparently oldies. Totally amusing.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 13:33
     

    Don't own one

    I exercise at home using a pilates + weights routine that has been working well for me for many years now. I do change it up often so that I keep being challenged and don't become bored. As for aerobics, I do it mostly on weekends (biking, tennis and skiing) although admittedly I don’t get enough aerobic activity, especially now that I’m not chasing toddlers anymore.

    Still, I am pretty happy with my results and I don't really feel that I need a Wii Fit in order to workout or to stay fit.

    Sorry that you can't live vicariously through me. :)

    I can imagine how tough it must be for a teen to get that “obese” verdict. How did you handle it? What did you tell her?

    Vered DeLeeuw

    http://momgrind.com/

    http://www.uptous.com/

    Submitted by Vered on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 13:34
     

    Same way we handle all body image stuff

    We explain the science behind the BMI, puberty etc... and we changed her birthday to 1990 (Michelle's year of birth) and she no longer gets that message when she does her check-ins.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 15:40
     

    Ooh - which is better? Wii Boogie or DDR?

    I'm still just a Wii Fit casual user, but think the dancing games would be awesome. Which do you recommend?

    -k

    ---
    Kristy Sammis
    BlogHer's Conference & Event Planner
    e. kristy@blogher.com

    Submitted by Kristy Sammis on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 15:25
     

    DDR or Boogie?

    First, I have to say that I do not have DDR for Wii and have never tried it. I have done DDR in arcades though and I suspect they are similar.

    I bought Boogie based on Jenny Lauck's blog posts about it and we like it. It's a combination of dancing and karaoke, more singing than dancing so it isn't going to give you as much of a workout as DDR would. Buy DDR and rent Boogie, that's my recommendation.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 15:39
     

    Don't have the fit yet

    but the built in Wii sports that comes with the console is nice. I especially enjoy golf, bowling, and tennis. Lots of good bending and stretching.

    We went bowling at a real bowling alley the other night. Not only did I trip and fall and jar every join in my already creaky frame, holding a heavy ball with arthritic fingers is not the fun it used to be. I can exercise with the Wii bowling game and have more fun. (Those last nine holes in the golf game are just wicked.)

    Virginia DeBolt
    BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
    Web Teacher
    First 50 Words

    Submitted by Virginia DeBolt on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 04:43
     

    Wii sports can give you a work out

    As long as you don't cheat and play by just moving the wiimote. :-)

    The boxing makes me tired just thinking about it.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 04:48
     

    Hand gestures, bah

    You have to do the whole thing, wind up, bend, twist, make it real.

    Virginia DeBolt
    BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
    Web Teacher
    First 50 Words

    Submitted by Virginia DeBolt on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 04:56
     

    OWWWW

    It really bugs me when it says "Oww" when I step on it. BUt I love it! I am the Hula Hoop queen and it is my mission to beat my kids high scores on everything! I agree on the judging kids... my son's fit age was 40 while mine was 26... makes no sense... he is 14 and quite a competitive athlete... I am 41 and obese with good balance....I would like a feature to disable the assessment part fort he kids.

    Great post Denise... working on that back to school post....

    Have a great weekend!

     

    Submitted by JenInShanghai on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 04:56
     

    It really is about the balance

    The Wii Fit age, I mean. Once you figure out that balance test part, the Wii Fit age definitely improves. The kids are always disgruntled that I do so well with that, yet they can beat me in most other areas. (except the step aerobics, I'm good at that)

    TW is competitive with the kids and as soon as someone beats her score, she'll play 'til she knocks them out of the top again. Heh.

    RJ, the one the machine says is obese or overweight unless we manipulate her birthday... the girl can do so many jacknives that the trainer won't do the challenge with her any more. And her scores on yoga and strength are incredible.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 05:36
     

    Depends :)

    Before we joined the gym (needed to wait until we were actually HOME after summer vacations/etc), Wii Fit was just fine for us. Now, we're only really using it on days we can't make it to the gym (Sundays, as the gym is closed, or, for example, today because we can't take our younger son to child care at the gym because he's snotty). 

     

    It hasn't magically transformed me into a svelte, sexy Mama. It has, however, kept me accountable for the physical work that I know I should be putting in everyday. And it's also given me the confidence to join a REAL yoga class at our gym for fall session. 

     

    I think those things are kudos enough. :)

     

    FireMom from Stop, Drop & Blog

    Submitted by JennaHatfield on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 06:10
     

    Kudos enough - agree!

    I think it's fantastic that you've joined a yoga class due to confidence building via Wii Fit. That's fabulous.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 06:48
     

    Oh, And One More Thing!

    Oh! One thing I do NOT like is how it doesn't have an option on the "weight gain reasons" screen for the onset and beginning of my menstural cycle. I hold water weight like mad for a few days before my cycle starts and it frustrates me when I have to put "I don't know," and it tells me I should pay better attention.

     

    I DO pay attention. I know exactly why those extra three pounds are there every month!

     

     

    Submitted by JennaHatfield on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 08:20
     

    weight fluctuations

    OK it's odd that I have never thought about that, since I spent a zillion years talking to women about weight fluctuations and that is definitely one reason for weight fluctuations.

    Very good point. It should let you write something in, definitely.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 14:14
     

    Yes, it's a great motivator!

    I hadn't been working out for a while when I decided to get the Wii Fit.  It was great incentive to get me moving again.  It helped me to have to be held accountable for my progress.  It was fun and challenging, and I did it almost every day for a few weeks--even lost a couple of pounds.  Then we went on vacation--I kinda lost my focus and I kinda lost interest.  But, my friend invited me to try her gym, and I'm doing that now, instead.  I think I get more out of working out at the gym.  It's still fun to use the Wii Fit every so often to check my progress or to work out if I can't get to the gym.  I'm glad that it helped me to start working out again.   

    Submitted by Asianmommy on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 07:07
     

    Maintaining motivation

    That's the hard part with any fitness program and the Wii Fit is certainly not immune to the problem.

    Glad to hear you're enjoying the gym now.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 10:37
     

    Yes, it has no setting for "pregnant"

    We had our friends over to play with the Wii Fit shortly after we got it, and she was 9 months pregnant at the time. Since there is no setting for "pregnant" it kept telling her she was obese, and when I logged on the next day, it asked ME what I thought of HER weight! Fortunately, we all had a good laugh about it and we're looking forward to it weighing her again some time this week to see that she's lost 40 lbs in about 6 weeks :-)

    On another note, our Wii had some issues as well and we called Nintendo, they sent us a box to send it back to them for free and they had it either repaired or replaced within a week, it was amazing! Great customer service! 

    http://ConscientiousConfusion.blogspot.com

    Submitted by ynnej on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 07:36
     

    Pregnancy

    Doesn't the wii fit indicate on the box that women who are pregnant should not use it? Seems like that's the case but I don't actually know where our box or instructions are at the moment to check.

    If it doesn't say so, I'm surprised. I can't imagine them releasing such a game without that warning label.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 10:36
     

    One tool in the staying fit belt

     I like my Wii Fit.  It's fun and a great tool in the fitness toolbox.  I like Yoga, it's a great workout and Wii Fit offers a good alternative to going to a class in a gym.  My three boys have used the Wii and enjoy it as well.  I don't think they would have have ever taken a Yoga class at a gym but they've all seen the benefit of Yoga with the Wii Fit.

    I don't use it as my primary source of fitness - I still like to get outside and run or kayak, but overall it's a great way to workout in the comfort of my own home.

    Doris

    The Leaky Cauldron
    Everything Harry Potter.


    Fit, Fabulous and Forty the Natural Way  My Fitness Journey

    Submitted by Doris on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 14:26
     

    This is a great point

    There are a lot of kids who wouldn't dream of doing these types of exercises, particularly yoga, and the Wii Fit not only exposes the kids to them but makes them "popular" and "cool" to do.

    ~Denise
    BlogHer Community Manager

    Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 14:36
     

     The dancing has to help

     The dancing has to help you keep in shap, and if your having fun it makes the time go faster while your getting a good workout. Having fun and improving your health you can't beat that

     

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