I have been trying to get my hands on a Wii fit since last summer, and there was finally one on the shelf last week! I managed to find a wii system late fall, that was no easy task either, the search started for both at the same time.

I am only a little over the weight I should be but at age 35, I feel my metabolism grinding to a halt and I am not as active as I should be nowdays. I have always been very fit and thin so this was never a big deal before. I am not the kind of person who can do a bunch of reps or yoga poses on my own, I need a video or something standing there telling me what to do, its just how I am.

Contrary to the intro on this forum that Wii fit is supposed to be a complimentary workout to a gym or running, I'm going to use it as all of my exercise because, why do you think I'm gaining weight? I don't want to/don't have time to do those other things (I can't run anyway, I have bad knees).

So last night I get my Wii fit all set up, make my adorable gothy Mii, and set my goals, etc. I start the workouts, they are really fun, and I feel them working. Then after some time I realize, how do I know when I did enough for the day to reach my goal in the proper time? I don't.... There goes my happy fun. So for now all I can do is go for 30 mins or an hour a day or longer if I'm having fun, and HOPE that it is the right amount? I know after 1-2 weeks I will see the actual results from the daily test, but still... a person will have to keep adjusting and it may take them over a month to find the right routine and that is a lot of time wasted in a 2 or 3 month plan.

Maybe I missed something? Is there some way to tell what you need to do daily to reach your goal?

Hi, and welcome,

For reference, a pound of body fat contains 3,500 calories (or rather kcal as they are listed on food labels).

So to lose a pound of fat per week, you would need to burn 500 kcal per day more than you consume. It used to take me about 45-50 minutes of reasonably energetic cardio in the gym.

To burn that many calories on the Wii Fit is going to take much longer, it's hard to burn serious calories on the Wii Fit, even the Aerobic exercises. There are no hard numbers for the amount of calories you burn for each of the exercises, but the rough numbers I've seen suggest about two-thirds the rate you might burn in the gym, so about 400-500 per hour (see this Telegraph article for a few numbers), but that's for the aerobics rather than yoga etc.

If you want to lose weight using just the Wii Fit, you are going to have to adjust your eating habits a bit as well, especially if you don't have much time for exercise.

The Wii Fit can help though, because it will help keep your metabolism active, and prevent it from slowing down as a result of your reduced calorie intake, while burning a couple of hundred calories.

That's what I'm doing. Keeping my calorie intake down, and doing a bit of Wii Fit in the morning to get my body going.

Paul

Unfortunately I popped into a European bakery this week for a box of green tea and came out with a loaf of crusty bread and a tray of baklava. Since my hubby and son thrive on meat and salads, guess who will have to dispose of the carbs? I love bread, but it is really a problem for my weight. I am about 20 lbs. overweight and usually avoid such things, but I was over-tempted.

Well, I am doing some additional things besides a lot of Island Cycling (and other Wii exercises) to help the situation.

1) I used to become very hungry for carbs in the winter- seriously overdoing it. My naturopath told me to take 5000 IU or more per day of Vitamin D, since sunshine is lacking here in the winter, and voila', no cravings! (Mmm but I do like the stuff.)

2) I started taking B vitamins to help convert food to energy. Along with a multi, since all nutrients are important.

3) I started on thyroid, which I needed. Not everyone does, of course, but if you are overweight, it is something to check out. Low thyroid can lead to dreadful things like congestive heart failure, so any lack should be treated.

Now back to the Fresh Express Salad Bar for lunches instead of the bakery and I'll be fine. My goal is to be THIN by summer, not an overwhelming amount of weight to lose, but considering I started to try to lose in February and am only down 6 pounds in November, I have got to progress much better. I've only had my Wii Fit for a couple of weeks though, and it is bound to help. Any more great ideas?

Wow, these posts show a lot of thought.

Each person is motivated differently. I am a engineer and love numbers so I set up a spreadsheet and listed all the Wii Fit Plus activities and input my top ten scores for each. There are five categories, so I set myself to average doing 4 yogas, 2 strength, 1 aerobic, 4 balance games and 4 training plus. These add up to one days workout. Each category has equal balance, so if I skip 2 strength training, I can make it up with 4 training plus. I also put the number of workout in for each activity so I have a running total of how many activities I have done in each category compared against how many I should have done by that point in the year. Also, the top ten scores for each activity is total. With my scoring system, I try to earn 1000 points a day. So if I am difficient in number of activities but high in total score, I can work on some of the easier activities and not worry about accumulating points. Goes the other way also, I can get lots of points for activies I have not completed 10 of yet, like the Kung Fu, which I earned around 500 points each for the first 10 times. I have yet to complete all activites but have done some Ski Slolum 300 times since last November (year ago) and 186 for Snow ball fight. I have to move some of the cells in Excel around sometimes but since I have used it quite a bit, I dont mind. This also requires me to input data into laptop while I am working out, but being an engineer, I dont mind.

Dispite all the motivation, I am still 138 days behind schedule for the year and down 113,000 points. Still, I push on. I have developed abdomin and upper arm definition I have never seen in all my life. I have lost about 44 pounds but gain a bit back the last month. Still, I am in better shape than I have been in a long time. Wii Fitt is GREAT!

@rdfergus

Wow, and I thought I was obsessive about recording stuff

I started off using a spreadsheet, but in the end I created a website called Graphomatic which lets me record and graph a bunch of stuff, some of which you can see on my profile page and I can even embed in other web-pages:



I've not lost as much weight as I'd like to have by now, but like you, I am now in better shape than I have been in years and years. In fact I can't remember ever being this fit, so I'm not too bothered. I'm going in the right direction, which is what matters, even if it's taking a while.

You guys are amazing! I admire anyone who likes math, graphs, recording things..... My daughter is a programmer, top of her class, and she sat around here doing crazy math during college. People like you can understand the universe; I can't. I studied health (nursing and homeopathy) and art. If I had to record my exercising I'd quit right now. That would get me down, so I'm glad nobody is making me do it.

I need something more like... a mousetrap like gizmo that snaps on my hands when I reach for the chocolate raisins. At 20 lbs. overweight, I'm not dedicated enough. But I'm hoping that with the mad cycling I'm doing and the fact that I am now taking thyroid and B's, it will gradually come off. I want to be healthfully thin by summer. That oughta be doable!

Heh, I'm not sure I'd describe it as amazing. I do a lot of theatre stuff as a hobby, and I'm always amazed by some of the creative types I get to work with, so it goes both ways, and wouldn't the world be a terribly dull place if we were all maths nerds

I think the thing to do is to take the approach that works for you. For me an rdfergus it's approaching the problem from an engineering point of view, recording stuff, and watching the numbers, but that doesn't work for everyone. I think that's why things like Wii Fit can work quite well, because they do all that recording for you automatically and give you lots of feedback. I think having that objective view can be really useful.

Personally I know that I'm terrible at lying to myself about how good I've been. By religiously recording everything I eat during the week (I have weekends off), I get an un-biased view of myself.

The idea behind Graphomatic was to make recording things really easy and quick, because even I hate doing it

I'd just like to start by saying, I don't do much at all !

I've only had my Wii fit plus for two weeks (tomorrow) it was a birthday pressie, the kids already had a wii console. One thing I would mention is that as soon as you become 'good' at something you'll be move up a level, more reps will be unlocked. I'm finding some exercises hard (I really swore at my trainer today ! ) yet others keep unlocking more reps, I'm also being offered new exercises in Yoga, so that is a kind of benchmark I think.

You're only 35 so you make me feel really old as I've just passed a forty-cough-cough birthday ! I'm at the top end of the ideal weight range according to the BMI on wii fit, I'm 23-something and hope to get down to 21-something. I'm small-boned, tiny wrists, hands and feet so that isn't as low as it sounds.

I hope you'll join us in a blog here of your progress. I had two kids late in life and first one I lost the weight immediately, second one... she's 6 and I'm still yo-yo-ing, it does get harder. I'd say just do what you can, I intend to do at least 4 days a week wi-fitting, and the sessions will vary from 20 minutes, if that's all I have time for, up to an hour. I also walk loads, invest in a pedometer ! I do over 20,000 most days and over 15,000 on weekends. I can't drive ! and have to walk my kids to and from school, so they're as fit as a couple of butcher's dogs !

I sound as if I'm going on about myself here but I'm just hoping to find some common ground. A lot of us have the same issues. I was delighted my weight was going down daily last week, then I got a 'rollicking' for putting on a pound....
I've flatlined on my graph and really want to shift it ! Good luck to all !
I think men are obsessive on recording things, data of any kind ! boys will be boys !
If it's okay with Paul I'd like to start a diet thread ? Just tips and advice, a bit of motivation. I have noticed an improvement in my posture and balance already, my tummy is flatter and I don't get indigestion so much, sounds irrelevant but the PT mentioned it. I think this is the yoga.

That's an excellent idea.

I've created the "Diet and Lifestyle" forum here

Alexa, from listening to Paul, I think it's ok to gain a pound as long as it's the weekend. And I already had that birthday- won't bother you with how long ago. Long enough that I decided it was time I got me an exercise program of some kind, and then along came Wii Fit. Toning things up is harder than it used to be, but I have an old lady friend who has always done her exercises and she is, at 95, as fit as a fiddle! She took up surfing at 70! I decided it must be worth all that misery and boredom of exercising. With Wii Fit, though, the boredom is gone.

Thanks Paul, for accepting non-math persons on your forum. I am working for an interior designer and wii don't do any of the bookkeeping in our office. Yay! It's all the fun stuff. However, I think I might get laid off as winters are really hard on the trade. This one worse than most.

Ta for now!