Is Wii Fit worth it?

[The Brian J]

Ok, bit of backstory...I've always been a tiny bit on the overweight side, as before the summer, I was hovering around 190-200 (I'm 5'7). Over the summer, I was diagnosed with Osteomyelitis, a bone infection in the skull. 100% curable, but curing it involved IV antibiotics, so I had a tube installed in my arm. The tube prevented me from getting any really good exercise (like my bike) at all. In addition, because I had to be home from 9:00 to 10:30 every night to give myself the antibiotics, and because I had a freakin' tube in my arm, I got kinda depressed. As a result, I lost the motivation to work out, and now, I'm up to 220.

Now that I have the tube out of my arm and am cured, I want to lose weight, but it's become freezing outside, so my bike is going back into storage. I'm wondering if anybody thinks that Wii Fit would be a good investment? I have trouble motivating myself to get to a gym or whatever, but if I had Wii Fit, I think I would have more motivation to use it.

Anybody have any opinions on this?

Edited October 31, 2008 by The Brian J

[Cactus Drags]

It's a glorified calorie-counter and it gives me a fuckton of grief at work. Don't encourage them >_>

[The Brian J]

It's a glorified calorie-counter and it gives me a fuckton of grief at work. Don't encourage them >_>

Can you elaborate on how it gives you grief at work?

[Plankton]

I got it for the wifey on our anniversary and have played it several times.

You probably wouldn't lose a ton of weight real quickly. I read a review at AV Club that said it would be more accurate to call it Wii Posture. The main emphasis is on stretching and straightening your body. There are some aerobics games that are okay. One of them consists of sticking the remote in your pocket and running in place. It's not exactly the most fun you'll have playing a video game. But like most Wii games that encourage a lot of movement, you'll get out of it what you put into it.

If you're looking for motivation, it could be helpful. It keeps track of your weight with charts and it will keep track of how far along you are to reaching your goal in the time that you want to reach it. Since it keeps track of your scores for certain games, you can also be motivated to beat your push-up record or whatever. It's not like you couldn't keep track of that stuff yourself, but it's a nice feature.

I would say it's a good companion to a normal exercise routine and healthy eating. Playing Wii Fit alone probably won't provide enough exercise to solve your weight problems. If you have the cash, I'd suggest buying the game and something like an elliptical machine since going out isn't a convenient option.

Also, don't count out bundling up and going for a jog (as long as it's not too snowy). Once you get moving, you'll be pretty warm. And if you're like me and get a little self-conscious about running in public when you're not in good shape, it's nice to have the extra clothing on.

And good luck. I'm in a similar boat as you. I had some medical problems and gained some weight that I'm working at putting off before all my clothes stop fitting comfortably. We're looking into an elliptical since I want to lose weight and my wife will want to after she has the baby. When we lived in the BG/Toledo area we frequented a gym, but we almost exclusively used the elliptical machines, so we figured it would be cheaper in the long-run just to buy one.

Anyways, I hope you find something that works for you.

[Cactus Drags]

If you're struggling to motivate yourself, I don't see how Wii Fit will help (unless you mean in a "fuck, I wasted £70 on this piece of shit, supposed I'd better use it" kind of way"), as has been said, it's alrgely stretching and posturing, and it counts how many calories you've burned off, and apparently, isn't particularly accurate, particularly with stuff like BMI.

It gives me grief at work because all the fucking parents see it and think "ooh! Instant weight loss!" and come in trying to buy it. Two problems, first being the demand has massively outstripped supply, because Nintendo always underestimate the amount of stock they need, and withhold the stock they do have to drive up demand because they're cunts and don't care about game shop staff who have to put up with endless phone enquiries and disgruntled folk not happy that we can't give them an exact date and time that we'll be getting more in.

I digress.

Secondly, a bunch of people who have bought it have complained that it's not working i.e. that they're not losing weight, not that the thing is faulty. They're under the illusion that playing a game will slim them down (seriously, have they never seen the average gamer?), without them having to, y'know, actually cut down on the greasy/creamy/chocolatey/fatty shit they shovel down their throats. Or, they'll complain it's not working because they bought the thing without actually looking up what it is, and don't actually own a Wii to play it on. "But it says Wii in the title!" Yeah, 'cause those £180 bundles are just for show, you fucking douche.

[Plankton]

If you're struggling to motivate yourself, I don't see how Wii Fit will help

Different things motivate different people. I think if you enjoy the games and are playing on a regular schedule because of that, you can be motivated by the fact that it keeps track of how you are doing at reaching your goal. Some people just need to see their progress charted and displayed in a more interactive fashion. Others may not though. But for some people, I have seen it work as a decent motivating tool.

But I do agree that if you're completely unmotivated going in, it's not going to get you out of that funk. Then again, what piece of exercise equipment would? You need some motivation to begin with.