January 1, 2010

This blog is for Wii Beginners and people like me who are new at exercise.

I finally finished setting up my brand-new Wii. In an effort to find some type of exercise in this cold, wet Oregon winter, I bought myself a Wii with the Wii Fit package that comes with a balance board.

I tried the balance board once 2 years ago at a friend's house, but since there were children there, I didn't get too much play time. I thought, "hey, no problem". My first real use was the Boxing game (Sport disk) two weeks ago. I attempted to beat my friend's 10-year old. I figured that I knew how to throw a good punch. No. The next two days, my back between my shoulder blades hurt like hell.

So... for those of you that have never used a Wii before, I'm going to attempt to describe what it's like.

First, please note that the Balance Board is only good up to 330 pounds.

Second, please understand that the Wii "sense of humor" may not be for everyone. The Wii can be merciless. When you do not do well at things, it will make your Mii character look pitiful. Some may find this feels like ridicule. I'm not thrilled with it, but I'm going to ignore the snottiness or try to laugh it off.

My Statistics:

First time on WW

Joined: 09/01/09

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 178-ish

Current BMI: 25

Goal BMI: 22

Goal Weight: 155

Goal Time: 3 months (to April)

Real Age: 40

Wii Age: 51

The Wii Fit allowed me to create a Fitness Goal, and recommended a BMI of 22, which would put me around 155-153 pounds. Sounds fine to me!

It also let me chose the time frame in which to complete this goal. It allows you to make what look like aggressively unhealthy options - like losing 22 pounds in two weeks. At least it capped my weight loss at 22 (I'm not sure of the math behind that).

I selected 3 months for losing 22 pounds putting me at -3.4 pounds every two weeks. This is in line with my current weight loss rate. Somehow I've been able to really clamp down on my food intake, so I've had a fairly steady loss. I'm fully aware that a plateau is in my future! But I've also been on WW for 4 months now and have not been able to modify my activity level on my own.

I'm a bit dismayed that the Wii give me a"Wii Age" of 51!

My goal is to become proficient at all of the Fit activities and Sports games that come with the Wii. I don't know why I'm surprised to suck so bad at the first one I tried! I started with Balance because that seems to be a lightweight activity right?

Balance Games

- Soccer Heading

- Ski Slalom

- Ski Jump

- Table Tilt

- Tight Rope Walk

- Balance Bubble

- Penguin Slide

- Snowboard Slalom

- Lotus Focus

I started with the first one, because that's logical, right? Soccer Heading is about shifting your balance to the left and right. Your Mii character is supposed to 'head' the soccer balls coming at it. So you move left and right to intercept the ball with your head. Since I'm used to avoiding getting hit in the head, this is a difficult concept for me, but okay, I'll do it.

I got hit repeatedly in the face by shoes and stuffed pandas. After my first round, I was declared "Unbalanced" (1/5 stars). I think I was able to head only 20 out of 80 balls. My Mii character hung her head in shame, dropped to her knees and pounded her fists on the ground. Nice. LOL.

I tried it four more times. Still Unbalanced. Oh well - the only direction is up!

I have to say I am intimidated by the number of selections. I have eight more Balance games to try. What if I suck at all of them?! And there are other exercise categories too!

My first goal will be to try it for at least 10 minute increments. I need to get to 20 minutes of exercise activity a day. I think I will also need to make at least 5 attempts per game. I can't allow myself to try it, suck, and then quit. That should be 2-3 balance games at 5 tries a piece for 10 minutes. Seems do-able...

Going to go try some more.

Feel free to comment on my blog! Please try to be positive and open-minded about different fitness levels.

Amy