My doctor told me (again) to lose weight and I vowed to start excersising. Since I'm unemployed, I don't want to take on the monthly expense of a gym membership. Since I'm a gamer, my first thought was - hmm, I wonder if Wii Fit actually works. After a few weeks to trying to find one in local stores (they are in chronic shortage), I decided to order on on Amazon.com. I'm waiting for it to come in now.

Does anyone else have Wii Fit and what are your experiences with it? If you play it for say 30 mins a day, can you lose weight on it?

Jim:

Welcome to LSN. I saw this last year, and after seeing your question I dug up the reference.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/03/me-and-wii-fit.html

There is a Newsweek article as well but it is a bit light on substance: http://www.newsweek.com/id/138076

Hi Javed -

Thanks for the article. I've got my Wii Fit now and have been doing about 30 mins a day for a few days. I seem to be best at Yoga and like the step aerobics too. My neice is a licensed Yoga instructor; I'm going to have her check out the Yoga part of the game and give me an opinion about how authentic/useful it is.

Jim,

The Wii certainly can be entertaining and fun but it does not offer enough resistance to promote weight loss of any significance. If you are serious about your weight loss, then go for aerobic activities - running, cycling or swimming. I personally prefer running a I can do that just about any time and anywhere with very minimal equipment. Keep your heart rate at about 80% of your max based on your age for 30 minutes per day for 5 - 6 days per week. Assuming you keep everything else the same, eating the same and not taking in any more or less calories, you will begin to loose weight. You will also sleep better, feel more rested and have more energy for the next 24 hrs. This does not happen over night but you will reap the benefits for your efforts.

If you are not accustomed to strenuous exercise, start easy and let your body tell you how far you can push it. Most beginners make the mistake of starting off too aggressively and end up quitting even before they've begun. The best indicator of this would be your heart rate - consult your physician on this to see what your target heart rate should be before beginning.

Good luck.