Wii Fit - Good for health or just for fun?

SugarTown91

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For anyone who owned Wii Fit, what was your thoughts on it? I enjoyed it and I found the games themselves quite cute and fun, I just don't know if it is possible for someone to lose weight playing a video game.
Did you lose weight or gain strength or flexibility playing Wii Fit?
What was your favorite game? (Mine was the penguin balance game.)
 
I didn't mess with it too much, but it was good for relaxation and flexibility. It also depends on how you use it, but I will say that as with anything it's more a matter of how much effort/time you put into it then anything else.
 
I actually gained a huge boost to my balance, which helps me with my running! For that, I thank it!
 
This game can help you see exercise, health, and fitness as fun. It came out at a time when Americans needed it most. Many of us with weight problems can find it daunting to lose weight, but the Wii Fit provides a fun, at-home alternative to the gym or a fitness club. You can do the Wii Fit alone and yet it is still like having a personal trainer there to help you. The comments made are encouraging, even if you are not so good at an activity. Many of the activities are unconventional in terms of traditional gym workouts. There are some where you pretend to be a flying bird, a penguin, a juggler in a circus, or the leader of a parade. Work-outs are highly customizable and cover aerobics, yoga, strength-training, balance, and other fun activities that will help you reach your fitness goals. I especially like how you can track your BMI, weight, calories burned, and time spent on the activities. You can add in other activities you have done outside the game and it will calculate approximately how many calories you burned and add it to your Fitness Log. You can also see what kind of foods you have burned off. This game really gets you involved in progressing yourself. I am someone who gives up easily, but this game kept me motivated to keep going. I am very impressed with the balance board technology; Nintendo has come a long way since the original console of the 1980s. The board is sensitive to your posture and movements, making interacting with the game surprisingly accurate. You also use the Wii remote and nunchuck that came with your system for other activities like rhythm boxing, running, and cycling. I was really surprised at what the creators of this game managed to encorporate into activities.

Overall, I strongly advise that every household gets a Wii and a Wii Fit. Finally, there is a fun way to exercise and get the family in shape. I find myself waking every morning looking forward to working out with the Wii. I find it so fun that I have to tell myself to stop before I get sore.
 
I do think this game can help out a lot if you keep up with it. For me, it got really boring after a while so I kind of gave up. I found it hard to keep up with it on a daily basis. But my wife did actually lose a few punds while using it. Sadly, after a while, she gave up on it too.
 
Definitely just for fun. It should have been marketed as the Power Pad 2 rather than the Wii Fit , that way they could have reached a significantly larger demographic. While it definitely helps you to get fit, it's a terrible device to fully rely on. But still I think that it's great for parties and having some casual fun with friends.
 
It depends on what shape you are in. I know a lot of people who played the Wii Boxing and were out of breath. Anything that gets your heart rate up is good for exercise. That said people got bored with it. I think Wii Fit Plus was better, it showed a lot of promise but they never updated it or gave it a true sequel. I personally would not have it be my only source of fitness but for someone doing nothing or someone who just wants to add a little cardio it is perfect.
 
I think it is just for fun. For some people it can be healthy, but by the time you finish playing the game you probably lost 1/5 of what you would of lost if you actually exercised. I am assuming the numbers but I am pretty sure it is something like that since you aren't moving much. Like others said, it got very boring and people gave up on it. It isn't worth an investment and there isn't much game that uses the Wii Fit.
 
I don't think it should be the only tool used for exercising, but if you are home all day and need something that will motivate you to move around, it's certainly better than nothing. I don't think it is designed to help people lose weight but rather to strengthen their balance and flexibility. I use it most often for the yoga poses. The games are pretty cute, too, but sometimes they are a little too easy to "cheat" on. The running games, for example, still work if you just shake your controller without actually jogging or running in place. I think Wii Fit is a really good idea, especially for people who hate exercise DVDs or don't have a personal gym at home. I don't think you're going to find drastic results, though.
 
As far as exercise goes, the fit is probably very limited. I can't imagine a person would loose alot of weight in the long run. However, any activity is good if you don't exercise. I can also see where it would help with balance and relaxation.
 
Given how the average person barely moves enough to get their heart rate going, Wii Fit is a great tool to get the basics down before graduating into something more intense. It hammers in the foundations and fundamentals for any workout, and is a great warm-up. A few can escalate in challenge to actually give a good workout.

The strengths of Wii Fit are definitely in its charting and metrics (accountability is a huge factor into responsible weight management) and the yoga courses. Anyone can learn a lot, I don't regret the purchase. Like any lifestyle choice, it takes consistency.
 
Excellent point Oni - the best part of Wii Fit was that it kept track of what you had done as well as when and it marked your progression. That is a major help in realizing not only where you're at, but what you need to improve on.
 
i think it's mainly just for fun. Wii Fit just lets you play games in a more healthy way rather than the sit down and gain weight. The Wii Fit shouldn't be the only way of exercise, you can't truly lose weight playing just from the Wii.
 
The concept behind it was good. Essentially it's showing you that exercise can be be fun. For some people it gets them in the mindset that maybe working out isn't such a bad thing, as long as they keep an open mind about it and commit

In terms of the game though, it's nothing more than fun. I think it was a good thing for younger kids though, as the obesity level of children is rising every year, and usually due to video games. This gives parents the best of both worlds. Their kids are staying out of trouble, but aren't letting themselves go either because the game keeps them focused and they're exercising without knowing it.
 
We have the WiiFit at my house and we loved it. I know that it's pretty old now so we don't use it anymore. I mean it was just another fun way that we were able to work out. I think that we would use that everyday so that we were getting some exercise. It's more fun than going to the gym or running outside. That's one reason why I liked the Wii so much. You could play games like this where you were able to exercise in the process.
 
There is not much "fit" in the Wii Fit. Even though it may seem like people are losing weight, it is very insignificant. I only use Wii Fit to practice my balance and have a bit of fun while doing so. I would say that Wii Fit is more of a "game" than a "fitness program". But I really did like that Nintendo was taking risks with the games for the Wii, and this one hit the ball right out of the park. I would only recommend the Wii Fit if you want to lose a bit of pounds while having fun in the process.
 
Obviously anything that will get you up and moving is great, but I don't believe it's a feasible substitute for going to the gym or doing "real" exercising, the same way that you won't learn how to dance by playing DDR or learn how to play the guitar with Guitar Hero or Rock Band. It is pretty fun though, but the issue of adding it to your exercise routine is repetition... It does get stale after a while.
 
I think it's much more focused on inspiring people to stay fit than actually being an effective weight loss tool. When I was a teenager, I did find that my weight went down by a lot in the summer because I spent my summer vacations playing a ton of Wii Fit, but then again, I was overly active and it probably wouldn't happen for someone who wanted to keep a steady exercise regimin.

Then again, as an actual exercising tool, Wii Fit does a lot better job at teaching yoga/pilates and balance than it is at weight loss/aerobics. I found that the balance games actually encouraged you to improve and required some sort of balance while the aerobic games were really more focused on how hard you could punch with your Wii remote.
 
This was an interesting marketing gimmick but I don't believe you can get "fit" by playing the Wii. Am I the only one who was sitting down at one point flickering my wrist to box, swing the tennis racket or throw the bowling ball?

As mentioned above, Wii fit was an initiative for people (let's say gamers) to stay active more than an actual workout. Not to mention that after a while Wii fit becomes one of these games you only take out during a party or when many people are over, who don't necessarily have a Wii and are fascinated by the controls.

It was however a good initiation to the Wii controls.
-LoyalServant
 
It definitely depends how you use it. It's basically just a different way to get a cardio workout in at home, so I'm sure you can burn plenty of calories but it's not going to do much for toning or anything. I guess it depends what you see as fit. When I was in high school I managed to lose a decent amount of weight playing DDR so it can be done! :)
 

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