2010 Wii Fit Plus

Hello Folks 🙂  Its been a while but I’m back with my fitness / gaming blog (Hooray)

I am now a healthy, fit active mum of 2 who enjoys exercise and playing computer games and am ever interested in combining the two!

And for Christmas my lovely hubby bought Wii Fit Plus for me.

Wii Fit Plus has all the exercises and advise of Wii Fit, with additional fun games, a few extra exercises and some additional features such as a calorie checker, a routine builder and multiplayer features all designed to make Wii Fit flow better and be more useful both for party fun and serious exercisers.

Without giving a formal review here is what I think of it:

Its a really good giggle. I love the new games and have been playing them with various members of the family (and basically anyone who comes round), my favourites being the skateboarding and cycling. And I think the the routine builder is basic but makes wii fit flow much more effectively (so not as much constant clicking between menus). The added games make Wii Fit seem more fun, although I suspect they are a tad flash in the pan and interest in them could wane quickly! The routine builder however provides a great way of getting yourself up and moving (especially when its -12 outside and you want to stay in with your computer like today).

I havent looked at the calorie counter yet because my weight is all v well balanced but I will have a look through it and tell you what I think v soon 🙂

So Wii Fit plus gets the thumbs up from me, and has kept me doing some sort of fitness over the christmas period to balance out all the mince pies and sherry.

And outside of my front room I have been keeping up the exercise too with lots of real hula hooping! In December I started up a couple of hoop aerobics classes, teaching others and Ive also been working with a group of children at a local school teaching them basic hooping moves. I am starting 2010 so differently to how I began 2009 and I am quite excited about how the year is going to pan out.

4 months later

So the big question has to be… Have I continued or have I fallen by the wayside and gone back to my old ways?

Well I am pleased to say that I have continued, that this really has been a lifestyle change for me which has proven easy to carry on with. I have even had a couple of holidays and have amazed myself by weighing the same when I returned as when I went (definately never known in the past) and this has been achieved without me needing to think about it. I trust my body and know when I need to eat and when I need to exercise.

And with regards to my weight I am still on a downward trend. Albeit v v slowly I am still getting rid of excess weight (half a stone in the past 4 months) which is great as I am getting closer and closer to the ideal of a BMI off 22 (my current BMI being 22.75). Buying new clothes has been a pleasure and I felt so much more confident this year at the pool.

And finally my eldest son has told me I look slim (hoorah)!

I did it

I  thought I would finish this blog by letting people know that I did it! My BMI is 24 (in the healthy range), I feel slim and look great 🙂

So Yes Nintendo did get me slim, in a fun and easy way. Today is my birthday, I have achieved my goal and I am wondering what challenge to set myself next!

And as for continuing with my exercise and healthier lifestyle? No probs, its fun, its easy and I already have a hula hooping class, a skiing session and a bike ride planned for this week (as well as the usual dog walking, shopping and school runs (well cycles).

Thank you for reading my blog. A few people wrote to me about how they were also using Wii Fit and I wish you all continued success and hope you are having as much fun with it as I do.

New things

I said last week that my Wii Fit disc was broken and sadly after a week of phoning I am yet to get through to someone at Nintendo to order a new one. This is partly due to impatience on my part because I dislike automated phone systems and I know that eventually I will grit my teeth and stay on the phone long enough for a real person to talk to me because I do want the disc.
So without my Wii Fit I have been finding out just how much my fitness has already improved in the 4 months that I have been focusing on it and have been pushing myself a bit more (so not just walking and cycling) and have been for that skiing lesson I mentioned. It was fantastic. I loved it and I am really looking forward to going back next week for another. And I doubt I would have felt that way 4 months ago. The balance exercises on the Wii Fit have prepared me beautifully and I feel that the yoga and the muscle exercises have helped to strengthen my legs, enabling me to actually last the 2 hrs of mostly walking sideways back up the slope! I could even walk the next day and made sure I kept myself extra active with walking and cycling and general housework and didnt stiffen up which was marvellous!

Flushed with success I am ready to take on more new challenges and have signed up for hula hooping classes starting next week (I wonder if all that virtual hula hooping will have helped) and I have got the Wii My Fitness Coach on pre order because it looks more interesting than just a fitness dvd. Has anyone used it yet? It seems a shame that it doesnt use the balance board but it does look good and I have been very pleased with the sensible and practical way My Health Coach for the DS helped me approach my weight loss (Losing weight has never been so easy and relaxed for me before) so with skiing, hula hooping and My Fitness Coach it looks like my momentum will keep going for a while yet 🙂

a disappointing start

So there I was all ready to get going again with my wii fit, to see if I could get new personal bests on hula hooping (I can almost do it with a real hula hoop now)! I put the disc in and it wouldnt read!!!  A quick inspection found a very deep scratch which my youngest proudly admited to putting there!

So this week here is my guide on what to do if your wii fit disc gets broken, because you can’t just nip in a shop and buy a new one because it isnt sold seperately.

1. I tried buffing out the scratch with a disc repair kit we have at home – which is pretty effective – but not in this case.

2. I took my disc to my local gaming shop where they have a more serious buffing machine, which is supposed to be very effective, and only costs £3.00 for a disc repair. They had a look at the disc and said it was too far gone even for their machine. They suggested that I buy another wii fit (console and game) take the game and sell the balance board on ebay. I looked on ebay and the boards arent worth very much on their own at the moment and it seemed a bit of a faff to be honest!

3. I did a quick internet search and learnt that Nintendo do sell replacement discs and so I sent an email (asking for more information) to them at

NintendoHotline@codestorm.co.uk

Nintendo were quick to respond, sending me the details and number of their German base where I can order a replacement disc for £27.50, including postage and vat. On ebay the discs seem to be selling for more so I will phoning them first thing Monday morning and hopefully will be back playing wii fit again very soon.

So in the meantime I havent just sat back and put my feet up, I have been walking, walking walking, and went to an aerobics class.

Getting ready for a New Year

Its been a while since I posted but with the New Year I am setting myself a new goal and would love to hear from all of you who are also improving your fitness for 2009.

I have achieved the initial weight loss I set out and did lose 1.5 stones by my husband’s 40th and was thrilled to weigh a whole 1lb less than him 🙂  Christmas has followed in quick succession with no changes which is marvellous because I certainly haven’t noticed myself holding back and very recently at a friend’s stars in your eyes party I had the confidence to don leotard and leggings and perform Olivia Newton John’s “Lets get physical”.

So I am starting 2009 feeling very positive, raring to go and keen to achieve a new goal which is to have a BMI of 24 , putting me into the ideal range and finally stopping my youngest son from laughing and saying haha mummy’s still red Im gold!!! I am giving myself 12 weeks to achieve this so am looking to improve at a very gradual (hopefully sustainable) rate.

I will be playing on the wii fit, getting My Health Coach back out to give me a boost, cycling, walking the dog, and even skiing (we live near a ski centre and for Christmas I got lessons). What will you all be doing to get fit in 2009? have you set any goals?  Good luck those of you who have.

wk 8 and my BMI is now 26 point something

Yes its 26.99 but hey thats 26. something and not 27 which left me smiling this week. I am amazed that it is week 8 and I am not flagging with this regime, I am still loving it… and Nintendo actually does seem to be helping get me slim…

I began this blog with a BMI of 29, and an initial goal to lose 1 stone before my husband’s 40th! Well I have done that, I have lost a stone and his birthday is still 7 weeks away! My second target was to achieve a BMI of 25 which I feel well on the way to doing (esp now that I have a BMI of 26. something), so I am setting myself a new goal to keep the momentum going and now want to lose a further 7lbs by his birthday (a nice, comfortable 1lb per week). I can see the difference, my body is more toned. I have dropped a clothes size and people are starting to notice (in that polite way where they tell you you look well and ask if you’ve had your hair done, because they dont want to ask if you’ve lost weight). And I am so glad I bought the Wii Fit and My Health Coach because they have given me the motivation to get going. My Health Coach has shown me how to balance my food and exercise and has helped me brake a long standing cylce of doing too much and eating too little and then eating to much and doing to little in response. And Wii fit is something that I really enjoy, that challenges me, and that I am getting better at – I finally got the bubble balance game under the rainbow, am upto 3 stars on the boxing AND I can get almost halfway down when doing a press up!

I have not used My Health Coach this week as I feel confident that I am balancing well and do not need to keep monitoring myself, I feel that eating and exercising in proportion is natural for me at the moment and that inputting what I have done has become a slight chore so I have put it down for now. That said I am not ready to sell the game on as I think it will be very useful if I get sucked back into bad habits (around Christmas time perhaps) so I want to hang on to it for now because I did find it very good for getting me started.

Wii Fit continues to be a daily feature in my life. I have my time slot and on those nights when I really think I dont want to do it all I have to do is stand on it and suddenly I am raring to go… for a run, a stretch, a press up even. I am challenging myself, I want to beat my personal bests, I want to get to 4 stars for the exercises and although I tend to focus equally on Yoga and aerobics (using the balance games for cool downs) I am also having a go at the muscle exercises on a regular basis. And I am starting to look into some more games (poss christmas pressies) to further keep my interest going – any recommendations?

wk 7 A Mixed week

Probably because I lost so much weight last week I began the week feeling very hungry again ! I really wanted to scoff and scoff and it has taken a ridiculous amount of self will to not pile my plate high with potatoes. Instead I focussed on how good I have been feeling physically, no aches and pains in the mornings and generally feeling able, dare I say fit!

Then I came down with a cold! Which was the quickest cold I have ever had! It started and I thought it was going to be a real stinker and for one day I just didnt have the energy to exercise, I switched on the wii fit, opted for yoga, began the first stretch and it just hurt too much! However, within a couple of days I felt great again and the cold had cleared. I am putting this down to to the good food and the exercise I have been getting and this has added to my motivation to continue with my regime.

So at the end of this week I have been enjoying wii fit, I have been balancing my food, I have lost another 1lb and I am fully recovered and rareing to continue next week.

wk6 feeling amazing

I feel absolutely brilliant, I feel ready for the world, I am keen and eager to be active I am loving life AND the kids have been off school this week!. I am even pushing myself a little more including cycling to a friends house the other night (just 4.5 miles, but in the cold and wet, which could have been a good excuse to use the car). Sadly I could not cycle home because I got a puncture and did not have so much as a pump with me – oops! Oh and I havent said this yet but I scored a Wii Fit age of 24, how excellent is that – 11 years younger, making me a very happy girl indeed.

Food wise, I bought a copy of Cooking Guide for the DS and have been having some fun trying out some new recipes with the kids. I enjoy cooking but do have a habit of making the same meals over and over so this week has been a bit more interesting and as the kids a) enjoy cooking and b) enjoy cooking even more if a little man on mummies DS is telling them what to do it has given us a daily activity to do together. Cooking Guide is basically a fun talking cookery book, it has some good recipes and usefully gives a calorie count for them.

As I said last week I have continued to balance my food and exercise on My Health Coach using the quick option for the food, which I am beginning to find quite a relief. I have found that my appetite has diminished alot and I feel very full after much less food than before and so the quick option allows me to judge whether I have had a calorie laden or light meal and I know, because I am listening to my body that this I am balancing my food well, I am not feeling hungry, I am not seeking snacks and I think my body has accepted that I am really serious about this because after 2 weeks with very little change I have lost nearly 5lbs in one week despite eating sensibly and well!

And my husband I think is both amused and pleased to see me every evening on the Wii Fit balance board. He has taken to practicing some of the exercises next to me which is great. Successes this week on with the Wii Fit (as well as having an age of 24) are: finally being able to hula hoop (I got 2 stars – woohoo), getting 100 points for my balance whilst performing the yoga warrior pose and managing to complete the zen sitting (sitting still for 3 minutes – my kind of exercising). I still have not managed to complete the bubble trail though.

So I enter week 7 not feeling fed up and miserable because I am missing out, because I cant have (food) what everyone else does (yes I have felt like this before when on a diet) but ready to keep on strengthening my body, Im not missing out on anything and I am seeing the results of what is proving to be both a fun and easy regime.

wk 5 Soup glorious soup!

And I dont mean the sort suggested by weight loss clubs that use more calories to eat than they give. No I mean hot, tasty, filling soups. As I said last week the weather has changed and with it my appetite has increased but then at the start of this week a friend and I were talking about how much we like making soup, the local supermarket had a special offer on their fresh soups and My Health Coach gave me a challenge to make a soup with chicken, noodles and sweetcorn. And so this week (to quote the fast show) I have mostly been eating soup! Well not exactly but I have enjoyed one bowl each day (by way of a lighter meal) so its been home made bean soup with, shop bought thai chicken soup (which was delicious), left over sunday dinner soup (you get the picture) and the soup has certainly satisfied my desire to feel warm and full whilst satisfying my need to reduce the amount I eat (especially as we have had friends over twice this week for meals and have been out for a chinese banquet! WIth the help of my soups I have managed to still indulge myself a bit whilst remaining in balance with my food and exercise (as measured on My Health Coach) and best of all I have lost a pound which has certainly pleased me after last week and or should I say AND I can fit back into a skirt that has been hanging, not really fitting me, for about 18 months now (woo hoo!!!).

My Health Coach gives you two ways of balancing out your exercise and food, detailed and quick. I am one of lifes planners, someone who loves details and information and so I have been opting to input my food and exercise with the detail option. I will admit that when I first looked at My Health Coach I had to take a bit of a deep breath and prepare myself for the fact that it give a rough calculation of what you have eaten and not a precise and accurate calculation (I could have made a very good accountant I think). This week I have really thrown caution to the wind and used the quick option!!! I know how easy it can be to become overly obsessed with what you have eaten (which long term I don’t believe is necessarily too healthy for the mind) so instead, using the quick option I am asked to advise My Health Coach whether my meals and snack have been light, balanced or heavy. It took me a couple of days (well ok about 5) to feel comfortable with this but at the end of the week I feel ready to continue in this more relaxed way and maybe use the detailed option again in the future if my weight loss stagnates. I have continued to use the detailed option for my exercise because I really enjoy seeing how much I have done and feel very motivated to get out and do more, which is also great news for the dog who is getting much better walks now.

And I have not yet tired of Wii Fit either! Now that I have my slot (8pm) I find myself getting excited ready to start it up. And I am improving all round and I am following its workout suggestions combining yoga and muscle workouts one day then practicing my aerobics (I am soooo rubbish at hula hooping still) the next, adding in some balance games just for the pure fun of them (I am actually getting good at the ski jump – now on 3 stars).

The best part for me though, is beyond these two games I feel fantastic! I feel fitter, calmer and very motivated to get out and about, Ive not even been dettered by darker, colder nights.