The Experiment
I posted weekly updates with some of my basic progress and commentary, and this article is the culmination of all that effort. Over the last month I have recorded every meal I've eaten, my Wii Fit age, weight, BMI and total time spent doing actual in-game exercises.
When I began this experiment I hadn't been to a gym in over a year. My diet consisted of mainly fast food and my physical activity was limited to walking about 2 km a day on my lunch hour during the work week.
My goal for this experiment was to change nothing about my daily life except for the addition of one hour a day of Wii Fit. I can proudly say that I accomplished this goal, and while the results weren't what I expected, they were interesting nonetheless.
Adhering to these rules was not easy, however; finding time every day to put in an hour of in-game time (which is usually about an hour and a half of "real-world time") was increasingly difficult, which often led to late night exercise sessions. While most of my tests took place in the evening, I was still able to find time every day to complete my hours.
On the next page is my entire set of data for the 30 days of the experiment. You'll notice a lack of variety in my diet. This is largely due to the fact that my workplace is in the heart of downtown, and food options are limited. Part of the original rules of the experiment was to keep my diet consistent to what it would be if I were not doing these daily exercises, so I did my best to not vary my diet from what it would be normally.
The Results
Over the course of 31 days I participated in slightly under 32 hours of in-game Wii Fit time. I learned very quickly that an hour of in-game time is approximately the equivalent to 90 minutes of real time, as Wii Fit does not count the minutes spent in tutorials or menus.
At the end of the month I lost slightly under 7 pounds, and as I said, this was not a result I had expected. After my stellar first week of losing almost three pounds, I figured I might be close to hitting my goal of 20 lbs. in a month—though I should note that Wii Fit thought that was a bad idea.
About half way through my month of Wii Fit, I hit the 10 lbs. lost milestone, of which I quickly rebounded from due to an injury sustained while doing running exercises slightly too often. This brings up a point I wish to reiterate: Why does Wii Fit not encourage you to take a break from heavy repetition? Sure, it tells you to "take it easy" or "take a day off, it's Sunday!" every week; but there had to have been some massive overlook of safety concerns in the QA department on this one.
Coming from a company who puts warning messages before everything they sell, provides safety casing for Wii remotes, and replaces pieces of string that snap because the general public doesn't know how to use a wrist strap, I find it hard to believe that something as important, and trivial, as denying you from doing the same exercise for 30 days straight could be omitted from a product that puts physical refinement in the spotlight.
I know most of you are saying "Wii Fit isn't a real exercise product; even Nintendo says it's only supposed to get you thinking of being healthy and changing your lifestyle." That might work in Japan, but in North America we're full of lazy individuals who would rather use Wii Fit than go to a gym—for the purposes of this experiment, this includes me.
I injured myself running on the spot for 30 minutes a day straight for two weeks. It wasn't until I realized to put my shoes on for that particular activity that it started to become easier to perform. Why then, did Nintendo forget to suggest putting shoes on before running, like it suggests to "take a fifteen minute break every hour!".
Aside from the threats of physical injury, Wii Fit is a phenomenal piece of software that should be used lightly in conjunction with a healthy diet and daily exercise routine, and not as a substitute for them.
Did I lose weight from Wii Fit?
Yes.
Wasn't it just water weight?
Likely, but I felt better as the days progressed, and I was beginning to sleep better and felt more rested.
Are you going to keep doing it?
Not for an hour every day, but yes, I am. I find Wii Fit very relaxing and it gives me a reason to use my Wii more often in this drought of software in the middle of summer. I'm hoping that EA's rumored fitness program takes safety a little more seriously.