How it Works:  The Wii Fit is a game you can buy for the Nintendo Wii gaming system. Ergo, this week’s diet plan isn’t free. You need to already have a Wii system in order to try it. Luckily, we do. Also, I borrowed the game and balance board from a friend so I could try it out for the week before committing to purchase my very own. The game itself lets you create a profile for yourself and up to 7 friends or family members so you can essentially ridicule your husband because he can’t do tree pose as well as you and face a shaming from your daughter as she rips off 100 more hula hoop rotations than you track your progress together.

When you create your profile, the system calculates your BMI and lets you personalize and track your weight loss or fitness goals. If you choose, you can password protect your profile so no one else can see your weight/BMI information. I opted to do this ‘cuz frankly, no amount of laundry-doing, toilet-scrubbing, honey-do list coupons would compel me to show my husband my actual weight.

Once you’ve created your profile, you can (by using either the balance board or wii remote) begin doing a variety of activities and exercises that will help you develop better balance, strength and cardio conditioning. The more you use it, the more activities and games “unlock” for you. The instruction manual claims there are over 40 activities once you’ve unlocked them all.

What’s So Great About It:  It’s not boring. I definitely got my heart rate going with some of the aerobic activities. 20 minutes of running in place flies by as you try to chase down your trainer and try not to trip over dozens of puppies running to catch up with you. Frankly, I recommend actually tripping over them a time or too just for kicks. Mind you, I’m talking about tripping Wii puppies, not actual puppies. Actual puppies tend to bite your socks when you run near them, though I imagine that would be a great way to add resistance training to your work out.

The best part about the Wii Fit for me was the profile and weight tracker. The balance board itself has a built-in (and fairly accurate) scale. I didn’t have to write anything down or remember anything. I just had to step on the board I was good to go.

What’s Not So Great About It:  Although I got my heart rate going on some of the activities, I can’t say I ever worked up a sweat. There was too much “down time” for my tastes. I could cuss-like-my-grandpa run through a series of lunges but then had to stop to let the system post my results. Then I had to go back to the menu and pick another activity before starting again. I wanted desperately to be able to customize a workout so the system would automatically take me to the next activity without me having to stop and manually select. I have heard that the newer version, Wii Fit Plus, does have that feature. If so, that sounds like a vast improvement.

Will I Keep Doing It?: Yes and no. I love, love, love the ability to weigh in on the balance board. I also like being able to match my results to my husband’s. It was a friendly, sometimes hilarious competition that kept us both motivated to improve. I think I’ll keep the Wii Fit around for weigh ins and short work outs when that’s all I can fit in. The rest of the time, I’ll add a more hard core DVD work out routine.

My Results: At the end of the week I still weighed 1#5 pounds but my cardio stamina had definitely improved.