Weight Loss using Wii Fit

Here’s something new, I’m going to write about my recent weight loss activities using Wii Fit ( and also the flu )

For starters, if you are serious about losing weight or maintaining, I highly recommend signing up for a profile at Calorie Count. I’ve been looking for a site like that for months now, and was about to just give up and build it myself.

Basically you have a Food log and an Activity log. Each has a very handy search function that allows you to simply punch in what you ate ( or did ), and it will bring back calories, fat, etc in the food and calories burnt for the activities.

They even have a recipe analyzer to let you know just how healthy your concoctions are. I ran my M Yass Chili through the interface and got an A on the nutrition rating

When I was in college I used to be able to eat two Hungry Man meals a day and not gain a pound. I was weighing in around 145-150lbs in 2004 ( at a height of 6′ ).

After I got a real job and was able to afford food, and had a girlfriend that knew I was way too skinny and unhealthy, I started gaining weight. At first it was a good thing, but then I gained a bit too much and found myself at 234lbs in 2008.

Thanks to that recent bout of the flu, my stomach had a chance to shrink and I started listening to my “no more, Im full” alarm. At the end of March I was 223lbs thanks to a limited calorie intake and “light” activity.

I’m not afraid to admit it, I have a sedentary lifestyle. I work in an office, with a very expensive cushy chair, and I go home to either work in my home office in a cushy chair, or sit on the very cushy couch that we have.

This apparently burns about 70 calories an hour. Hell even drinking a glass of water will burn a few. But it doesn’t do much when you’re intaking 2000-2500 calories a day.

Since I do enjoy the videogames and my parents bought us a Wii Fit for Christmas, I decided to push activity into my life via the Wii Fit and a simple run on the treadmill. Right now I’m up to 20mins daily of moderate activities on the Wii ( that includes Fit and Sports ), and starting tomorrow I will add a quarter mile jog on the treadmill ( 4-5mph, nothing too intense ) three days a week.

The WiiFit activity alone has helped knock off 0.7-1lb per week for me. I figure if I add in the treadmill and gradually work up to a half, then full mile, that will put me at ~2.0lbs per week, which is the healthy limit for weight loss. Anything more and you will rebound and put it back on naturally.

The most important thing to remember is that it’s all just a game of numbers. According to my CalorieCount profile, I need to intake 1850 ( or less ) calories per day and burn 2650 in order to lose 2lbs per week. Amazingly I burn about 1400 calories a day naturally, just by moving around, walking in the office and working ( sitting at a computer and working burns around 80 per hour ). With WiiFit+Sports activity for 1 hour I can add ~350 burnt calories to that, and the treadmill will burn around 700-800 per hour.

My current goal for April 11th is 220lbs, with an overall goal of 185-190lbs.