Matt Elliott’s Online

Wii Fit Diary: The Two Week Mark

Introduction

I summon some enthusiasm

Two weeks into this experiment, I’ve only missed one day of activity. And that was a day wherein I was up at 5:45 a.m. and had to wear a suit, so I feel like it was justified. After my 14th day of Wii Fit Testing, I was awarding a new special stamp to use to mark my progress on the calendar. I’m not sure what kind of stamp it is because I have not looked. I think I’ll just stick with the default foot-shaped stamp. Makes me feel like I’m in the FOOT clan.

They were robots in the cartoon but teenage boys in the movies. That always bothered me.

While I don’t really think I’ve made any real visible progress — my weight still jumps around enough that a lot of it is probably statistical noise — I feel like something is happening as a result of my doing at least 30 minutes of this game every day. When I first stated, I used to exhaust myself in 10 minutes. I’d be sucking wind after the damned Step exercise. And the Boxing game made me want to die.

Earlier this week, though, I started finding everything much easier. I sail through Advanced Step and the Six-minute Boxing minigame like nothing, and while the Hula Hoop still tends to destroy me, I think that’s more because of my enduring spinal problems and also because I am not a young girl in the 1950s.

It’s a bit frustrating, but I’m keeping optimistic. I feel better, and I suppose that’s more important than dropping weight quickly. Or, at least, it would be, if I wasn’t so vain.

The Game

I put my nerd hat on

This is an exceptionally well-made game. It’s packed with little details that keep it interesting. The other day my trainer (the girl, because she’s FOXY) greeted me by clasping her head and telling me that she stayed out too late last night. And, once, she didn’t even show up. I had to work out with that doofus guy because, apparently, my chosen trainer is a boozy tart who can’t keep herself in line.

It’s the little things.

Erin plays a bit, too, but isn’t as dedicated as I am. She hasn’t checked in and done a Body Test in so long now that the game keeps asking me about her. “Have you seen Erin around?” “Tell Erin that she needs to do her Body Test!”

I guess it’d be kind of awful if you had a death in the family or something. But generally it’s a neat feature.

The Goal

Holding Onto Hope

I set my goal based on my desire to have the game stop referring to me as ‘overweight’ and start referring to me as ‘normal’. I am so damn close to the line it’s almost insulting. The game’s been kind of taunting me lately, asking me if I want to “adjust my goal” but I remain resolute. I am going to make sure these electronic characters stop calling me fat.

The Routine

Lunges are my ace in the hole

I’ve really solidified my routine in the past week. I now do, in order:

• Advanced Step — a good warm-up, plus I tend to get better every day. I may even be developing rhythm.
• Advanced Slalom — I suck at the skiing so much, but it’s fun. My goal is to one day make it down the hill without missing most of the gates.
• Strength: Single Leg Twist (20 reps per leg) — Another good warm-up. Apparently my goal is to have legs like tree-trunks.
• Yoga: Half Moon Pose — Only because the game recommends I do it after the Single Leg Twist. I always forget to breathe.
• One minute Hula Hoop — Keeps me humble.
• Ski Jump — Makes up for the Hula Hoop.
• Strength: Lunges (20 reps per leg) — These tend to destroy me, because the trainer apparently has rubber knees and can bend them to ridiculous angles. I always make it to 20, but there’s usually a point early-on where I almost convince myself to quit.
• Yoga: Warrior — Again, because it’s paired. And badass.
• Six-minute Boxing — My favourite activity. I consistently get three stars these days, and I think I can get four stars with a few more days of practice.
• 10 minute run — I do this while watching TV, as the game instructs you to do. It really makes the time fly by. The other day I watched an episode of Tyra Banks and was absolutely enthralled
• 10 minute Step — My cool down. Again, watching TV. I set it the fastest pace and turn Picture-in-picture on so I can easily keep pace. It works well.

All told, this now equals about 45-50 minutes, which is apparently what I need to do now to feel like I was challenged. It’s difficult to always find that amount of time every day, so there’s the odd day where I do an abbreviated version, but I try to always hit 30 minutes at the very least.

The Progress

Or The Yo-Yo

I’ve been up and down a lot this week. Early in the week, on Tuesday, I was actually down to 187, putting my loss in the five-pound zone. But then disaster struck. After yesterday’s wine-drinking extravaganza, which was topped with a steak dinner, I was up to a ridiculous 190.6 pounds. Which I guess shows what a lot of red meat and alcohol can do to a guy. But my last weigh-in this morning put me at a much-nicer 188.7 lbs., which puts me about 5 pounds away from my goal.

Now that I’ve cranked up the time I’ve spent doing the minigames, I’m interested to see if my progress accelerates any.

Also noteworthy: I achieved a Wii Fitness Age of 21 this week. But that was apparently an anomaly based on me being really goddamned great at standing on one foot.

Progress in the Form of a Table

It’s a table!
Two weeks in: