I have to admit I far prefer video games to any form of exercise. Exercise has always seemed like something other people do. I’m not unhappy that I am overweight. After all, if I were, I’d do something about it.

At first, this Wii Fit thing really confused me. It is exercise, but with a score! Wow! I never got scores when I was in gym class in school. At least not ones I cared all that much about. But these are different. They’re on a video game console, so they are obviously different.

Now I find myself pushing just a little harder to “unlock” some feature or to get a better score. Today, I even realized I pushed myself to run/walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes rather than 20. I had the Wiimote in my pocket of course! The score must be recorded. Otherwise it would be exercise, and not a video game. I ran (at a slow speed, 3.8 miles per hour) for a straight 10 minutes. This might not be amazing to some, but I have never, in my entire life, ran for 10 minutes at any speed, until tonight. I even found the longer I did it, the easier it became. At first, I was panting, but a few minutes in I found breathing was in rhythm with walking, arms just did what arms do, and the feet kept the pace. All in all, it was quite thrilling.

I even find the graph of weight loss to be a seriously cool thing. I don’t get upset when it goes up a bit. Four pounds in two days was a little worrisome… I blame the Cheetos, and the sitting on my butt. However, every day since then the line has been going down. Not by a lot perhaps, 0.2 here and 0.4 there, but every small bit helps. I understand, and more importantly believe, it is the general trend that matters. It isn’t the small increases here and there that matter, nor the large decreases. They are nice to have of course, but not nearly as important as the overall trend line.

What a melodramatic title!

About two years ago, my wife and I purchased a Wii. We bought a few games, but mostly it was for the Wii Fit. For nearly a month we both would weigh in on the thing, play a few games, perhaps even run on the treadmill. Then interest fell off rapidly, and the Wii became more of an interesting Bluetooth device rather than a fitness machine.

Two months ago, we were walking through a local mall and saw a Wii Fit Plus kiosk. This kiosk was populated with beautiful, energetic people who would offer to let you play. If you did not want to embarrass yourself in a public forum, they would demo the new games and training for you.

Since we already had the Wii Board thingy, we could get this new game/exercise program for about $25 or so. We bought one, thinking that even if we got a month’s use out of it, we’d gain something. Or, rather, lose something.

We also bought EA Active, which is another fitness program. It is all serious though, and is much more of a “real” workout.

I am happy to report that for about a week now, my wife and I have been using both programs. We mostly use the Wii Fit Plus for games, a little of the yoga, and to weigh in and record EA Active and other activities. We also use it for “straight runs” which the EA Active program seems to lack. They want me to run, then walk, then do kick-ups, etc. This is all well and good, but I hate running in place – it hurts my knees. Running on the treadmill is fine, however. It’s hard to combine a treadmill with EA Active, at least with what we’re being told to do currently.

Will this trend continue? I actually think it will. What’s different this time is we are both more serious about following through. Last time we were as well, but there was something missing, some sort of small feedback between each other to want to do just a little more. I believe this time we have that, and while it isn’t a competition, it is a shared motivation and a desire to improve ourselves for each other as well as for ourselves.

Yay! I now have an HD TiVo. Complete with a dual-tuner cable card, so I can finally get back to where I once was with the Driect-TV TiVo I started with so many years ago.

The only problem so far is that it won’t take any random eSATA hard drive. Why? Well, why not? Let’s get you to pay more. Oh well, it’s a one-time purchase I suppose. Still pisses me off.