Getting fit with Wii Fit: Month 3

Ach ja, it’s been three months since I started *in edgy mid-2000 narrator voice* getting fit (with Wii Fit). Yep, I kept at it and plan to do so for the foreseeable future. Since I talked about the basics and most other stuff in the first part, this post will most likely be relatively short and serve as more of an update than an individual post.

What changed?

On the technical side, I switched to an emulator. In hindsight, this is something I should have done from the very beginning. I do love Nintendo’s hardware, but it does come with its many own limitations. I am now able to use my PC while exercising, meaning I don’t have to play music over my terrible phone speakers anymore. I can even watch videos on the side, though depending on the video, it is more or less optimal… definitely makes it less boring, though. Additionally, the game looks surprisingly good up-scaled to Full HD. Sure, the low poly count and textures stay, but everything else looks sharp and clean now that the data isn’t transferred through an analog five-component AV cable and colors have some saturation to them. The fact that I can use the Wii Remote and Balanceboard just fine is the cherry on top. Emulators rule!

There were also a few changed on the more physical end. Most importantly, I started changing my eating habits. Except the times I met up with friends, I basically stopped eating sweets entirely and every time I want to take a snack, I opt out for apples or something similar instead. I still drink a glass of chocolate milk and coke in the morning and evening respectively, but beyond that, my diet should be quite healthy.

I also cut down on the amount of food I eat in general, which, in combination with my brothers absence, leads to the funny byproduct of having to cook not as frequently as we used to, as we sometimes now have food for two or more days. I mean, we could just simply cook less, but where is the fun in that? I also did notice however, that “eating less” only really works, when I can actually gauge the amount of food. I now exclusively use the deep plates, instead of bowls, effectively limiting how much food I eat per meal, but this obviously only works if you can adjust the amount. If there is just “one serving” and I can’t split it into two, I will eat it up, even if I would have liked to eat less. I will not throw away food and I am not one of those people that keep their leftovers in the fridge, until they randomly want to eat them.

Lastly, I started exercising outside of Wii Fit. It’s mostly the same as the “Free Step” with stepping on the Balanceboard, though I do it on my own pace, as even the fastest option in Wii Fit was too slow for me. I can easily do it while simultaneously watching YouTube, which led me to finally tackle the more longer videos in my “Watch later” list. I even (appropriately) watched “How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?” that way, though it was only possible, because it is an easy to follow slice-of-life anime and, most importantly, dubbed. Trust me, I will not be able to watch something with a more demanding plot that way, especially if it is only available with subtitles. Beyond the board, I even tried out the stepper collecting dust under our stairs. I liked it, as it was way more exhausting and intense as simply stepping on a board, though the soles of my feet hurt like hell after only 15 minutes, meaning I couldn’t do it for a long time and it also made some squeaking noise, distracting me from whatever I watched. I guess, I am actually too big for it, since I constantly pushed the pedals through and they it the ground. Too bad, as it felt like it would have been really effective in the long run.

Body Test

The numbers, Hansi!

Okay, okay. I know why we are all here. Without further ado, here are the results of the last two months:

Yeah… this might need some explaining. At the beginning, I actually expected my progress to slow down. The last week of month one already saw a decline in losing weight, which then kept going for a week or two… I then gained a bit of weight, only to lose it faster than ever before, until it suddenly just stopped. It didn’t slow down, just straight up stopped and I even gained some weight again… and I honestly don’t know why.

Seriously, why? I didn’t start eating more and I also didn’t skip on exercising even a day. The only reason I could come up with is muscle growth, though I strongly doubt that this is the case. Most likely, my self perception is as reliable as me in general and I did start eating more again… for if it is the case, I will need to get that back in control fast. I do not want to live through the yo-yo effect. The data analyst in me might complain about the low resolution and the still relatively small time frame, but the enthusiastic me from two months ago is ducking confused. So much that they can’t appreciate the progress they did achieve over the course of two months.

At the end of month one, I was at 115.7Kg and now I am at 108.8Kg and a BMI of 30.14. No matter how you look at it, this is good. I am almost “just” overweight again. Compared to the start of the year, I lost more than 10Kg. Imagine walking around with a 5Kg dumbbell in each hand all the time. Yet, I am not happy. I really hope the curve flattens and goes down again (consistently), no matter how slowly.

However, while the numbers do not support it as much is I’d like to, I did notice some small changes to my body. Since all the weight I lost should mostly be excess fat, some areas feel more pronounced. Weirdly enough, the area most affected seems to be my biceps. I can’t flex my muscles like a body-builder just yet, but I at least now slowly look like I can split small people in half… like a twig.

Bro, what?!

It would have been a good Idea to take a photo regularly and plot it every so often like those “I took a photo everyday for X years”-videos. It is hard to gauge the process you’ve made, when it is just such a small amount per day. I have seen the progress one guy (He wore an Inosuke mask, absolute legend) made over a year or so and it is really cool to see that portrayed in an easy to understand and comprehensive way.

Unfortunately, every coin has two sides. While losing weight is great, it isn’t at a “natural” pace and some parts of my body can’t keep up, specifically my skin. I have several stretchmarks from the time I quickly gained weight, mostly around my thighs, belly and arms. It is not bad and by far not as extreme as to require any kind of surgery, but it still feels weird to be able to stretch parts of your skin way more than feels normal… Maybe it is normal and me just paranoid, but if that is the case, let’s just hope that I will not have any problems with excess skin.

Concerning the actual body test, I am slowly getting more balanced, or at least my centre of mass slowly crawls towards an even left/right balance. I will probably include the progression in the next post, as it feels kinda surreal to see the point getting more and more centered over time. I also finally beat this one balance test where you move around a dot left and right to dodge obstacles for the first time… and then beat it again the next three times in a row, before losing after the halfway point again. I feel proud.

Training

My training hasn’t really changed that much… as long as we ignore me basically giving up on everything except the jogging. I dropped the Hula Hoop, because the movement recognition felt way to off at times and I would rather get an actual Hula Hoop ring, than circle my hips way to much on a board. My mother actually bought something similar. It is like a large hoop that can be filled with sand and is probably intended for more general gymnastics, though I was able to keep it circling above my hips for some time… its incredibly hard, but possible :D.

Step Plus, Boxing and Yoga are currently more “on hold” than “dropped”. They are relatively time-consuming while not being that hard, so I used that time for “stepping on the board” (Proper name still pending) instead. I will probably shift my yoga to outside the game and follow YouTube tutorials or something instead, simply for a bigger variety and faster pace between different exercises, though I will miss the feedback from the board. Step Plus will also be resumed, simply because it is fun and a good warm-up for the jogging. Lastly, Boxing became more interesting with the acquisition of wrist weights a friend of mine gave me, making the exercise hopefully more intense. I also miss it. Boxing is still the most varied discipline in the game and a nice change of pace.

What I kept consistently up, though, is the jogging. I finally switched to a 30 minutes run and am even able to finish one lap around Wuhu Island in under ten minutes. Not sure if I have subconsciously figured out how to trick the Wiimote, but my pace increased over time and stands now around 275 meters per minute. No way is this accurate to my actual jogging speed, but it is at least faster than two months ago… beyond the fact that I wouldn’t have finished the 30 minutes without a break at all. I also wonder what it takes to get the four star rating in Jogging. One time, I ran (in place) as fast as I could, nearly throwing up in the process and ending up as 50% sweat, only to get 3 stars for close to 10.000 meters. Like, what do you even need to run? Also, this was as fast as I could physically run in place before starting to lift off and the tracking basically went berserk anyway, so how are you supposed to get four stars?

As already mentioned, I use the Balanceboard as a step board and essentially do the “Free Step” outside of Wii Fit and on my own (faster) pace. I don’t set myself a timer, but just step as long as the video I watch are long, which averages around maybe 30 minutes or more.

Fit Plus Games

I have mentioned it several times in the first post, but I can’t state it enough: I do not want to gamify training!.. However, I am quite pleased with some if the games there. Compared to the balance games, they are more focused on training, even if it is not hard. Some, on the other hand are utter nonsense, but first things first.

Perfect 10, Big Top Juggling, Tilt City and Bird’s-Eye Bulls-Eye are genuinely great and fun to play. In Perfect 10 you have to add numbers together to get a sum of 10 (or 15/20 at higher difficulties) by “punching” in the numbers with your hip. There is a time limit and even simple arithmetics become stressful under these conditions. Absolutely recommend it with/against friends. Big Top Juggling uses the Nunchuk and tasks you to juggle several balls at the same time while balancing on a circus ball. Impeccable. Tilt City demands even more eye-body coordination with the Balanceboard and Wiimote controlling the tilt of several paddles which you need to rotate in the right positions to let colored balls fall into the right basket.

However, if there is one game to take the top, it is without a doubt Bird’s-Eye Bulls-Eye. Firstly, you are dressed as a chicken. Secondly, you have to flap your arms to fly from platform to platform and balance yourself accordingly to land in the bulls-eyes for additional time and points. Lastly, it feels like actual training. On the highest difficulty, one round may take you up to five minutes of almost constant flapping. Want to feel like your arms are falling off? We got just the exercise for you!

There are some other games that could’ve been fun but failed in the specific execution. Rhythm Kong-Fu is strangely hard to play and feels like a watered down version of Boxing and Skateboard Arena suffers from bad controls inherent to the fact that the Balanceboard can’t recreate the feeling of a skateboard even in the slightest.

The rest are games that feel somehow out of place in Wii Fit and the controls were adjusted to somehow just shove them into the game anyway. In Island Cycling, you cycle through several checkpoints, though the controls don’t resemble anything like a bike. Driving Range is a golf simulator that tracks your balance while swinging the club… maybe interesting for people planing to up their golf game, but not for me. Segway Circuit is a boring parkour-like with the controls consisting of tilting forward/backwards and left/right. Lastly, there is Rhythm Parade. It sucks. It sucks so bad. You are leading a parade and are supposed to keep rhythm and do some hand gestures, but I couldn’t get it to work. Neither keeping rhythm with the steps or whatever task it gave you. I hate it.

When did this become a review?

The Future

I am still interested in modding the game to extend the Step Plus with more songs and steps, though this may end up being a dream forever. Until then, I will simply continue as I have done the last few months. I genuinely feel great and besser denn je concerning my body. I really wished I could track my resting heart rate and other stuff to base this on, but right now, I feel healthy and fit.

My next step is to focus more on areas I have to lose fat in. My goal is still to fit into my jeans again, so exercises specifically for thighs and butt will hopefully join my program. I’ll also try to tackle my beer belly, but we will see when it comes to that. For now, I want to increase my overall exercise time first and get the line to go down again. You will probably hear from me again in three months. Until then, have a good time.